Freedom to travel

2 whole days without WiFi and we survived!  It was tough, having to read real paper maps and actually talk to each other but we managed to survive.  At last we are back in civilization where there is actual working WiFi and all 4 of us are getting our fix 🤣

I started writing this blog 2 days ago so apologies if it’s jumping around a bit but here goes…..

I’m sitting here in the doorway of our caravan, watching the kids playing in a playground in their swim suits.  We’ve just been for a very refreshing dip in a man made lake, man it was cold!! But all 3 of us braved it (except TJ, he doesn’t do cold) and as my mum used to say, get your shoulders under then you’ll be fine.  So that’s what we did, it was like a spa, so cold and refreshing I could almost feel my pores cleansing 🤣.  We had a bit of a swim and the kids are drying off in the playground before we move on to Waipou Forest.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s update on the last few days.  This is going to be a long blog, you have been warned!

We drove up to Whangarei on Thursday and stayed in a nice B&B run by a very polite Chinese couple.  4 beds in 1 room and not much room for anything else, but very comfortable and clean.

Friday we had some time to kill so we took a drive out to the coast (it’s like the sea is calling us, we do love a beach!).  Another lovely named town, this one was called Tutukaka….every time we have to pronounce a new name like Tutukaka we have to say it in a Mauri fashion “TuTuKaKa” (low voice, flexing muscles)…get it? Oh well, never mind you had to be there…  Anyway, it was a lovely fishing village with a nice cove for us to paddle in, so some fishing and the kids were looking for crabs.  

We then stopped off at a picnic spot for lunch and I got the phone call we had been waiting for, the caravan was ready!! Cue excited screams from the kids eeeek!!

Emile (the guy selling the caravan) was very nice, explaining it all to us and helping us to get hitched up and then we were off!  TJ was driving, and before long we were cruising along highway across country towards the West coast. I say highways but for the majority they are country lanes, winding through the mountains and amazing scenery.  It is stunning… rolling lord-of-the-rings type fields with cattle, dairy cows, sheep and wild turkeys (mmmmm got our eye on those!).  The odd horse grazing in a back garden.

Friday late afternoon we arrived in Dargaville, an agricultural town close to the West coast of Northland, and found a nice campsite to set up for the night.  Our first night in our caravan.  Let me tell you a bit about our caravan (we love it!).  It’s a UK import 🇬🇧 (of course) Avondale 4 berth caravan.  To the front is the seating area, that converts into a nice size double bed.  Along the middle is the kitchen on one side with a sink, gas hob and oven, fridge and heater.  Opposite is another two seat table that converts into bunk beds! At the back is the toilet and shower, 2 separate compartments.  There is loads of storage space and a wardrobe. We also have an awning that fixes in the side of the caravan and pretty much doubles its size.  

So, in Dargaville campsite we hooked up to the electricity and were all set for our first night with the caravan!  The campsite had a very nice kitchen and outdoor bar area with twinkling disco lights, so that is where we sat for our dinner of beef burgers and potato wedges, yum.  The kids were so excited to go to bed so off they went, and before long they were sound asleep.  TJ and I had a lovely couple of glasses of wine/beer under the twinkling lights, feeling very pleased with ourselves 😊

As we smugly sat there I heard some rustling in the trees above us and at first thought it was a bird, but it was getting closer and louder….it turned out to be a possum!  Not just one but also a baby on her back, and another pair of beady eyes looking at us from another tree.  That was worth getting the kids out of bed for! Very exciting stuff…although the park ranger wasn’t impressed, he went off to get his gun….

Saturday morning we woke after a good nights sleep and had showers and breakfast outside at the bar again.  After breakfast the kids did their schoolwork 💪🏻 while TJ cleared up and got the caravan ready to leave.  I’m so proud of the kids, although sometimes understandably easily distracted, they are doing what they are asked to without problem.  I’m especially pleased with Thijs, his group 2 stuff is so simple that I’m giving him extra stuff to do and he is enjoying the challenge.  In less than 2 weeks we see such a positive development in him already ❤️

In our first almost 2 weeks a few things have become clear:

• the kids love NZ
• we did it 😊
• TJ likes to do the washing up because apparently I don’t do it right
• Macdonalds has the best free WiFi 
• as standard we will leave something behind everywhere we stay (not intentionally!)
• apparently TJ isn’t prepared to have a shave yet #pricklychin

So anyway, Saturday morning we left Dargaville and headed north, our goal was to see the huge Kauri trees in Waipoua Forrest, and they didn’t disappoint.  Wow…the main tree we saw was over 2000 years old, over 50 meters high and the tree trunk girth was nearly 14 meters.  It was majestic.  We posed for a few photos and check ✅ tick in the box and off we go.

The roads through the forrest were testing, but TJ was in his element steering our Bluey and caravan with ease.

Our day was coming to an end so we bought some shopping and started looking for a campsite.  We found just the thing, an old and tiny campsite called Okopako lodge half way up a mountain amongst the cows and sheep.  An elderly man appeared and very kindly showed us to our spot.  We were the only guests on the campsite.  This was our first experience of “self contained” camping, meaning no electricity or facilities, although we were allowed to use the toilet.  So now we have also tested out all the functions of our caravan, had a lovely dinner (nachos!) and went for a nice walk further up the mountain, collecting wild flowers along the way.  Pretty perfect 👌🏻.  The view from this campsite was breathtaking, this time no ocean or lake, but rolling valleys and woods, absolutely stunning.

This morning (Sunday) we had an easy start (no school) and took the ferry across Hokianga Harbour to continue our travels North North North!

Last stop today is at the Ninety Mile Beach, which is what it is!  TJ decided he wanted to test out the 4×4 and drove on to the beach 😎 no problem for our Bluey 🤣 we had another dip in the sea (massive waves!) and are now bunked down at the local campsite…..pretty perfect 👌🏻

Our journey from the past 2 days….heading North!