Otorohanga, Hamilton and on to Bowentown

The Otorohanga NZMCA site is brand spanking new – and has only been opened a short time, so it was the first time here for all our group.

We all parked up in a line, leaving a little room for a couple of other vans who also arrived.  There is a huge open grassed area behind the hard standing, so plenty of room for a large number of vans.   I swapped a few more books in the little shed, and the friendly custodians called around to see us.

Overnighting at Otorohanga

Another misty morning –this time at Otorohanga

The next morning we left to go to the dump station at Te Awamutu at the Mobil petrol station, to find it surrounded by workmen and it appeared to be out of action.  As it turned out, they were replacing the compressed air stanchion and were happy for us pull up along side them and empty out around them.  The chaos continued when a young mum pulled up too and started vacuuming her car out.  But we all got our chores done, and left the workmen continuing with swapping the compressed air units over.  It would be quite a squash with these three services all in a row at the best of times, but add workmen to the mix and it was like Grand Central Station.

Chaos at the petrol station

Our next stop was at the Classic Car Museum at Hamilton, rather a favourite of ours.  We all arrived safe and sound and parked up again in a row.  There is always quite a large number of vans staying here, but this time, everyone was informed that the grounds must be cleared the next morning for a private weekend booking.  Just as well that we had planned to stop for just  one night.

Staying a Hamilton

Part of the fun at staying here is having lunch in the diner.  Decorated in the 50s theme, with a menu to suit, the diner really takes us back to our teeny bopper years.

That's us enjoying our “spiders”, with Val, Bill and his sister who came to visit

Another morning – covered in mist once again.  Obviously that’s what happens in this part of the country.  We headed off for the final part of our safari trip.  And passed through the town of Paeroa, stopping merely to snap a picture of the famous Lemon and Paeroa bottle on the edge of town.

World famous in New Zealand, L & P

We continued driving through the Karangahape Gorge, stopping for road works along the way.  It looked like there had been several slips lately which needed cleaning up.

There was no time to stop as we whizzed past the historic pub, closely followed by the lovely old station, offering train rides along the old track.  We will have to come back again for another look without the caravan hooked on behind.  Through the bustling town of Waihi we drove, and down along the coast to Bowentown.  Arriving at last for the first ever Leisureline Owners Rally, it’s sure to be a great weekend.