Bye bye bridge

24 December 2011

The first time we took the bus over the old (one lane) Kopu bridge will also be the last time - the flash new bridge is now open for business, with a lane for each direction of travel.

No doubt fading memories will make people think fondly of the old bridge, but it really was the stuff of holiday-makers' nightmares. One lane, very long, and blocking their way to all those lovely Coromandel beaches.

Many hours were lost sitting in cars on the side of the road, baking in the summer heat. Waiting for a chance to cross the bridge, constantly doing the mental arithmetic to work out the revised arrival time at the bach, or how much daylight would be left to pitch the tent in.

We drove over the old bridge on the day the new bridge was opened up for foot traffic and hordes of people were taking their chance to walk over and have a look around.

In a few months, people will barely remember the excitement, and very few will even bother to look down at the old bridge as they whizz by.

Waiting our turn to cross

The old bridge looks dreadfully worn next to the new one

A very small queue waiting on the other side, compared to what would be
seen in summer

The right hose

25 November 2011

It was tough to come up with a title for this post that didn't sound like a double entendre!

Making sure we can get fresh water is very high on our list of priorities, so having the right hose is essential. It has to be robust, safe for drinking water and long enough to get water from the tap to the bus.

Until now we have carried two garden hoses - one that copes with most situations and an extra piece for when more length is called for. The trouble is these take up a lot of room. The only place they fit was in the engine bay - and the heat from the engine is a problem if they're not stowed just right. In fact both hoses are quite a bit shorter than they used to be, as Craig has trimmed off the melted bits.

Now our search for a better hose has been rewarded by the discovery of the 'handi-hose'. It is 15m long, rolls flat onto a reel and is safe for drinking water. It takes up so little room it doesn't even need to go in the engine bay, fitting into our power cord storage instead.

It does have a couple of disadvantages, neither of which were deal-breakers. You have to unwind the whole 15m even if you're only 4m from the tap, and it has to be laid right out as any kinks will stop the water flow.

Rolled up into a handy package that weighs less than 3kg.

Filling time, with the hose carefully laid out to avoid kinks.

We got our hose from Foxton RV Accessories and it cost just under $100. There are a couple of other stockists in NZ as well.

Pretty!

24 November 2011

In a world of over-whelmingly white vans, how lovely to see this.

Home run

22 November 2011



New porch floor for Nicky...



We've spent the last couple of weeks at 'home' in Wellington; it feels less and less like home each time we return. It's wonderful to catch up with our kids, other family and friends, though.

Craig got to use his beloved nail gun, doing some maintenance work on his daughter's house. She has a great place for us to park the bus outside her house, very quiet and out of the way.

...and gates, complete with beer bottle decorations.

We also went on our version of a shopping spree. This involves a visit to the storage unit to pick up more clothes (and shoes!) for summer. At the same time we got rid of stuff we've been carrying with us but haven't really needed, like the printer that's never been used in 10 months. Plus we loaded up with all the other summer stuff like kayaks, fishing rods and all the paraphernalia that go with them.

So no we're back on the road again, heading for Whitianga for a week or so, before we head north for the summer.

I helped out at the Santa Parade - which really is mostly about the waiting!

Summer can't be far away - this tui was gorging on flax flowers right
outside the bus door.

    



Saving the best for last

29 October 2011

It has taken a week to recover enough energy to post about finals' weekend.

Our camp is now closed, the fences and buildings removed and before long no-one will quite remember we were there.

We had the most amazing time running the Westhaven Campervan Park. Incredible people came through our door every day. Some of them came back time and again and felt like family.

And we were honoured to work with some very cool people; too many to mention but very dear to us nonetheless.

Here are just a few photos from the last weekend. There are so many photos they can't all be posted here, but over the next day or two I will post links to some albums in the sidebar, so keep an eye out for them.

And there is no denying, the All Blacks gave us the perfect finish to the whole wonderful experience.

The cutest fan!

Maori Nesian - the band one of our guards brought in to
entertain the guests who thought of this as home.

Resting up before the final?

So many happy campers.

This week's dress-ups

17 September 2011

Someone couldn't work out how to put his daffodil on!

This is better - and now we can't see his undies.

Simon and friends dressed for the game...

...and their camper dressed for the tour.

Quarter finals

13 October 2011

Each weekend seems to get bigger and busier. Quite a different feeling this weekend, now we've reached the knockout stage.

Many of our guests have been here two or three times now, and many more will be with us for the next two weekends, too. Noticeably fewer of them are existing on a shoestring budget - if they could afford tickets to the quarters, semis and finals, then moeny for the rest of it wasn't much of a worry.

The overall feeling is still party mode, but some are starting to look a bit jaded after weeks of travel, drinking and restaurant eating.

Quote of the week from the Argentinians:
Happy night, sad morning.

Adam from TV One did live weather forecasts from the park
on Saturday, with plenty of help from the Argentinians.

What else would you do with all this space but play rugby?

English Dave and friends enjoying a beer...

...supplied by the friendly folk from The Long Room in Ponsonby.

Pretty sure the guy in pink is in costume, but the Scotsman looked
like that most of the time.

These two were even more cheerful after France vs England game.

These guys, not so much.



And Sunday morning brought us the Whakatane tourism people with
sausages for breakfast for all.

Eggs and all the other people

4 October 2011

On Saturday we were joined by the 2 Eggs Road Trip. This was a couple of guys from Campermate promoting their new app to help campers in NZ find campsites, supermarkets, wi-fi and other services.

Campermate have been touring the country cooking free breakfasts at campgrounds and i-SITEs along the way. One of the 2 Eggs had gone missing the night before, so a camper stepped in to help and soon the delicious smells of bacon and eggs (and Craig's announcements on the loud hailer) were waking our guests from their slumber.  

This weekend was all about the English and the Scottish for us at the Westhaven Campervan Park. The English may have won the rugby, but the Scots took out the weekend for enthusiasm.

That body paint didn't wash off very well the next day.

These two just never stopped smiling.

The queue for the dumpsite on check-out day - we got a fairly good
campervan ballet going at one stage.

If you don't have time to write, put up photos!

29 September 2011

We still haven't worked out where they sleep in this one.

First time we've seen one of these all black campers - but it was
a bunch of Aussie guys.

Van swap - replacement for the one that came in on a
transporter yesterday after the gearbox blew.

French horns!

Contributions from our campers.

Invasion of the Irish

19 September 2011

We had a complete nationality change for this weekend; last week was all about the French, this week we've had Irish and Australians - mainly Irish.

Most of them arrived on Friday and promptly headed for the downtown bars. There were still people getting home at dawn, which gave them a few hours sleep before they were up and ready for the big game.

No doubt where their allegiance lies.

 And then the great upset - Ireland beat Australia. The partying went to a whole new level, although fortunately they partied elsewhere and only came back here when they ran out of steam.

I went for a run early on Sunday and saw one of these lads walking home.
I don't think gorgeous is how I would describe him.

On Sunday we had plenty of the Irish pay for an extra night so they could recover from Saturday. Then they went out and got drunk all over again on Sunday.

In my office on Monday morning. He'd lost his mates and they had
the keys to the camper.

A bit of a breeze

13 September 2011

The last few days of strong winds in Auckland have caused all sorts of chaos - they couldn't even fly the flags on the bridge. Our fences have been getting pushed around, despite us taking some of the banners off.

And then today one long stretch of fence gave up resisting and toppled over. Luckily we have very few vans in, so no campers were affected, but one car in the public parking space was damaged.

Our fencing suppliers were great, so by tonight everything was back in place (with extra bracing in case we have any more Wellington-like winds).

Opening weekend

12 September 2011


Tucked in for the night. Just the way we like them - quiet.



Opening the park on Wednesday gave us the luxury of a couple of warm-up days before the first large group of campers arrived on Friday. Or so we thought. 31 bookings on Thursday quickly swelled to 52 actually checking in; many of them also then decided to book for later dates.

Friday and Saturday nights we were at full capacity of 98 vans, and had to send a lot more to the alternative location at Alexandra Park.

As expected the biggest challenge was the language barrier, with about 70% of our guests this weekend being French. It's hard to keep talking slowly when you have six vans waiting to check in. But most of them do a better job of speaking our language here than we do of speaking their language over there. Favourite phrase of the weekend: We want to stay this day, tomorrow and next tomorrow.

Musketeers waiting for the shuttle.

Everyone is certainly here to have a great time and the atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly. One of our security guards even organised a France vs the Rest of the World touch rugby game.

And now it is Monday, the place is almost empty and we get a few days of reprieve before the next onslaught - Ireland is playing Australia here this weekend, so we'll have a completely different mix of nationalities. And no doubt there will some serious partying to be done. Again.

One of our more unusual visitors - using the boat ramp at Z Pier.

The mobile i-SITE, ready for business.

Installation

4 September 2011

We've had a busy few days, getting the Westhaven Campervan Park ready for action. We're so wrapped up in what we're doing, sometimes it's hard to remember this is really all about the rugby.

The park now has fencing, extra toilet and shower facilities, and office and some signs and hoardings. The office is completely empty and the ablutions aren't hooked up yet, but we've got two whole days to get all that sorted.

Once again we've been impressed by how enthusiastic everyone is and how the whole focus is to get everything working and provide the best experience we can for all our visitors.



650m of temporary fencing. Bet these guys were sore at the end of the day.

Have to keep the public path at Westhaven open.

Some delicate placement of the temporary facilities - and you better not
scratch the flash new toilet block a Z Pier.

Got enough signs there, Craig?

Hope they come and play with us.