Category: MOTORHOME
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About Your Motorhome Julie…
Some FAQs about our Dethleffs “Just Go” 7055 EBL motorhome – like why a motorhome and not a caravan? Can we go off-grid? What’s the difference between a motorhome and a campervan? What type of motorhome do we have? Are we self-contained? Can you drive it Julie?
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“MOTORHOME AWAY” – PAUANUI WEEKEND
Chancing the Weather Saturday – 05 July – Day One #smilingontheinside – Weekend 05-06 July 2025 Once Upon a Time, morning walks around Pauanui were a common event for me. Back in the day. We’d fly across the range in ZK-DOK, spend the weekend with aviation friends and then fly home again. My morning walking…
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DAY EIGHT – STRATFORD – HOME
Last day of “Wellington Away“ Homeward Bound #smilingontheinside – Sunday 08 June 2025 We woke up to a frosty morning in Stratford but were very nice’n’ toasty warm inside. Thanks to having two LPG cylinders. The second cylinder was the most important – hahaah – we needed to commission that as the first ran out!…
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DAY SEVEN – FOXTON BEACH – STRATFORD
Day 007: Foxton Beach – Stratford #smilingontheinside – Saturday 07 June 2025 Foxton My morning walk was along tyre-rutted and gouged Foxton Beach just after high tide. Freedom Camping – Foxton Beach Freedom Camping is allowed at Foxton Beach – provided you park on the marked spaces only. Because we arrived pretty late, we drove…
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DAY SIX – WELLINGTON | CONFERENCE DAY 3
Day 006: Wellington – Foxton Beach Wellington CBD – Day 3 / 3 of Conference #smilingontheinside – Friday 06 June 2025 Last Day of Conference Yesterday I said I felt a bit conspicuous emptying my French Press in public. This morning I used a different drain – one more “inland” than close to the street…
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DAY FIVE – WELLINGTON | CONFERENCE DAY 2
Day 005: Wellington – Second Day Wellington CBD – Day 2 / 3 of Conference #smilingontheinside – Thursday 05 June 2025 Nespresso Machine Looking More Likely At home, I dump my French Pressed coffee grinds into the garden. Wouldn’t it be great if I could grow a coffee tree 😂​​🤣​🤣​ ? After all, I’ve dumped…
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DAY FOUR – WELLINGTON | CONFERENCE DAY 1
Day 004: Wellington – First Day Wellington CBD – Day 1 / 3 of Conference #smilingontheinside – Wednesday 04 June 2025 Early Start Delayed + Sideways Rain One reason Alan wanted us to stay at a holiday park last night was because he thought it would make things easier for me while getting ready for…
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DAY THREE – HASTINGS-WELLINGTON
Day 003: Hastings > Wellington Wellington – for conference – Headed #smilingontheinside – Tuesday 03 June 2025 Waking up along Clive River – Hastings I was up at sunrise. #smilingontheinside It was freezing – one of those mornings when you “huff” and you can see the vapour as you breathe. I extended the walkway path…
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DAY TWO – OHAKUNE-HASTINGS
Day 002: Ohakune > Clive River – Hastings Blue Sky Bound – East Coast Headed #smilingontheinside – Monday 02 June 2025 Waking up in Ohakune This morning’s dawn was lovely – bright sunshine and clear skies. Alas, it didn’t last long, unfortunately before the clouds rolled in and the rain started. I was oh-so-very pleased…
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DAY ONE – HAMILTON-OHAKUNE
Hamilton to Ohakune #smilingontheinside – Sunday 01 June 2025 As is sometimes the case, even the best plans can go awry. And they did. Ever so slightly. But only by about 60 minutes. Instead of leaving home at 14:00 it was around 15:00. Which meant arriving at our destination in the dark. Night 001 –…
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INTERNAL FIT0UT – FIRST RUN
Colour ways and weather ways Salerno Blue + Wood + Noce Nagano #smilingontheinside – Saturday 31 May 2025 With the opportunity to start completely new, I was a bit nervous on what “theme” colour to choose. For some reason, interior design felt oh-so-much more daunting than choosing quilting fabrics. Even though, in a way, the…
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Back to the Real World
Full-Sized Life Our 1970s home (153sqm) was considered large for its time, when the average house was around 100sqm. For the past 10 days, Alan and I experienced life in just 17sqm of living space – quite the contrast! We mastered the art of the Sideways Shuffle, and Alan became very intuitive about fetching items…
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Day 6 – Gisborne
Beautiful Blue Dome Day in Gisborne Needing to top up with fresh water and empty both grey and black water tanks, we opted to stay in a commercial camping ground with access to power. Our choice was the Poverty Bay A&P Association Showgrounds. When we arrived I asked Alan why he chose to park right…
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Day 4 – Tolaga Bay to Gisborne
Sunrise Over the Pacific Ocean With the MetService issuing its Weather Warning across most of New Zealand, we were expecting to get drenched last night and wake up to a miserable, gloomy and wet day. We could definitely feel the wind buffeting the van through the night – I had visions of being blown into…
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Day 3 – Opotiki to Tolaga Bay
We clocked up approximately 300km today and crossed from the Eastern Bay of Plenty region into the Gisborne region. The weather was changeable, some of the roads in a really bad way but the scenery pretty beautiful. We both commented on how green it is in this part of Godzone Aotearoa New Zealand compared to…
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Day 2 – Lake Karapiro to Opotiki
Success is Falling Over Twice and Getting Up Thrice I was a bit excited this morning – I wanted to see exactly where we’d parked up last night for our first adventure of Freedom Camping (yes, we’re now one of those people – Freedom Campers!). Alan joined me – we were both surprised to see…
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Day 1 – Home to Lake Karapiro
Things Don’t Always Go To Plan The plan was to collect the van (Dethleffs Trend 7057DBL) this morning, pack up with our gear from home and then head across to the Eastern Bay of Plenty. That was the plan. What really happened was loading our bikes (in the bike drawer Alan had made) took longer…
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South Island Holiday – Day 6
Dunedin + Bluff + Invercargill The weather was really starting to get cold, blustery and outright wintery. Unfortunately, I’d eaten something that had given me massive stomach cramps and was feeling very sorry for myself. I was in quite a bit of pain which meant I wasn’t really that connected to what was going on…
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South Island Holiday – Day 5
Larnach Castle – Dunedin Not many people realise NZ has its very own castle – Larnach Castle. It’s no longer lived in as a family home, but it was until very recently. It’s privately owned; the ballroom can be exclusively hired for private events. Before we visited Larnach Castle we drove out to the Royal…
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South Island Holiday – Day 2
Our first night was “interesting”. We’ve decided that because it’s just the two of us, we’ll keep our bed permanently made up at the back of the van, and using seating around the dining table as our main “living” area. This meant the rear lounge area was converted into a double bed (east-west orientation) made…
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