Horo Hora and Hamilton

As we departed Tokoroa in the morning, we spotted three (new to us since our last visit) talking poles (pou) on the outskirts of town.  Tokoroa’s Talking Poles were first suggested in 1996 as a feature for the town’s retail area, and now the town boasts 50 or so of these sculptures, dotted mainly in the CBD area.

Talking Poles of Tokoroa

After a quick visit to the dump station, we were on our way heading northwards on SH1 passing through Tirau.  Like Tokoroa, this town has made a name for itself, with a large variety of quirky signs made from corrugated iron and several interesting buildings.  A big sheep and a big ram, herded by a big dog, look out at the visitors and traffic on the highway as it passes through the town.  The Big Dog houses the I-SITE Visitor Centre, while the Big Sheep hosts a wool and craft shop in its stomach. Both were constructed in 1990s, but the sheep came first and when it came time for the visitor center to be constructed, it was designed to match. Local artisan Steven Clothier created its head.  The most recently added member of the corrugated iron clan is the big ram, which was completed in 2016.

Passing through Tirau

We had plenty of time to get to Hamilton so stopped of at the delightful Hora Horo Domain for lunch.  The Domain looks over Lake Karapiro - a man-made lake on the Waikato River and is renowned as a world-class rowing venue. A number of water sports events are held at the lake including yachting, powerboating, canoeing and water skiing.  It was a lovely place for a leisurely lunch, relaxing and enjoying the views, and the domain is very popular with boaties, day trippers and self contained campers.

At the pretty little beach well away from the boat launching area, we saw families paddling in the water, enjoying themselves in the sunshine.

Lunch stop at Hora Hora Domain

And then, as promised on the weather report, the rain came down.  It was time to get on with the last part of our journey, and drive on to Hamilton to the Leisureline Factory.  It’s time for the annual caravan service, and we had arranged to stay overnight outside the factory.  As soon as the factory workers had departed for the day and there was room in the car park, we were ushered onto the site and plugged into power.

Spending the night at the factory

It will be an early start to the day tomorrow, we must be up and ready to leave as the service technicians will be moving the van to the factory at 7.00am to start working on it.   We will be out for the day, taking the car, and Gemma, returning back later in the afternoon for the van when the service is completed.

Hamilton - here we come

We woke to find the Taupo Airport NZMCA Park enveloped in mist.  The airport buildings were not too far away and we could hardly make them out at all, so presumably the run way was also rather misty too.  But then while we were eating our breakfast, the sun broke through, and chased the misty conditions away.

Misty morning at Taupo Airport

Lake Taupo looked as pretty as a picture with several craft bobbing about in the lake as we drove past on our way out of town.  No sign of the mountains though, they were hiding under the cloud cover.

Lake Taupo

There were roadside steam warnings as we drove past the Wairaki Geothermal power pipes (read about this here), but today there was hardly any steam to blow across the road and obscure motorist’s views.  The amount of steam escaping does seem to be weather dependent, with the steam becoming more evident in colder temperatures.

Wairaki Geothermal Power Station

You know you are in the country when you spot a herd of cows patiently walking along their cattle race.  It was well past morning milking time, so we presume they were being moved from one paddock to another.  There was a farmer on a quad bike at the end of the long queue of cows, guiding them gently on their way.

We stopped at the Truck Stop at Tokoroa for fuel and saw this huge yellow machine doing the same.  Not sure what it is, but it was certainly a monster.

Fuel stop at Tokoroa

Eventually we arrived at Hamilton and called into the Jukebox Diner for a late lunch.  Then it was off to the Leisureline factory when we are staying the night.  The caravan repairs will be started bright and early on Tuesday morning – we will need to be ready to vacate the caravan by 6.30am, we were told.  No worries, the sooner the job is started, the sooner it will be completed, and we can get on our way again.

Staying outside the Leisureline factory tonight

More from the Motor Home Show

There’s so much to see at this show that most people purchased a 3 day pass.  As Robin and Geoff did, but Eileen and I were content with just a single day of looking around.  Give me too much to see and it all blurs together after a while!  I did enjoy the exhibition “Memory Lane”  which showcased retro caravans of years gone by.  These have been lovingly restored and proudly displayed by their owners.

  

We met up with this Lilliput caravan at Taupo and followed each other along the road to Hamilton.  And yes, he told us, he does go camping in it.

And I loved this little pink decorated van, with pretty bunting and accessories.  Perhaps a  pink flamingo standing outside would be the finishing touch?  Definitely styled with a feminine touch.

Retro caravans on display

And to give you some idea of how many are taking advantage of the free camping, or very reasonably priced power sites as we are, here is a view after I trudged up to the top of the hill.  And we have been told that there are a lot more vans tucked away out of sight, so we must go exploring later.  Seems to be about 900 vans here for the show.

View from the hill

With a little help from Geoff, Robin erected our new wind break.

A few showers of rain didn’t keep the day trippers away on Saturday.  They still came trundling down the hill.  Some vans departed after the first night, but others arrived to take their place.

Still more people arriving

Around the camp sites: 

Our neighbour and their cat called “Cat”,and a large areoplane under cover.

Gleaming Airstream van and red Chevvy

“First Wife & I”, is there a new 2nd wife waiting in the wings?

So that’s it from Day 2.  Robin’s been back to the show to have another walk around all the exhibits.  We’ve dodged the showers, and put up with the wind gusts, watched people leave and still more arrive to take over their sites.  Then we walked around the huge camping area and caught up with a few people that we knew – all good fun. 

Motorhome, Caravan and Leisure Show

Billed as “Big Show, Big Brands and Big Dreams”,  the show certainly delivered.  Chock full of both well known brands, plus some we had never heard of, there was plenty to look at, inspect, and pass judgement on.  There was even a private sale area for pre-loved vans.

Queuing for our entry tickets was the first challenge, with the crowds of campers on site joined by the day visitors.  But eventually we reached the head of the queue, paid our money over and walked through the gates.  The Camec stand was very popular and we entered their tent to see what was on offer – and of course, ended up buying something.  A wind-break for our awning, as it turned out, plus some Loo Green, always need plenty of that, and then we drew out a lucky number and won a extendable mop as well.  The lovely ladies at the stand offered to store our purchases for us until we had viewed the show, so we didn’t have to carry the big bag around with us all day.

 

The large indoor area was full of gleaming motorhomes and caravans

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All the big names from overseas were there.  Jayco, Winnebago, Dethleff, Elddis and others.  I always rather fancied a Winnebago and told my son years ago that when he made his fortune he could buy us one, but we are still waiting.

Winnebago and Dethleff

But we can’t really go past our home grown Leisureline vans, and spent some time checking out the new ones.  And talking to prospective customers, telling them they really couldn’t do better than a Leisureline.  You can tell that we are really pleased with ours.

The Leisureline Stand

And then we saw something completely different, a tiny little “tear-drop” shaped Road Chief with a pull out kitchen at the rear.  This comes with two awnings which really expands the floor space, plus a toilet tent.  Cute – but not quite us, I don’t think.

Road Chief caravan

Not all vans are white – how about a bright red one?

There were electric bikes on offer, boats and rubber boats, even cars.  Camping furniture, backing cameras, whatever you were looking for, you could probably find.  We stopped and had a chat with the editors of RV Travel Lifestyle and NZ Today, which we subscribe to, and told then how much we enjoy their magazines.

After all that walking around we made our way to the “Seat and Eat Zone” to buy some lunch, and more importantly, find somewhere to sit down.  This area was incredibly crowded, but it was lunch time, after all.  Eventually we made our minds up what to purchase, found four empty seats, and ate our lunch with Geoff and Eileen.  I really wanted a coffee but couldn’t face waiting in the long queue behind 20 people or so, so gave that idea up and had one later on back in our van.

Seat and Eat area

More news from the show tomorrow……….

All Roads lead to Motor Home Show

We spent two nights at the handy Taupo Airport NZMCA Park.  Always a great place to stay, with lots going on.  Rigs come and go, and there is always something happening at the airport.

Romany Rambler and The Manor at Taupo

A very easy walk took us past the helicopters just across from the road and we watched as one after another fired the engine up.  The noise changed dramatically the faster the blades rotated, and one after another, the helicopters lifted off and went about their business. 

Taupo airport is not terribly busy with just a couple of flights in and out each day.  But there was a trio of private planes parked up, we noticed, big boys toys indeed.

Private planes at Taupo Airport

On Thursday morning the camp thinned out considerably as many were heading off to the Motor Home Show at Mystery Creek, Hamilton, just like us.  With the fresh water tank filled, and the waste dumped, we were finally on our way.  Off we went, driving past the timber town of Tokoroa, and the quirky little town of Tirau, festooned with many corrugated signs and sculptures.  No time to stop and explore, we were on a mission to get to Mystery Creek and find our site.

After a bit of a run-around, being sent to this area and then another, we finally found our correct sites.  Parking at the show is free, but we had opted (and paid for) for power sites instead.  Seems  that the various lists were not available to the people doing the parking but we finally found the correct sites.   And with more than 500 vans booked for the weekend, there is sure to be a hiccough or too.  Not only do we have power, but we are also parked up with people from the Motor Home Forum, which both Robin and Geoff belong to. 

 

Happily on our power sites in the correct area.

And still the vans are coming in, there is still a lot of parking for the wardens to do. It will only get busier before the day is out, we expect.   So far we have been and checked out where the loos are (nice and handy), and the water taps, and there seems to be plenty of rubbish bins dotted around the grounds.  All very necessary items, of course with the huge crowds expected.

We’re in the crowd somewhere

The show opens tomorrow, and then we can walk over to the large hall and check out all those brand new rigs that will probably be well out of our price range.  But it’s always nice to look, and maybe come away with some new ideas.  We will let you know what takes our fancy.

Return to Taupo

Our overnight stay in front of the Leisureline factory building was not without a trial – it was the best place to be,  as it turned out.  The water pump stopped working, that was after we had filled the kettle and washed the dishes earlier in the evening.  We tried the  bathroom tap too, just to make sure.  But nope – not a drop of water was forthcoming.  This problem was added to the list of things to be looked at by the men in the morning.

It was an early morning start, as we had been warned.  The alarm clock was set to go off at 5.30am, so we were all ready at 6.00am for the caravan to get taken into the factory for it’s annual service.  And there it went, towed away by a forklift.  It would be finished about mid-day, we were told.

Towing the caravan into the factory

So what do we do at 6.30am to fill in the morning?  First on the list was to find a launderette, (yes, again) to attend to yet another load of washing, washed, dried, and folded.  While I was in washer woman mode, Robin went to top up the car with fuel.  Next stop, somewhere for breakfast,  So that’s what we had, a nice leisurely breakfast, a big cup of coffee, and plenty of time to peruse the newspaper.  With a little shopping done, it was time to wander back to collect our van, and get on the road again.

Robin battled with the wind on the drive down SH1.  We passed through Tirau, well known for their Information Centre constructed in the likeness of a corrugated iron dog.

Passing through Tirau

We drove past a paddock full of stags sporting fine sets of velvet covered antlers.  And this is milk production country, with herds of milking cows happily munching grass in the sunshine.

Stags in velvet and Friesian cows

Interesting rock formation

We knew we were getting close to Taupo once we crossed over the bridge onto the by-pass road.  And then caught  a glimpse of the snow touched mountains, Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe.

Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe

And at last, after a couple of hours being buffeted by the wind, we finally arrived at the NZMCA site at Taupo Airport.  It’s going to busy here tonight, we were told, as 20 or so vans are stopping here tonight before departing on a safari trip together.

Back at Taupo again