It's A Wrap

Real Time

Well, you sure won't miss us on the road now! 

This is what has been keeping us in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel area for the last month while we waited for a special order of vinyl to arrive from overseas. Over the last 3 and half days 'Out There' has been vinyl wrapped along both sides, had the graphics replaced and the pièce de résistance, one of my photos added to the back! 

Some of you may remember a blog I did last September regarding the dull bloom developing on the van and David polishing it. Well once again, and sadly after all his hard work, the bloom returned within a few months. While we love the darker colour of our rig, it does obviously show up marks & fading a lot more than white motorhomes. We decided that after 7 years, 6 of them on the road fulltime and in all weathers, it was time to paint the van. 

Before

For most of our lives we have never followed the norm and we weren't about to now either. After a lot of research, David had decided on 'wrapping' the van instead of painting it, if it ever needed to be done. We had recently visited a company in Henderson and were very impressed with what we saw and then through a chance meeting at the NZMCA Park at Waihi Beach we met another Ultima owner who happened to have a relation at the Mount who did vinyl wrapping. 

After

Craig from Wrap It Signs- located in Newton Road, Mt Maunganui- came and saw us while we were parked at the Mount campground. David also visited him at his workshop and we were both very impressed with his attitude and quality of work. We also liked his sense of humour!  We were finally sold on the idea when he showed us a car that had just been completely wrapped in black. Until you opened the door you could not tell that it had once been totally white. 

Much of wrapping that Craig does is in primary and/or bright colours so once we'd chosen our colour- as near as possible to the original- he had to order it in from overseas. Hence the reason David had some fishing time in the Coromandel while we waited. 

The vinyl duly arrived and with our home out of bounds, we de-camped to a lovely Airbnb at the Mount for a few days.

It was a tight fit but with good instructions from Craig & I, David managed to back the 5th-wheeler through an impossibly tight doorway into the workshop. I know you're thinking ('cause I was too) 'How the heck are they going to wrap that left hand side?' Well they did and it included a bit of Kiwi ingenuity/#8 wire thinking, David re-hitched and maneuvered the front of the van over while Craig and Dylan used their weight to push the rear over; their weight and the very slippery backing paper that came off  the vinyl, placed on the floor under the tyres.

David helped out each day working alongside the guys (or was that hindering). He removed and replaced all the hardware that could be taken off the van and helped tidy up as they progressed. He also took photos for me on his phone.

Dylan set about removing the old graphics using a steamer similar to a wallpaper stripper.

They seemed to peel off very easily. You can clearly see the fading that has happened in these photos.

Initially we'd chosen a metallic vinyl similar in colour to the van but unfortunately that wasn't available, the suppliers only had a similar matt colour. To overcome this Craig added a top glossy coat of clear material to the vinyl which gave it an added sparkle and the extra benefit of double the thickness. The colour is quite deceptive in these photos and in real life, under different lights and from different angles.

The vinyl is laid out on the work table and cut to length and then- this is where the expertise and skill comes into it- stuck on the van side, sealed, window holes cut and everything maneuvered into place. It's just about impossible to see the edge and no masking is required!

Once both sides had been wrapped and the pièce de résistance applied- Craig was crafty, we didn't see him add that, it was there in all its glory when we arrived the next morning- 'Out There' was put outside so the slide-out sides and graphics could be done.

The most amazing part of the whole job, for me anyway, was how the graphics were done. Craig had taken a couple of photos on his phone of the rig outside on the road before we delivered it to the workshop. And from just these non-descript photos he was able to reproduce the exact same graphics (give or take a couple of minor details we decided to leave off) and then place them on the rig with no measurements whatsoever. Just a keen eye and some pretty awesome talent. 

This section of wrap was replaced after a small imperfection was spotted. How's this? The graphics were peeled back, the section removed, the new piece stuck on and then the graphics went back over it like nothing had happened! Is that amazing or what (can you tell I'm impressed?) I know how much fiddling and worry goes into sticking the flamin' red NZMCA Wings on the van let alone all these dashes & swirls!

David had suggested we could put a photo on the back of the 5th-wheeler when he was originally looking at the wrapping process and we had toyed with the idea but had pushed it to the back of our minds as we couldn't decide what photo and how big to have it, amongst other things. But once the job was on track and we'd spoken to Craig we thought we'd re-visit the option.

Initially I was thinking of just having it over half the wall, down to the bottom of the window, or 100mm or so further on but Craig suggested filling the whole space as the window edge would detract from the photo and the box on the back was going to cover a lot of it anyway. So that is why we now have a larger than life 'muriel' on the back of our house!

But how to decide on what photo to use? Well David had one in mind and I had several so over an evening (while Craig patiently waited for the file), I put together a few very basic mock-ups.

1) Whangarei Falls- (Craig was most impressed, he's from Whangarei & he'd never seen them looking so spectacular) but we decided it was a bit too busy and imagine that driving down the road in front of you, it would be like someone stole half the bush.

2) Poolburn Dam- Nearly my favourite, I just love the ruggedness, the fishing cribs and the two tone ice and the fact that it's not a part of NZ you usually see. But let's face it, I just love Poolburn full stop.

3) Aoraki/Mt Cook & the Hooker Valley- again very busy and hey, most of New Zealand has seen a photo of Mt Cook.

4) Kea, our cheeky endemic mountain parrot- David was keen to see the mock up of this one although it wasn't his favourite. We dismissed it straight away; it would be quite scary with Big Bird looking down on you as we drove along.

And the winner was-

5) Ahuriri Valley, MacKenzie Country- where it was minus 16c and I had myself a mini hoar frost this particular morning. This was both our favourite photo and family also picked it when I sent out an SOS. It was the only photo that had our van in it too, and I liked the way the river leads your eye into the scene.

The photo just happens to have appeared on the TV weather back when I took it and also was a NZMCA Motor Caravanner magazine cover, now it'll be forever famous travelling around New Zealand on the back of our van! Here's the blog I did on our visit to the remote Ahuriri Valley.

The photo above & below are comparison shots; above with no storage box on the back and the slide-out side still to be wrapped. And below with the box on and side wrapped.

All finished and ready to go...

...and just in time as a heavy rain storm swept in.

Then it was just a matter of turning the rig around, pausing for some photos and heading out. Job well done. We thoroughly enjoyed dealing with Craig and would highly recommend Wrap It for any job you may want done (and don't worry if your rig is bigger than ours, Craig has access to another larger workshop)

Here are another couple of comparison shots of before & after. Click the photo to see a larger version and then scroll back & forward to see them side by side.

The only visual difference I can see, compared with paint, is a slightly raised join where the vinyl overlaps the next drop. In the photo below there's one down the right hand side of the window on the left and another at the bottom of the awning arm. Nothing to write home about. 

And I know some of you will be thinking how about the cost compared with painting. While we didn't have an exact quote on painting, all indications were that wrapping would be approximately half to two-thirds the cost of painting. Then there is the time factor, which can be an issue when you live in your van fulltime and need to vacate it while work is being carried out. Our job was completed in three & half days so accommodation costs were kept to a minimum, and we had a mini-holiday! Well I did anyway, David worked his butt off.

Oh, and by the way, did I tell you we are absolutely wrapped?

Update- we returned to have the front wrapped too, here's the blog post.

Mt Maunganui Roundup

Catch-up

Well, so much for catching up, I've had all the time in the world but somehow I've managed to get further behind! Oh well, no worries, I'm back here now and I should be able to move through the last month or so quite quickly due to us having stayed put for longer periods and not exploring so much.

It was great to be back 'home' at the Mount and parked up on the harbour side of the Mount Campground. We would have preferred to be in the section just below us but as it was the end of term, the bottom section was reserved for a number of school camps. 

Our Tauranga family towed their caravan across the bridge and joined us for the first weekend which was fabulous; we didn't have to fight the traffic back and forward to catch up with them (we had enough of that later in the stay- the traffic problem has grown ten-fold since we left the Bay over 5 years ago and we even noticed a big difference in just the few months since our last visit). 

It was lovely to see Maddie & Joel again, they've growing up so fast. Here they are watching the smoker do it's business; our tenting neighbours caught a kahawai of the Pilot Bay wharf, they were going out for dinner so passed it on to us which was very kind of them. We smoked it and shared it around at happy-hour.

The weather wasn't the best for the first couple of weeks; cloudy, cold and very windy but it often cleared each evening just as the sun went down; a golden strip of sunshine lighting up the ships berthed across the harbour.

There were  a couple of days when the prevailing westerly wind turned gale force and created a bit of havoc in Pilot Bay, blowing the hire catamarans out onto the road and crushing a couple of signs in the process. A hire boat company's trailer was also blown across the carpark and into the side of a parked car and a dinghy washed ashore from one of the moored yachts. 

There was a mad scramble in the school camp below us to get their 20 odd tents down before they were blown to smithereens. They managed about a half of them before the storm and heavy rain hit with full force. Sadly the camp was cut short and they had to call up the buses from Rotorua to come and pick them up.

Once the school camps had finished and school holidays started we were able to shift down to our preferred site on the lower level and that is where we stayed for the duration...

...watching all manner of RVs and boats coming and going around us. And as much as we love being out the back of beyond there's nothing quite like being right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a busy Mount (for a short time anyway).

Photos; Clockwise- 1)What a beast! A brand new American job, 2) The ocean-side camp was full most nights, a definite trend with more RVs (both private & hire) on the road year round now, 3) A ute & trailer combination camper for a family of four, 4) Another beast, it's not often you see a tractor and trailer unit with a large boat travelling down Pilot Bay, it's mostly tinnies and jet skies. 5) A school group prepare to cross the harbour (just before another storm blows in) & 6) The car-carrier Courageous Ace came and went several times during our stay.

This Sealegs needed it's own photo story; it was parked on a small traffic island near the boat ramp, the occupants had climbed out and wandered off down the road. I saw them later at one of the cafes on the Main Beach. I like to think they motored over from Tauranga (beating the traffic), pulled up on the kerb and met friends for lunch!  

The Mount Hot Pools were busy morning, noon and night helped along by cool weather, school holidays, regular aqua aerobics and 'Soak'n Sunday Sounds when patrons could enjoy a relaxing soak while listening to a live music from a local artist. I took this from up the top of the camp when I went to check the moon rise (clouds in the way).

We were due to leave the Mount the week before ANZAC day but had an appointment change which meant we'd have to stay a little longer, something I was secretly pleased about. I'd always wanted to attend an ANZAC Dawn Service at the Mount but had never managed to do it when we lived in Tauranga. With the campground just around the corner from the Cenotaph it made perfect sense to finally attend. 

My girlfriend who lives just across the road from the camp said she'd come with us and invited us back for breakfast afterwards and I made ANZAC biscuits to have with our coffee later. Whenever we stay at the Mount, I text her and say 'Howdy neighbour' and she knows I'm back in town and there's a wine waiting.

It was a very mild morning (even though most came wrapped up warmly) with thousands of people quietly making the pilgrimage through the dark streets towards the glowing red Cenotaph which sits on the sand dunes opposite Mt Drury, overlooking the most perfect beach and coastline.

The parade was led by a lone piper, Angela Dixon and Mt Maunganui College's Ella Cox sang the New Zealand national anthem and later a beautiful rendition of Chris Skinner's 'Sons of Gallipoli'

"We sang - God of Nations at thy feet.

As we stood on that sacred shore

With a heartfelt pride

Somewhere deep inside

For the sons of Gallipoli...."

The 6am service was shorter than we'd expected and there were a few chuckles from the crowd for such a sombre occasion- it started 5 minutes earlier than stated and one of the singers hadn't managed to push her way through the crowd to the stage. Then a sound speaker died and crackled in and out of speeches. And later when it did spark back into life, a stage whisper was caught from the 'top table' which set us all off giggling. 

Shades of blue and black gave way to a deep orange sunrise as dawn broke over the horizon and the service finished as a lone Harvard bomber with its throaty roar, flew in from the ocean straight over the top of us. 

Later in the afternoon, with many people out enjoying the sunshine,  I wandered back along the Main Beach...

...back to the Cenotaph to check out the floral tributes that had been left.

There'd also been a 9:30am Memorial Service and more planes had flown over while we were having breakfast.

Later in the week, and feeling sorry for myself because I was missing Central Otago's wonderful autumn colours this year, I thought I'd head up to McLaren Falls to see if there was some colour up there. 

Fifteen minutes from Tauranga and just off the Kaimai highway, McLaren Falls Park is 190 hectares of beautiful parkland popular for camping, fishing, kayaking, picnics and bush walks. It is also home to one of the best botanical collections of trees in New Zealand.

There are two branches to McLaren Falls, one is fed over a dam wall from Lake McLaren which is inside the park (above) and the other from the nearby Namuwahine River (below). Three days after I took these photos there wasn't a rock to be seen as a raging torrent of brown water roared over the falls as another rain storm hit the Bay of Plenty- a video of it was posted on a Facebook page I belong to.

And just to get perspective did you see the children playing on the rocks in the first photo (there are four- look for the boy under the girl in blue) and the two boys on their bikes in the photo above. Click on the photos to enlarge.

There was some subtle colour inside the park.....or perhaps I have just got used to the amazing golden yellows, bright oranges and fiery reds of a Central Otago autumn.

Even the Swamp Cyprus' didn't seem as rusty orange as I remember them.

Coromandel here we come...

And the Darwin Award....

....of the day goes to... "drum roll please".....

The guy in the black tee-shirt....

Followed  a close second by the guy in the blue tee-shirt!

And in third place four guys with no tee-shirts!

It's brilliant day in the Bay (the other Bay). A great day to climb to the top of Mt Maunganui along with a thousand other people and a few idiots.

A Wet Farewell

After four weeks of good weather with just a few showers and a little bit of wind the drought has well and truly broken, the heavens have opened up and an awful lot of water has been dumped on us over the last couple of days. It’s hard to hear yourself think inside the van- the thunderous rain on the roof is joined by the continuous rumble of the crashing surf outside. Just a few silly buggers have ventured past on the boardwalk and the campground has emptied out. Only the hardy &/or mad are left to fight the elements including a number of young travellers in small tents, some had been pitched on the bare patches in the sun a few days ago but this morning were in ankle deep water.

Another Ultima fifth-wheeler arrived over the weekend, Brian & Pauline live locally and take a week off from their business every month to recharge their batteries. This week they’ve come to the Mount to stay, it’s a pity the weather has packed up for them.

‘The long and short of it’- the family of 5 in the cute little retro caravan  on the site beside the other Ultima have been having an exciting time camping, until today that is, when the kids couldn’t play outside.

Tonight is our last at the Mount campground, we’ve said goodbye to the family this evening   and will be ready to break camp early tomorrow morning. The energy resource manager has the van booked in for an extra solar panel to be added tomorrow morning before we leave town. The entertainment manager (and energy resource user) has had a new TV fitted in the bedroom. Ready for those long winter evenings and extra cold mornings down south next year.

And one final photo of another ship arriving in port and the beautiful red of the pohutukawas that line the Mount walking tracks. Sadly the heavy rain over the last few days will have battered the flowers, now the paths will be lined in red instead.

And I am pleased to report that after 4 weeks my camera has finally been returned. To Napier. But that’s another story……So now I’ll have to wait until we arrive there before I can get clicking again.