Sleepin Around New Zealand: First Trip and More!

[Sheddie]

Thanks KC, your acknowledgment is always appreciated. I have a bunch more photos of what we saw on the third day to add. Keep looking in.

[Sheddie]

Capri Car Club NZ AGM Hamilton.
Queens Birthday Weekend 29th May - 1st June 2015. (Continued)

Sunday Morning we met up with some of the group at the Avantidrome for breakfast.

After this the rest of the members arrived and we were given guided tour of the facility.

This is New Zealands new home/training centre for cycling. It is a magnificent facility which caters for many other sports a swell.

The banking on the track is amazing, 43deg, when you stand at the top it sure is a long way down.

Some of our members were given the opportunity to give it a go.

After donning their helmets and cycle clips, they were off to do a few laps.
Some of the more adventurous ones even made it up the banking past the third line.

We all drove off in convoy, out into the Cambridge countryside, and up Maungakawa (Sanatorium Hill) to take in the views.

Not a good day for photos, but this is looking back over Cambridge.


In the distance is Lake Karapiro, one of the hydro electric dams on the Waikato River, where we are heading for lunch.

In 1868 Daniel Thornton, a wealthy industrialist, bought the property from its Maori owners. The land was used mainly for grazing and fattening cattle. When Thornton died in 1881 his wife kept the property and in 1890 had a home built on the summit ridge. The lavishly furnished building and exotic garden were regarded as a local attraction.

Twelve years later the property was taken over by the Government for use as a tuberculosis sanitorium (and known as Sanitorium Hill). Later still, convalescent servicemen from World War I were cared for at Te Waikato, as it was then known. However, high running costs and transport and staffing difficulties forced it to close in 1922. The buildings and shelters were dismantled and sold.

At Karapiro we drove across the dam to the west bank and along to the Mighty River Domain.


Karapiro was the second power station built of the Waikato hydro scheme. Construction of the dam and power station began in 1940, but material and labour shortage due to World War II meant progress was slow. The station was completed in 1947, four years behind schedule.

The creation of Lake Karapiro behind the dam flooded the Horahora Power Station, the first power station built on the Waikato River.



Lake Karapiro is where all our rowers go to train and compete, and over the years there have been a lot of top Olympic and Commonwealth Games medal winners.







This mirror must definitely be on a Capri

The Car-B-Q was there again cooking up the sausages and onions for lunch
The rest of the afternoon was free time, so we went back to the camp and put our feet up, and veg out, before heading out to the dinner and prize giving. I got second prize for Best Consul Capri. But there were only two there.

[Sheddie]

We haven't been doing much camping in the last few months, it has been winter here and the last couple of months have been rather wet. When my cousin phoned to invite us to a party to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary and his wife's 40th birthday, we decided that it was a perfect excuse to get the TD out for a weekend away. They live south of Cambridge, about 330 kms from here.
We have been thinking for a while about selling our 3 tonne tipper truck and replacing it with a tipper trailer, so decided to combine the trip to the party to go look at the trailers. We had narrowed our choices down to, one in Hamilton, one in Cambridge and one in Tepuke, so we hooked on the TD, and after work on the Thursday night headed off to Auckland to stop the night at the in-laws.
Long story short, after driving through Hamilton and Cambridge, then over the Kaimai ranges to Tepuke, we decided the one in Cambridge was the best option. So instead of spending the night in Tauranga we headed back over the Kaimais, in the rain and hail, to make arrangements for the purchase. That night we arrived at my cousins place and kicked his prized '55 Chevy out of the garage so we could park our mobile bedroom out oj the rain.
Saturday night we had a great party with them, everyone dressed in purple, Paulas favorite colour.
Sunday we loaded the TD on to the new trailer and headed home.

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[KCStudly]

Trailer looks beefy. Is that galvy steel or aluminium?

[Sheddie]

Hi KC, galv steel with alloy tongue and groove deck, and alloy loading ramps. Tows awsome.

[Sheddie]

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Christmas Eve. Leaving home to head to Auckland to spend Christmas with Dales folks, then spend a few days redecorating their bathroom, it's their Christmas present.

[Sheddie]

Bathroom painting done it is time to head south for a break in the teardrop.
We headed out of Auckland, down SH1, with no plans apart from Hamilton or Te Aroha. At the bottom of the Bombay hills we made the split second decision and swung left on to SH2, to take us to Te Aroha. We had a quick stop in town to pick up some supplies, then go find the camp, set up and have lunch.

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We went back in to town for a look around, but by the time we got back the wind gusts were howling down off the mountain, so it was time to add more ropes to hold the awnings in place.

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The wind was getting that strong that we took the sides off the gazebo and a wee while later packed it away completly incase it got destroyed.

[dales133]

Nice camp set up mate.
Giving me some ideas

[Sheddie]

Thanks mate, the side awnings, we have one for each side, are RV shades from Anaconda in Australia. (Keep an eye out for their sales). The gazebo is a good solid one, heavy grade alloy frame and water proof top and sides. Rated for about 50 kmph wind. Expensive, but worth the money.

When we are all set up, you can't see much of the TD. This is at Hihi last January.

[KCStudly]

[Sheddie]

Thanks KC.
New Year's day 2016
Happy New Year to you all for 2016.
The weather forecast wasn't looking good last night, but the side shade was still intact this morning. Heavy rain was on the way.

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We are camped just at the bottom of this weather system that is moving south!
This morning we went for a drive too Paeroa, about 20 kms from Te Aroha. Paeroa is well known as a stop off to look at the antique shops, otherwise known as over priced old junk, although there is a lot of very nice stuff there too. The rain started about 11am, so it was not going to be nice to go looking at all the out door attractions relating to the early gold mining days of the area.
After lunch we headed back to the camp, but by now the wind was howling. We sat in the wagon for a while and watched the side awning getting repeatedly blown flat then popping up again. Even after parking the wagon to try to give it some shelter, we decided to pack it away, as it was probably going to get destroyed.

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That was a real mission as the wind was doing its best to blow us off our feet. We also decided that the large maple tree we were parked under was likely to loose more than just the small (up to 2in diameter) branches that it had been chucking at us up to now. By now we had decided that the weather was only going to continue getting worse, so we hooked up and headed back to Auckland, where we will stay with Dales parents and then head away again on Monday, when the storm should be over.

[KCStudly]

I guess you can't win them all, but it was a good experience to find the limitations of your setup.

[Sheddie]

I guess you can't win them all, but it was a good experience to find the limitations of your setup.

Fortunatly we didn't pass the limitations, although it must have been pretty close. It was amazing to watch how the fiberglass bows across the top would pop it back up to normal between the gusts. The only damage was to one of the metal corner poles, which got a bit of a kink, easy fix. Also a bit of stitching let go where a couple of the webbing anchor points were attached.
Yesterday, 2nd Jan, we went to the shops and bought some webbing and suitable thread. Then I sat down with Dales Mum and her high falootin, fandangled, push button, electronic everything sewing machine and stitched in the webbing and any other loose threads from a couple of years of wear and tear on the awning. We also stitched some canvas backing on a couple of areas where it has been chafing on the alloy trim on the teardrop.
NOTE. I added a screen shot of the weather map to my last post.

[dales133]

When i was in the middle of nowhere up by port douglas in queensland i went into a shop and was startled to see a fridge full of lemon and paeroa.
Aparantly kiwis used to own the place and they got it in for themselves but all the locals got a taste for it.
When the new owners took over they had to stock it after all the complaints when it ran out

[Sheddie]

So some of those Queenslanders do have good taste, after all!