Tripping Around

Here we are – tripping around the country again.  We left home last Friday in the pouring rain, traveling along the Desert Road and through the army town of Waiouru to get a great view of my favourite mountain, Mt Ruapehu.  No time to stop here though, we were making for Taupo.

Mt Ruapehu

We like to have  the radio on while we are traveling, tuned to Magic which plays “all the songs you know and love”.  And look, they're playing my extra special favourite song, Ten Guitars.  I love it so much I’ve told the family I want it played at my funeral!  This song was such a hit out here when it was first released it became known as The New Zealand National Anthem.

They are playing my song!

After a night at Taupo the next morning we drove on to Rotorua, about 100kms, and quite a pretty trip traveling through rolling farmland and forests.  Everything looked so green and fresh.  There is always a lot happening at Rotorua with plenty of volcanic attractions to visit, boiling mud pools, steaming holes in the ground, and geysers.  Or you could take a ride on  the Skyline Gondolas – you can just make them out snaking snaking up and down the hill.  It’s been some time since we’ve had a trip on them, might have to plan another ride sometime soon.

Skyline Gondolas in Rotorua

Staying for two days in Rotorua and we were very busy indeed.  The caravan got a really good clean, instead of just a spit and polish.  Everything got a wipe down, the insides of drawers were washed, as were the base of various cupboards.  With all this activity happening, Gemma wondered what on earth was going on.

Have you done in here yet?

And the reason for all this activity?  The following day we drove on to Tauranga, and the Sat Nav took us to RV Service Centre.  Look was was waiting for us, our brand new caravan,   ordered at the recent Motorhome Show when  we went to in Hamilton about a month ago.  We attended the show with no intention of updating our caravan, but…….this one was calling our name.  With the paperwork tidied up, we then began the task of transferring our belongings from one van to the other.  Our legs really knew they had a workout, up and down the steps as we trudged from the old van to the new van, dodging showers as we did trip after trip.  Finally things were put into cupboards and drawer – we can make the final decision on moving things around later on.  The last thing to do was take armfuls of bedding over  – with the bed made up it looked like home.

Change over day

Finally we were done and we left the RV Centre with good wishes ringing in our ears, a bottle of bubbly popped in our fridge, and a free night organized for us at Papamoa Motor Camp.  Spending the first night in the new van close by gave us the chance to make sure things were working well. This is a lovely camp, with great facilities, and right on the beach.  It’s sure to be full to the brim with campers over the Christmas holidays.

Papamoa Beach

Then it was back to Taupo again for a couple of days, to get our breath back, and find out the differences in our new van.  A new van deserves a new Log Book, as we like to record the distances we travel each trip.  In the five years we had our previous van, we traveled almost 30,000kms.  That’s a lot of trips away around our beautiful country.

Gemma wasn’t at all disturbed by the new van.  The bedding was the same, so she soon decided to settle down and have a snooze.  A sniff around here and there and she soon found her feeding bowls, and her dirt box.  Nothing to it, she spent some time looking at birds out the windows, had her tea, cuddled up with us for a while, everything was fine in her world.

Gemma is settled and happy in the new van

Today, Wednesday, is my birthday, and I spent part of the morning in the local launderette.  Not a big deal, as people know, I have a thing about clean washing.  So I happily sat there with my library book while Robin went to do a few jobs.

Birthday morning in the launderette

It’s been a nice day, the laundry is all washed and dried, and I’ve had several phone calls and messages.  No cooking tonight, as we will be going out for to a local restaurant for a meal, which is always nice.