RV Travel Lifestyle

lockdown, digital growth, president elected

Looking out of my window today, I see a typical Auckland day – sunny and calm, then windy and rainy, to and fro it goes. Temperatures are warm though, and from all accounts the Met office says we are in for a dry, mild spring, which doesn’t bode well for the Auckland water situation. We have a backup water tank on our property in Martinborough, only 1000 litres but handy for the garden and spa in dry times. Maybe time for subsidised scheme to assist home-owners to install water tanks for back-up in times of drought, just a thought. We have all gone from lockdown to Level 1, back up to Level 2 for many, and Level 3 for those ‘lucky’ enough to live in the main metropolis of Auckland. Spending…

winter road trips

July saw us heading off to Tauranga to catch up with RV industry players again, checking out the fabulous Cougar fifth-wheeler as featured later in these pages. Unfortunately rain followed us, so our trip was a short one. Tauranga is one of those places that makes you think ‘which way will we go’ – Paeroa-Karangahape Gorge through Katikati to Tauranga, or down the expressway; negotiate Hamilton and head over the Kaimais from there, or through Matamata and over the Kaimais? We often avoid Katikati way now, as the traffic can be a nightmare getting into Tauranga, but going back the other way to Auckland is acceptable. We went the Matamata way, did our business over a couple of days, then headed back via Katikati to catch up with Caspar’s little…

a great ride the golden days of summer

For us, summer down in the far south only lasted a fortnight. While others around the country were facing droughts with their lawns becoming dustbowls, at the bottom of the country we were still mowing our lush green lawns and dealing with flooding. The high-pressure weather systems that seemed to overstay their welcome up north pushed wet weather systems along our southern flanks. So when our late ‘summer’ finally gave us some more settled weather, we, the Waka Wagoneers (it’s a name a few of us who live around Lake Wakatipu and enjoy camping together have coined for ourselves) sounded the bugle and charged our way into Otago’s interior. Our caravan leads out. It is Friday afternoon as we drive down a hot road with our little Anglo Imp caravan in…

kombis, pies and more

Joc O’Donnell loves Volkswagens. And in particular she loves that icon of the Flower Power–hippy era, the Volkswagen Kombi, or Microbus if you are American. Joc (pronounced Joss as it is short for Jocelyn) and her husband Scott O’Donnell preside over the enormous, Invercargill-based conglomerate HWR, which has interests in the transport, petroleum, concrete, contracting, quarrying and environmental industries. To use a cliché, HWR operates below the radar and most people of Auckland, for example, wouldn’t be aware of the group, let alone its size, nor the impact it has on their daily lives. The company has 48 brands, operates in six sectors of the market, employs 2500 staff, and has a weekly turnover of several million dollars. ‘The Richardson family was well-involved in the Southland building industry. Bill Richardson took over…

restoring the soul

“When you lose your home, it’s incredibly traumatic.” These are the words of Evan Smith, Christchurch resident and spokesperson for the Avon-Ōtākaro Network (AvON), who along with over 5000 other homeowners was forced to abandon his home in the residential ‘red zone’ following the 2010/11 earthquakes. This 11km stretch of vacant land ribbons its way from the central business district of Christchurch, along the banks of the Ōtākaro/Avon River, to the sea. Understandably, the residents feel a very close connection to this land and this river. The Council-led ‘Share an Idea’ initiative in 2011 led to thousands of entries with a clear consensus for a natural restoration project (among many other city-wide projects). A regeneration planning process for the Ōtākaro/Avon River Corridor was undertaken by Regenerate Christchurch in 2017/18. The thrust…

from junction to jackson

Kumara Junction, 25 kilometres south of Greymouth, marks the beginning of the Glacier Highway. We swing west but don’t get far before we pull into Needful Things, a quirky treasure trove of retro, its entrance marked by a blue Morris Minor. Inside, the store is brimming a cornucopia of antiques, books, clothing and curios. With no EFTPOS available, I hand over five dollars for a 1975 pressing of Fred Dagg’s Greatest Hits, and then scrounge another $10 for a small Crown Lynn swan. Owner/operator Jackie Hill is a great conversationalist, a native of Lancashire and generous to a fault. Back in the Falcon we sweep down to the Serpentine bend where the Tasman Sea greets us with its opaque swells. The beach here marks the starting line of the annual Coast-to-Coast…