A Wrap Update & Back to Napier

Real-time

Here's a question for those of you that visit dump stations while on your travels. What is the furtherest you've travelled to dump? (get rid of your black water/toilet waste for my followers that have no idea what the heck I'm talking about).

We've just done a 110km round trip which must be some sort of record. Well, it is for us!

We left Pyes Pa where we'd been staying in Tauranga and headed over the Tauranga Direct Road to Rotorua. We were planning on taking two or three days to travel down to Napier. We stopped in at the Ngongotaha NZMCA Park in Rotorua to dump, it was easier to do this than fight Tauranga's traffic to visit the dump stations there.

Rotorua NZMCA Park

We then had lunch parked on the bottom tier of the Park before either heading on or staying the night; we hadn't quite decided. While we were dumping David was wandering back and forward & I wondered what he was up to. While having lunch he walked around the rig again and then came back inside saying he wasn't happy.

You can't notice it here...

Uh-oh, I knew what was coming. He wasn't happy that the nose cone of the fifth-wheeler hadn't been wrapped. You might recall from the other blog post that it hadn't been done because it hadn't faded like the sides; it's fibreglass not the composite panels that are on the sides. The front either toned in with the wrap colour or looked the same colour depending on whether the rig was in the shade or not.

Rather than carry on south, we decided to head back to Tauranga and arrange to have the nose wrapped too. Hence the 110km round trip to dump!

I knew if we left it, it would bug David everytime he looked at it, which, lets face it would be every day! It was the Wednesday before Easter, with just one working day available before the holiday break but Craig at Wrap It Signs was happy to fit us in on Thursday morning for which we were extremely grateful.

...but you can here, from the other side (Whareroa Reserve)

Back in Tauranga we parked in the freedom camping area at Whareroa Reserve where six  CSC vehicles are permitted to stay each night.  The boat ramp's large carpark is beside Te Awanui Drive- the harbour bridge road that connects Tauranga to the Mount- the large sites are great for bigger rigs, we were able to stay hitched ready for an early start.

It was a lovely calm evening, two boys staying with their grandparents in a caravan next door were fishing along the shoreline...

David giving a few pointers

...and from the boat ramp jetty as the sun went down.

It was a little surreal watching the calm waters and beautiful sky while listening to the sound of bumper to bumper traffic heading home across the harbour just a few feet away. And with the reserve on the flight path to the airport, departing & incoming planes added to cacophony. Not to be outdone, around 4:30am the noise from multiple trucks heading our on their daily runs reached inside the van via the cold still morning air (including several that had parked up in the carpark overnight). A great place to spend a night but don't expect it to be too peaceful.

The next morning we arrived at Wrap It Signs and Craig & Dylan got to work, first removing the old graphics and then wrapping the front; the side sections first, followed by the middle.

The front hatch door and panel were also wrapped after David removed the hardware. Once the wrap was done, Craig had to print and add all the new graphics. The job took a little longer than expected but we were more than happy to wait, though poor Craig didn't have an early start to his long weekend. We left around 8:30pm and by the time we stopped for some takeaways in Rotorua...

...we didn't arrive at the Taupo NZMCA Park until 11:30pm. The Taupo Park is a large one but it was packed solid with members about to enjoy the long weekend. I had my fingers crossed we'd be able to slot ourselves in somewhere without having to unhitch as we'd be leaving for Napier early the next morning. I did a quiet walk (crunch, crunch on the scoria drive) around both sections of the Park looking for a gap. 

It was eerily quiet considering how many people were there. I did hear a few heaters purring away and two or three dogs barked from inside vans. There was nothing available that wouldn't involve a lot of noise getting to on one side, but luckily there was a clear space beside the clothes lines on the other. Perfect! We didn't put the slide out or the legs down (until the morning), both would have sounded very loud in the still night air. A motorhome arrived about 10 minutes after us, I could hear them debating where to go, so I directed them into the 'Garden Bar' just in front of us. 

We headed off to Napier the next morning, as half of Napier headed north. I have never seen the Napier-Taupo Road so busy, it was virtually bumper to bumper the whole 140km. We are now, once again, parked up at our own personal POP beside Mum & Dads'. And looking very smart indeed if I must say so myself! 

A Claytons Holiday- Dad reckons he doesn't have to go away for a break, he can sit in his chair in the 'orchard' looking at the back of our van and he feels like he's on holiday. I'm not sure if he thinks he's in the frosty MacKenzie Country or the citrus groves of the Mediterranean.

Just under 4 years after wrapping the 5th-wheeler we had the a black section added to the top of the nose, it was starting to show signs of wear from the constant bombardment of bugs & bits while travelling. Plus David reckoned it would look a lot better aesthetically- I think he was right! 

Conway Flat, North Canterbury

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.

Sand, Sea & Sunrises- Tokerau Beach

Catch-up

From Maitai Bay we moved back down the Karikari Peninsula to Tokerau Beach where the sunrises are spectacular.

We decided we'd stay at the Tokerau Beach NZMCA Park rather than the freedom camping area further down at Ramp Rd; we did take a look but found it was quite busy with all the relatively flat areas in amongst the sand dunes taken. And the track in was also very uneven with large dips and holes full of water. There were a couple of places we may have squeezed into but we didn't feel like upsetting the neighbours. 

The NZMCA Park is a large site, with access to Tokerau Beach down a short grassy track between a horse paddock and an orchard. We parked near the back fence which will soon be a lovely green natural fence; a great way to soften the boundary between neighbours. I did have a chuckle to myself though when I saw that the native climber Tecomanthe/Three Kings Vine has been planted.

There's no holding them back once they stop sulking about being disturbed, it'll be like the day of the triffids when their strong vines head out. I had several vines growing on my pergolas in Tauranga and I very nearly had to take a chainsaw to them to keep them contained.

The Tecomathe is not so rare now that it has come to suburbia but once there was only one lone plant in existence. It was discovered on Three Kings Islands, 55 km off the northern tip of New Zealand during a scientific survey in 1945. No other specimens have ever been found in the wild and all existing vines have come about after the original plant was propagated.

They do have beautiful pale green creamy white flowers that hang like bunches of grapes from the underneath of the vines, they burst directly out of the branches at odd spots along the length (even though it's known as a vine, it's actually a tree with vine like branches). The flowers have a very faint perfume during the evenings.

I loved the Gumdiggers Hut that the local NZMCA Branch have made for the sign-in kiosk; it's great to see some creative flair in our parks. And like other parks there was a lovely little herb & flower garden growing behind the shed, always a welcome treat to those of us that live on the road full-time.

When we arrived at the Park there was just one other caravan on site. As we stopped to decide where to park, a couple came out of the caravan towards us waving. We didn't recognise them but they obvious knew who we were, they have been following our travels for quite some time. 'We knew our paths would cross one day' they said.

Ken & Sandra are David's nephew's in-laws and we'd last seen them at the nephew's wedding 25 years ago even though they travel regularly around New Zealand and holidayed alongside David's sister & husband in their motorhome for a number of years. We had a great time catching up over the following week or so, enjoying a few happy hours and comparing fishing & travel stories.

Some of you will recognise this stunning sunset photo over the Tokerau Beach Park, it appears as the opening page photo on my latest article in the April/May NZMCA Motor Caravanner magazine which has just been released. 

Tokerau Beach itself is a beautiful wide sandy beach that stretches for miles in a large curve around the western side of Doubtless Bay. 

Other than the seaside settlement of Tokerau Beach at the top of the bay...

 ....the rest of the coastline is deserted; just waves, sand and dunes for as far as the eye can see. Vehicles are allowed to drive along the beach and at low tide there's a steady stream of cars, utes, boats on trailers, motorbikes, quad bikes and even a few motorhomes driving up and down the beach (motorhomes are actually not allowed but that didn't stop a few hire vans from trying it out).

I didn't have to wait long for a subject to enter my frame anytime I visited the beach, sometimes it was like Piccadilly Station! You'll remember Coca-cola Lake from my last post and its tannin stained water, well this is a tannin stained stream which flows out to sea in front of the NZMCA Park. And yes it's naturally stained and yes, it's safe to swim in (if it was deep enough).

While at Tokerau Beach we drove over to the otherside of the  Karikari Peninsula to check out another 'secret' freedom camping area.

Once through the small settlement of Rangiputa, the road ends at a DOC reserve, a track continues on through the reserve to a small sandy point. Rangiputa forms one side of the entrance to the huge & shallow Rangaunu Harbour. Apparently there is good fishing off this point and along the nearby shoreline. 

It is a very pretty spot and I can see it's appeal in the off season when there might be one or two vans parked up. But I've seen photos of vans packed higgledy-piggledy into this tiny space which has very few level areas; I'm afraid that has no appeal to us at all. I also wonder at the sign at the entrance to the DOC reserve, a sign with a a line through a tent which means 'No Camping'. Now, does that mean tents only or all camping? I'm sure everyone who stays here would suggest it's for tents only....

On our way home we came across the Tokerau version of a traffic jam, sheep from Rangiputa Station being shifted.

I had spotted a church out at Merita near Maitai Bay when we were staying there, so I went on my own tikitour back out to check it out. I decided, after speaking to a couple we'd met at Maitai and who were also parked up at Rangiputa when we visited, to take the Whatuwhiwhi Road around the outside of the peninsula. They had driven the road in their motorhome, in the opposite direction, most of it had been through a pine plantation. 

I had read that it was a private road but they said they got through, there were a couple of gates to open which weren't locked. Unfortunately I didn't turn off when I should have and found myself driving down into a private little settlement at the end of the road. Uh-oh, I went to back up and found a car behind me. I smiled sweetly and said I was looking for a church I'd seen, he told me I'd have to drive back to the main road and go the usual way round. I spotted the sign saying 'Private Road' a mile or so back and passed the pine forest road the others had taken- private also!

So after that rigmarole when I finally did get to the church, I couldn't decide if the rough gravel track up to it was private or not, there were no signs. Having come this far there was no turning back....until I found myself in the front garden of a house, and the church in a paddock further on! Uh-oh again, I did a quick 20 point turn and headed back down where I decided a long shot of the church was the best I was going to get today! 

At the top of the peninsula near the turnoff into the Maitai Bay DOC Camp, the road carries on straight ahead, this one really is private and there are large signs saying so. Instead I took a nearby side track which I bumped and slid along until I reached an area that resembled a carpark.  This is on the west side of the peninsula overlooking Karikari Beach and all the way along to Puheke Beach beyond the hill which in turn is actually not too far as the crow flies from Rangaputa. This is the beach that the Carrington Resort overlooks (see previous blog). There's a short sandy track down to the beach but it's blowing a gale today so I'll only stop to take in the views.

I drove back down the peninsula and decided while I was out exploring I needed to visit another beach I'd read about.  I did take a short-cut but decided that discretion was the better part of valour and turned around when I found a large deep bog in front of me while trying to get around the edge of a large swamp (I'd also heard about the short-cut from the couple in the motorhome, they had tried to drive it too but the track had become too rugged for them). 

So I took the long way round- actually the same road that takes you to Rangiputa but I turned off a few kilometres beforehand and eight kilometres of gravel later...

...I found myself on the most stunning beach I've seen so far on our travels. 

This is beautiful Puheke Beach and I had it all to myself! Squeaky white sand and crystal clear turquoise waters, it's looked like a tropical paradise. I wasn't brave enough to go for a swim, it wasn't quite warm enough. but the sand was lovely and warm so I sat down near the top of a dune for awhile, watching the clouds as they rolled and tumbled past overhead, chased by a squall I could see coming from Mt Camel's direction.

And what are the chances of this? Only in New Zealand. On the way home I came across the same traffic jam as the other day.

Of course a visit to the Far North wouldn't be complete without a stop at the 'famous in New Zealand'  fish and chip shop at Mangonui. I say 'famous in New Zealand' but in fact from the cross section of people lined up to buy lunch this place is now world famous and on many tourists 'must do' list, such is the hype generated by social media and review sites (she says ironically).

The restaurant's location adds to the character & atmosphere of the place- perched on poles over the harbour with a covered deck where you can have your meal watching fishing boats come and go from the nearby wharf.  Fishing boats that bring the restaurant it's daily supply of fresh fish and in particular Bluenose, the Mangonui's Fish Shop's specialty.

Can you see David patiently waiting....for his lunch! 

The meal was excellent, fresh thick fillets of fish and crispy hot chips- although I would say a little on the small size for a serving of an iconic Kiwi dish. And because I was missing our Puriri Bay freshly caught snapper, I also bought a large tub of kokoda (raw fish salad) to take home. Rather expensive but well worth it and nearly as nice as my own home-made salad!

After lunch we took a leisurely stroll around the charming historic harbourside settlement of Mangonui. We didn't know it yet, but we returned to Mangonui later on in our travels, during the New Year holiday season. What a transformation! The queue for fish 'n chips was at least 20 deep and trailed off down the footpath, there wasn't a carpark to be found, traffic was bumper to bumper in and out of the village, every other cafe & eatery was bursting at the seams and there were people everywhere! It's times like this that I am thankful that we can visit these popular places outside of the holiday season.

Tokerau Beach sunrises really were worth getting out of bed for... 

...although I think much of the population had the same idea which was fine as they made great subjects as they passed by...

...although I had to pan fast to catch this guy. It never fails to amaze me what I get to see in the golden gloom of sunrise.

You may recall the post I did in real-time on the dolphin stranding at Tokerau Beach, I took the fire truck photo the morning after and I'm pretty sure they were driving the length of the beach to check that there had been no further strandings overnight.

Before this post gets any longer than it already is, here's one final photo from beautiful Tokerau Beach; sunrise on the pohutukawa trees that were just starting to bloom along the beach.