The Giblings in New Zealand 2011 - 2012

November 2011

       After collecting 'Tantalus' from the RV Centre at Paeroa and enjoying a few days along the Seabird Coast, we spent a night at Omana campground.  The kitchen facilities are quite good, even has a stock of firewood!

		Gray at Truck and Engineering at Paeroa had checked and serviced everything, as usual, then arranged for a good clean up and polish so we feel quite grand this summer.
Then it was up to North Shore and our other 'home'		The weather wasn't too hot so we managed some gardening
Hannah plants peas and carrots	Dan waters the seeds, Hannah reckons it's a job well done.  Hope we can eat it all for Christmas.
Gulf Harbour was, as usual, our first overnight stop north of Auckland.  To our delight, the disabled seagull we call Chips was still about and we saw a local arrive to feed him fresh fish.  No wonder he looks well.  He still can't fly and probably never will now. Not bad surroundings to hang about, eh? It's a great overnight stop and there's always something to watch. Below, the tui in the bottlebrush tree was at Whangarei Golf Club		Our second night was in Whangarei where I spotted this tree blossom.  Shame about the cables but I can't be bothered to remove them.
	Matapouri.  A bay we have missed in the past.  Our thanks to Andrew and Amy for telling us about it. Below, the seagulls smelled the bacon
	Kerikeri Left: watching the chocolate makers at Makana but then ...  later ... we got the feeling we were the ones being watched ?? Fantail, swallow and ewes at Rainbow Falls Road POP
There's a very good forum for motorhome people.  It's NZ Motorhome Forum.  Through that we met Grant and Smillie.  What a terrific name.  Great people who pointed us in the right direction - or were they telling us where to go?  Well, first of all, here's a great place to see - Raupo Bay and next, Grant found this place on the internet.  It's  Shipwreck Bay (below), a Maori owned campsite but it wasn't actually open.  Between us we parked up and blagged a night there for $10  (Just made ourselves look as though we'd been drinking a little wine, I mean us, would we now???  Must have been the influence of our new friends.)  Anyway, we didn't get chucked out and it is a fabulous setting.
The last time we visited Cape Reinga, it was foggy, so we decided to make the 220 k round trip to see it properly. Quess what happened, it was more foggy than the last time.	But look, you can almost see London ......... that's 18029 km, but it was foggy so we couldn't.	Overnight campground at Taputaputa It rained most of the next day so we stayed.  The photo below is just to prove that the sea around New Zealand is not always blue ! and the gravel road out was quite 'interesting' in the morning.  I would have liked to take some pics but needed both hands on the helm Later, the main road had a surprise for us.  It's not all sheep here
Taraire Water Garden takes about an hour to walk round.  It's also an overnight stop Below: What else is on their Bucket List I ask myself On the ferry to Russell		I think this is a Northern Rata, not a pohutakawa but they look pretty identical to me
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