Moving on to Richmond

It was time to move on, so farewell to Higgins Heritage Park in Wakefield, and hello to Richmond.  The trip was via the dump station, where it was pouring with rain.  With that job done, we were heading to Robin’s sister Kaye’s new to us home in the country -  Kaye and hubby Jan had moved here two years ago. Look for the red barn, she said.  This rustic old barn had seen better days, and had a previous life as an apple packing shed.

The old red barn

We needed help to get the caravan parked up, there just wasn't room enough for Robin to swing the van around.  It  was Jan to the rescue with his trusty digger, which luckily had a tow ball in the front.  Although we had to watch out for the rotary clothesline on one side, and a row of fruit trees on the other. 

Help from Jan

Finally we were in place, with room to pull the awning out.  And facing the right way for our departure in a few days time.

Our home over Christmas

We'd had a bit of a disaster several days earlier when our modem up and died.  So Robin had to hot-spot my phone to give us internet.  Why my phone?  Because I had whole lot more data than he had, I didn’t know that.  But now I do know how to do hot-spotting, so that is something new learned.  A phone call was made to Net Speed to relay our problem, and we were promised a new model would be couriered out to Kaye’s address.  Seems there has been a couple of upgrades since we purchased our modem 5 years earlier.  We can’t complain about the service as the parcel was ready and waiting for us when we arrived.  The new modem is much bigger than our previous one.  Robin spent quite some time setting it up, putting in passwords, and wondering where it’s new home will be.  It won’t fit where the old one was, and he may well have to purchase a longer cord, he thinks, to set it up elsewhere.  In the meantime, it is just popped up on the window ledge behind the sofa. 

The size difference between the new and the old

We’ve been out and about doing a little shopping, and  braving the crowds who are hell bent on getting their last minute Christmas things too.  Jan had given us a “two for one” voucher to visit the Nelson Classic Car Museum, but by the time we arrived there, we both decided to just have lunch in the café, and save the visit for another day.  Robin’s knee was rather painful, and my back had decided that enough was enough!  What a pair of poor old crocks we are.  Never mind, we will hopefully come back later to look at all the cars.  Meanwhile, I took a few photos of cars on view, just to show we had been there.

View from the café, across the pool

Look at this beauty displayed in the gift shop, a 1909 Packard, in elegant white with brass accessories.

How about a spin in this!

This 1988 Excalibur was on display outside the building.  It is known as a Neo Classic sedan and was styled after the 1930 Mercedes Benz.

1988 Excalibur

The weather here has been rather changeable so far.  Warm sunny weather, then the sky clouds over and the rain pours down.  Fingers crossed for a sunny Christmas Day.

Mobile Internetness

As many of our readers know we travel around in our caravan a lot and it is important to us to be able to regularly connect to the internet if for nothing else to update this blog and Jenny’s Quilting blog.

Our foray was to purchase a Sierra Wireless 326 “T” Stick from Telecom. This device has worked very well for us. We chose Telecom network mainly as our friends are on the Vodafone network and as coverage is very similar this gave us a point of difference. This T stick worked well with our laptop and as we are contemplating buying a second laptop both may need to on the internet at the same time, so it was time to purchase some type of router.

Sierra Wireless 326 “T” Stick

Our friends have a battery 3G travel router they purchased in the UK but sadly this device is not available in NZ. Therefore I have been trolling the internet for a locally sold alternative. I dismissed the offerings from both Telecom and Vodafone as their units were locked to their systems and this limited a possible change of provider later on down the track.

To cut a long story short, I had my eye on one brand but that is not sold anymore, and looking around (Google is a great friend) I located “LevelOne WBR-6803 150Mbps Wireless 3G Travel Router”. This router supported both Vodafone and Telecom “T” Sticks. However it did not support the Sierra Wireless “T” Stick we have. (According to the Supplier) but did support Telecom’s MF190 “T” Stick

LevelOne WBR-6803 150Mbps Wireless 3G Travel Router

I have since purchased an MF190 “T” Stick, configured the router, plugged it all up and Hey Presto it works.

Telecom MF190 “T” Stick

Now both Sierra and LevelOne informed me that the 326 would not work with the router so the devil in me just had to try. Low and Behold it worked without a hiccup. We have not tried all this in anger yet as no money has been loaded onto either “T” Stick so the proof will be when we next are away in the caravan for an extended period. Will report back later.

Internet Access while travelling - APNK Network

We had plenty to blog about on our recent holiday and wrote it all up on our trusty lap-top in our caravan. But where to get internet access to upload the blog (and check e-mails) can be a problem. However, something wonderful has been happening in public libraries throughout New Zealand. Since 2008, 120 libraries have joined Phase One of Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa. This provides free access to broadband internet services in public libraries, and is open to anyone, locals and travellers alike. We used this service at Taumaranui, Stratford, Opunake, Hawera, and Waitara. The library staff were very helpful, and showed us to table and chairs, and power points. It was then a simple matter to log on to the Wireless Internet and complete our blog.

A few facts:

The managed network includes 515 PCs in 120 Libraries

This network of libraries extends from Kaeo in the north to Stewart Island in the south across 39 local authorities

There are 94 wifi hotspots used by roughly 1000 users per day

This programme was initially funded by the Community Partnership Fund of the New Zealand government’s Digital Strategy and by other government funding through the National Library of New Zealand. It is based on a similar programme in the United Kingdom - The People's Network - which was rolled out through over 4000 public libraries. Funded from the Big Lotteries Fund, The People’s Network provided computers, training and free internet access. It boosted new growth and use of public libraries and was a catalyst for the uptake and development of rich broadband capability in the United Kingdom.

The PCs were always well utilised. Not only by youngsters, we noticed, but older people too are embracing the computer age. Young tourists chatter away face to face in their native language on Skipe. The libraries are certainly getting many more young visitors these days. We certainly appreciate this service as we travel, and hope as time goes by, more and more libraries will join the network.