Sleepin Around New Zealand: First Trip and More!

[dales133]

Hey
! We drive on the right side of the road! Isn't that why your cars are called left hand drive
Took me a while to not walk out in front of cars on left hand drive roads

[KCStudly]

Took me a while to not walk out in front of cars on left hand drive roads...

So true. You just don't realize how subconscious your awareness of traffic is ingrained until you are nearly hit by a bus.

Think about it. At a very early age (here in the states at least) we are taught to look left, then right, then left again before crossing the street or turning across traffic. There's a reason the near side traffic flow is a priority in or subconscious.

Now stand near the edge of the road with your back to the traffic for a few minutes not really paying too much attention. When that bus comes whizzing by inches from the curb it will get your attention quick how unaware you were that it came from the "wrong" direction.

[Sheddie]

A couple of weekends back we went for a day trip, with our local car club, up around the Hokianga. This is the area where both our mothers and their families came from. Dale was born and raised in Auckland and did not know a lot about her mothers family. I have always lived in Whangarei and when we first met we did not know of the Hokianga connection.
We met with the rest of the car club members in Kamo, then headed off in convoy travelling up SH1 to Okaihau where we turned off to take the more scenic route.



First stop was at the Horeke Tavern for morning tea and scones with jam and cream. Horeke is a small settlement on the waters edge in the upper reaches of the Hokianga Harbour. The tavern is an old Kauri building with the inside having Kauri panels and large exposed Kauri beams. The walls are decorated with large photos of the early years when the Kauri trees were being cut for milling, ship building and export.


Car park at the Horeke Tavern.











After morning tea, while the others went to visit the Mangungu Mission House,http://www.hokianga.net.nz/hokianga/horeke/mangungu.htm
we made a short detour to the Lawn Cemetery at Umawera, where our Grand Parents are buried. Our Grandfathers are buried about 20 feet apart. Umawrea consists of a primary school and surrounding farms. This is the school that my Mum and her brothers and sisters went to along with Dales uncles and aunts.


Further up SH1, at Mungamuka Bridge, we turned off to head to Kohukohu for lunch at the tavern.

The War Memorial at Kohukohu


From Kohukohu we drove to the ferry landing at The Narrows to catch the car ferry across the Hokianga Harbour to Rawene.





From here we drove through Kaikohe and on to home.

[dales133]

Nice trip, great country up there.
My beloved german shepard/Rhodesian ridgeback cross I had for 16 years I got in mungamuka at the local dairy after a 21st at the marae

[Shadow Catcher]

One of my favorite classes in anthropology was in dialects of English i.e. what do you call it, a sofa, davenport couch... Adding Lawn Cemetery (made for some interesting speculation as our lawn has died a couple of times) was fun. Again thanks for sharing.

[Sheddie]

Hi Shadow, yes the English language has a lot of amusing variations. Even in a country as small as New Zealand we get different words used for the same thing. For example in the North Island a seaside holiday home is a "Bach" (pronounced batch), in the South Island it is a "Crib". You may see from the photo that there are no head stones in the cemetery, instead there are bronze plaques set flush on the ground. For one thing it makes it easier for one of the local farmers to bring his tractor in with a mower on it to mow the "Lawn".

[KCStudly]

"Small world" in an isolated country came to mind when you described the proximity of the family gravestones. To put it into perspective for my fellow Americans, NZ has a landmass similar to Michigan except it is stretched out over two islands with latitude extremes about equal to San Diego, California, to Salem, Oregon if you flipped it up with the crease on the equator.

Thanks again Sheddie for continuing to share your wonderful country and adventures.

[pchast]

Just beautiful. Pieces of history too.

Thanks Frank.

[Sheddie]

Capri Car Club NZ AGM Hamilton.
Queens Birthday Weekend 29th May - 1st June 2015.
For us in NZ, Queens Birthday Weekend, marks the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. For us personally it means Capri Club NZ AGM. This time in Hamilton, 300kms south from here. Another excuse to hook the TD to the back of one of the Capris and go away for the weekend We headed off Friday morning with the first stop that Dale was wanting to make was at Sheep World, just north of Warkworth, to look at sheepskin boots. The five minute stop got stretched out to about half an hour when the old guy that runs the camp ground there came rushing out to check out this little caravan. He was telling me about the boat he had just built and insisted I go take a look. I am glad I did, I've not seen one quite like that before. It is a trailer boat without a trailer.

About 17ft long of his own design. The removable draw bar stuck out the front like the torpedo on a large ship.

Part way down the side, the hull bulged out to house the retractable undercarriage. He cranks them up and down with a cordless drill, although they don't take much cranking up as once it is in the water the wheels float up them selves.

Powered by a 30hp outboard it apparently cruises quite well. Four bunks, a toilet and all self contained, pretty much a TD on water.

After another slow trip through Auckland we arrived at the camp in Hamilton, late in the afternoon. As you can see the autumn leaves were deep on the ground.

We set up camp, then relaxed with a cuppa, before heading off in to town to meet up with the rest of the members for a natter and beer and pizza

[dales133]

Love that boat and your making me homesick o cw again
My best friends are over from nz visiting thier daughter in melborne but sadly I'll only get to catch up with them briefly for lunch when we get back from Asia. ..

[Vedette]

Hey Frank
I know I have said it before, but I will say it again, you guys need to form a Tear Jerkers chapter in NZ.
With winter upon you, it is a good time to organize the troops and plan events for the next camping season.
It only takes one person with a little time and enthusiasm to get things rolling.
The PNW Chapter of the TJ was at a bit of a stand still until last winter when we stated to rally the troops.
Now we have 66 members on our "Active Roster' and we are getting a lot of response when planning events.
You are the Guy! ........Make it happen!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[alaska teardrop]

Frank, I must say thank you so much for taking us along on your tours of New Zealand.

Fred

[Sheddie]

Love that boat and your making me homesick o cw again

It sure is a cute little ship. It is a shame that it was stuck in a corner where I couldn't get some decent photos. He uses it in the Mahurangi harbour.

Hey Frank
I know I have said it before, but I will say it again, you guys need to form a Tear Jerkers chapter in NZ.
With winter upon you, it is a good time to organize the troops and plan events for the next camping season.
It only takes one person with a little time and enthusiasm to get things rolling.
The PNW Chapter of the TJ was at a bit of a stand still until last winter when we stated to rally the troops.
Now we have 66 members on our "Active Roster' and we are getting a lot of response when planning events.
You are the Guy! ........Make it happen!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

There has been a bit of discussion happening, I'll pm you later.

Frank, I must say thank you so much for taking us along on your tours of New Zealand.

Fred

You are welcome Fred keep an eye out, there is more to come.

[Sheddie]

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

Saturday morning we met up at the Hamilton Car Museum for a car show and concourse. While the judges were doing their thing, we had a collection of photos of Capri parts to identify and answer various questions about. Turned out I got the most correct, by quite a good margin, on that part but missed out on the prize as we didn't participate in the second part of counting Capris. We needed to be at the meeting that night, but we had other plans.




After the judging was over we headed off in convoy to Raglan, a harbour settlement on the west coast about 40 min from Hamilton.
We ended up at a park overlooking the ocean beach, a popular place for surfing.



Lunch had been set up here for us all, so we stood around in the sun while we ate and enjoyed the views.



The tide was out as we drove back through Raglan on the way to our next stop at the Bridal Veil Falls.


Finding parking for 34 Capris took a while. Luckily there was not much through traffic, as we had the road well blocked.

An easy walk along a beautifully prepared track took us to the top of the falls where a platform let us look over the edge in to a big hole in the bush as the water cascaded down.



It is hard to believe that the peaceful little stream above, feeds the torrent below.



Another view from the top, then down a few hundred steps to view from below.



We stopped at another viewing point half way down.


The views from the bottom were well worth the walk, although the legs were getting a bit jelly like by the time I got back to the top again.









We headed back to Hamilton and our camp site to shower and change, before being picked up by my cousin and his wife in their recently acquired Chevy, to go out for dinner. Sure was a better option than going to an Annual General Meeting

[KCStudly]

Paradise. Absolutely beautiful. Keep those pics acomin' Sheddie. Luv 'um.