Water problems

What is going wrong with our caravan hot water cylinder?  It seems to have sprung a leak, which isn’t good at all.  We noticed a wet patch on the carpet during our previous weekend trip away, so Robin lifted up the squab and had a look around the water heater unit.  Oh no, there was water in the base of the locker and seeping from the cylinder.  Out came the towels to mop it up, but that of course is only a stop-gap measure.  The problem seems to be that  the cylinder has split somewhere. Compounding this is the fact that we discovered that our water heater unit is a Hansen which was manufactured in South Africa, and the company has gone defunct and closed down.  No one stocks this  brand of water heater in New Zealand, so spare parts will be impossible to get.  Luckily we had met up recently with Colin the owner of the Leisureline factory, and he made a commitment to replace our faulty water heater with an Atwood which is manufactured in USA and is a widely used model worldwide. All we needed to do was to make a booking to get a replacement water cylinder fitted, and deliver our caravan to the factory in Hamilton on the given day.  Hence our trip to Hamilton this week.  We arrived at the factory doors bright and early, backed the caravan under cover, uncoupled it, and had a day free, leaving it to the experts to fix.  Our faulty water heater is here under the polystyrene jacket.

  It leaks!!

On our return in the late afternoon we found that the work had been done, and our old heater waiting for the rubbish collection.  Robin had a look, and could see where the water had been leaking out.  The replacement Atwood had been fitted, and checked, and appeared to be working well.  Some adjustments had to be made as the Atwood was slightly larger than the original heater.  A good reason indeed to get it properly fitted by the factory, who know exactly what they are doing.  We will be giving it a thorough test, you can be sure of that.  The control switches were replaced, as was the metal cover on the outside of the caravan. 

  The outside vent was replaced

So what did we do during our spare day?  A little shopping, then a trip down to Hamilton Lake Domain to relax for an hour or so, watch the birds and read the newspaper.  There was bird life aplenty, with ducks, geese and pukekos all living happily together on the edge of the lake.  Our illusions were shattered when we saw several pukekos squabbling over a struggling baby duck.  Oh dear, that wasn’t at all nice to see – it was “murder most foul”.  Our bird book tells us the gruesome fact that pukeko do in fact take ducklings from the nest.

Hamilton Lake

Later in the afternoon we drove north to the town of Ngaruawahia, on the banks of the Waikato River.  This  area, known as The Point, is a site of special significance to the Maori people, as it was the home of Tawhiao, the 2nd Maori King. The Crown confiscated 500,000 hectares of Maori land in the 1860s, and it was many years before the Waikato people could rebuild a settlement in Ngarawahia.  In 1921 a grand-daughter of Tawhiao led displaced families in building Turangawaewae Marae, and re-established relations with the Pakeha community.  The marae has gained significant importance and these days many national and overseas dignitaries are hosted here and is the seat of the Maori King.

Telling the story of the local area

Long before a bridge was built, the river was busy with paddle steamers and punts making crossings.  Regattas were commonly held in the 1900s.  This part of the river bank,  The Point, was gifted to the town by the Ngaruawahia Regatta Association in 1979.

Waikato River

Commemorative plaque telling of the gift

We spent the night at Hamilton Motor Camp, and after a little drizzle all day, the rain came down in buckets.  The camp is full of overseas visitors in campervans, all travelling around the country to watch the Rugby World Cup games.  Robin was happy to talk about the finer points of the game with a keen rugby fan from England.