turn on the sat nav first

Week One

Saturday 19th January was a relatively early start.  We had booked our motorhome directly with Kea Motorhomes finally choosing the 3 berth original deluxe van, new for 2013.  We had had a good poke around the kea motorhome on the Caravan & Camping Club stand at the Motorhome Show at the NEC the previous autumn & had a good chat with a C & CC tour leader who had been most disappointed when we informed him we were 'going it alone'.  Anyway, Kea collect you from your overnight accommodation, so after another gut stuffing Kiwi breakfast we were duly collected at 9am by an ex-pat originally from Manchester.

The drive to the main depot which was in close proximity to the airport, took about 30 minutes more or less, ample time for our driver, who had been a guided tour driver, to to fill us in on driving in New Zealand, campsites, wild camping, shopping & recommending routes & itineraries.   He was amazed that we had no set route as such just a list of friends to call in and visit, but, he conceded that if he was touring he would do similar as it gave full flexibility.  I have to say, this was a good customer service point  for Kea as it gave us some invaluable pre-tour knowledge & information.
                                                    

The drive to the depot was pretty uneventful, the depot though was vast.  All the major motorhome rental companies shared the facilities, Kia, Maui & Apollo, with what seemed to be a global customer base both arriving & departing with a selection of self-check-ins & human staff.  We went for the human element, the chap was very helpful, very attentive then very desperate.  Check in & departure is normally pretty organised.  Two & half hours later he just about still had hair.  We had been given a rather natty Kia shopping bag filled with things like, tourist maps, camping site directories & tourist radio plug-in to which we added several bottles of complimentary NZ pinot noir & cabernet sauvignon.   The van, which had only 2k miles on the clock was not ready.  In the end our man went off & cleaned the motorhome himself.  Eventually, by one o'clock, he led us across the car park to our home for the coming 3 weeks only to discover that .... the table was the wrong one & a few other bits that need adding to the van's  complement of essentials.   Although we waited & waited, the Kia rep was very good, bless him, he really earned his money that day!

At last, we were ready to go, 'yes, the sat-nav is in the rear view mirror' I said confidently.  I mean how difficult is it to set a sat nav?  First port of call for us was the large Countdown supermarket only about 1/2 mile away from the pick-up point - food.  The first bit of luck was in the form a German couple who came over to us in the car park bring a tray of goodies, bits & pieces that they still had as they emptied their van before flying home.  Thank you!  Now, NZ supermarkets are a bit more user friendly than their British counterparts, firstly at the check out, the staff pack your bags for you, loved this, as to the food on offer, pretty similar format to here, more wine though, a lot of Asian & tanks of shellfish. Yum.

Stocked up, time now to head out northwards.  Now l can pretty much navigate anywhere, it takes a lot to get me lost.  We took the wrong turn off the motorway, the motorway sort of stopped & it was a case of street navigating to find & cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge, or as the Rough Guide calls it, the Nippon Clip-on.  We were heading more or less in the right direction, but after a rise in temperature stopped so that l could set the sat-nav with the co-ordinates for Orewa.  Ten minutes later we were crossing the bridge.  

Driving was easy, road conditions & signposts all rather good really, the dual carriageway sped through the suburbs of Auckland, out into the countryside.  The route took us through a toll section which rather, than you putting your card in a booth, they took a photo of the number plate, looking on the map you can avoid this stretch.

Late afternoon we left Route 1, turning off for Orewa & the coast.  The tourist road map now came into its own, every campsite, national park campsite etc are marked on the map, whilst in the indexes are the address, contact number & GPS settings, so we turned left at the coast arriving at the Orewa Top 10 Holiday Park, 

We had not pre-booked our stop-over & were checked in by the receptionist who just so happened to come from Filey, yes l know small world.  The site, was right on the beach & by UK standards was a little tired [it was the end of the summer season], but it was clean, almost full with holidaymakers in an assortment of DIY tents & motorhomes.  We parked under tall pine trees and were soon being invited in by neighbours for a glass or two whilst we discussed motorhoming in UK, Europe & New Zealand.  I think that with us having a motorhome back home really broke the ice, we were all on the same wavelength, so to speak.

2 nights in auckland

One good bit of the many good bits of advice regarding our road trip was, 'stop a couple of nights in Auckland to get over the flight .... you'll be knackered'!  So if you're heading to NZ take a couple of nights out before you start travelling, believe me it's worth it.

One of the amazing things about the internet is in finding whatever type of accommodation you prefer. Deciding to steer clear of central Auckland & after scanning through Trip Advisor then checking on google earth, we plumped for a bed & breakfast to the east of the city, along Tamaki Drive, Nautical Nook situated in a residential area within a stone's throw from the sea & on the bus route into town.

A white minibus shuttle service runs from Auckland airport, no need to pre-book, just as case of checking with the drivers as to who is going where.  It was all very smooth, we were quickly whisked away through the Auckland suburbs, which are a little undulating,  to our destination.

I should say at this time we were doing pretty well, with regards to body clocks & jet lag.  The B & B was clean, spacious & the hosts were really, really nice.  The property had views over parkland, Orakei Domain & Okahu Bay so as we sat out on the verandah tucking into cups of tea & homemade muffins we felt as though we'd arrived.

So for our first afternoon, after a brief afternoon nap, we headed out into the great outdoors, walking along the coastal promenade to Mission Bay.  Mission Bay, Little England meets Croatia, large sandy beach, promenade, formal gardens flanked by cafe restaurants with outdoor seating perched temptingly along the pavement, and it was warm!  

It was so nice to sit outside in the fresh air after 24 hours breathing in recycled air from planes & terminals! So sit outside we did, at the Riva Cafe, tucking into Caesar salad & scallop & prawn salad with aioli, delicious.  

So with the sun sinking in the west, we ended our first day.  

Now, if you like your breakfasts, come to Nautical Nook.  This is a really wow meal & the general ambience is added to by meeting fellow guests.  So who else was there?  A German family with small children who all spoke excellent English & a single traveller originally from Scarborough; yes it's a small world!   Trish, an excellent ambassador for all things Kiwi, provided ideas & maps & metro bus timetables for what to see & do in Auckland city.  So that's what we set out to do.

The bus stop was only about 100 yards from the B & B & with instructions to get off at the Britomart Station, we settled down & enjoyed the trip along the waterfront straight into downtown Auckland.  The weather was an ideal one for sightseeing, warm but not blazing shall we say?

The main shopping area & waterfront are pretty compact. High rise leading right down to the restored harbour area with its definite yachty feel.  First stop for all budding tourists & incidentally a good place to get a feel for the place, Sky Tower a tall pinnacle of a space age building thrusting skywards & visible from very nearly everywhere, except that is when on the ground trying to find the place!  

Our task for the day was to go right up to the top, no jumping from or walking around the sky walk, just a photo blast, coffee & to gawp at the awesome views.  It wasn't exactly cheap, it was a pretty touristy place but, the views made up for it as did watching the adrenaline junkies flinging themselves off, skyjumping, especially so when the cable was stopped right in front of the viewing windows on the way down - l think they were smiling?

Not being a great shopping fan & feeling a wee bit peckish, we wandered downhill towards the Waterfront & after inspecting the yachts moored up in the Viaduct Basin, decided to have a bite of lunch at The Waterfront Cafe which overlooks the old docks at the Voyager National Maritime Museum .

Nice lunch followed by a very long, but fascinating guided tour of the museum.  We were caught by one of the volunteers who was a real America's Cup nut, well & as for Captain James Cook?  We were made, a  replica of Cook's cabin plus our local knowledge of Whitby, Staithes & the North Yorkshire Coast a meeting made in heaven.  In all seriousness, the museum is good, the voyaging canoes of the early Polynesians look so very small & frail, whilst the Blue Waters Black Magic exhibition of the NZ America's Cup racing machine is pretty cool. 

the land of the long white cloud

On a cold, wintery afternoon in January we left a snowy Leeds Bradford airport to embark on the trip of a lifetime.  In 24 hours time, crossing the International Date line, we would arrive in the land of 'the long white cloud', Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The trip had been planned & booked in October just before the 2012 Motorhome & Caravan Show at Birmingham.  We had initially picked the brains of a specialist holiday company then decided that it would be much easier to book each element of the trip ourselves.  So it was that the flights were booked with with Air New Zealand, taking advantage of the Round World deal with connecting flights with British Airways from Yorkshire down to London Heathrow. 

So there we were then, airborne & heading down to Heathrow airport looking forward, with some trepidation l might say, to the lengthy time spent travelling.  This would be our longest flights ever by about 10 hours or so. Prior to departure from Heathrow we had booked, on advice from a well travelled Canadian friend, a couple of places in one of the executive lounges, which incidentally was money well spent, giving us a chance to 'switch off' & chill before the long flights ahead.

At 9pm the Flight number NZ38 thundered down the runway heading once airborne, north east & onward to our first stop, Hong Kong.

We had upgraded our seats so had slightly more elbow room & a definitely better cabin service, so the first 11 hours went fairly easily.  We had supper over Russia & breakfast over the Himalayas.  Touch down at Hong Kong was about 5pm local time, so we had gone from breakfast to tea time in the space of an hour!

Hong Kong, as we came into land was barely visible, hidden behind a 'pink' veil of what l could only assume was smog.  On landing & disembarking, we were all 'stuck' with an Air New Zealand sticker - in case we got lost?  So 2 hours to kill here, all pretty uneventful really.  The Lavatories were supervised by ladies in white coats & face masks looking more like surgeons that loo cleaners, whilst everyone else looked the same, cliche l'm sorry.  Also, high end goods on offer for sale in the duty free shops plus loads of sweets & food stuffs, none of which you can take with you into New Zealand.

Two hours doesn't sound long in real terms, but after half an hour we were bored, it was almost dark outside so we went over to find 'comfy' seats near to our exit gate & switched on the gadgetry.  Incidentally most of the other passengers were doing the same, a lot of Skyping & Facetiming going on!

It was quite dark by the time we were airborne once again.  Supper served, kiwi wines finished off, chatting to a lone traveller in the next seat.  This time, it was more difficult to settle.  Onward we flew through the night, crossing the dateline passing forward in time.  Breakfast, which included a noodle option, was served as we flew over the Great Barrier Reef & down the east coast of Australia, the red glow from the raging bush fires clearly visible from 32,000 feet.

Gosh it was a long way, nearly 11 hours after leaving Hong Kong we touched down at Auckland International Airport.  On entering the arrivals hall & being sniffed at by friendly looking Labradors looking for that illegal contraband in the form of 'any foodstuffs' it was pretty clear that there was a severe overdosing of all things Tolkien.  Dwarves, Hobbits & shaggy bearded wizards were in abundance welcoming the traveller to Middle Earth, oh, & the sun was shining & it was warm!  

Lets go travelling - Kia Ora.

The fine print & looking forward to the next adventure

In this, the last posting of France 2013, l have decided to briefly summarize the boring bits which when taken in consideration are important'ish.   

France 2013 Route

Being base in the the north east & only 30 minutes from the port, we find it more convenient to use the P & O Ferries from Hull to either Zeebrugge or Rotterdam.  The price is on a par to that of Portsmouth to St Malo whilst the crossing time from 6pm through to 8pm works really well for us.

We tend not to plan our route, this is not just because we book the crossing about 24 hours before hand, but as we tend to be weather led.  So where it's dry & sunny, then that's where we head towards.  The same goes for pre-booking overnight stops - we don't, we have a rough idea of where we are heading to then look for somewhere either aires, camping site of France Passion that is convenient to us & just turn up.  To help save some money we join the ASCI scheme which provides pan-european campsites which offer a discount on production of the membership / discount card.  We also subscribe to  France Passion system.  For all other sites we use the Caravan Club european sites book which is pretty good with excellent directions with GPS settings as is the French Aires published by Vicarious Books, unlike the France Passion handbook which requires a bit of keen map reading & interpretation.

For navigation, we use the European Tom Tom sat-nav backed up with the current Michelin map book to prevent us from driving along unsuitable roads, tracks & paths!

To get from A to B we do use the motorway system, using  a VISA credit card for tolls, all you do is place your card in the slot, the barrier opens & you collect your card & receipt.  For normal purchases, entry fees, site fees, most garages & cash withdrawals we have multi-currency cards which we preload before leaving home & can top up whilst away via the internet, unfortunately we have found that motorway toll booths don't accept non-French debit cards as does the occasional garage so we use a credit card for which we incur a £3.00 charge for the privilege. 

To keep in touch with the world we travel with an ipad, most sites have a chargeable wifi service which may cover the whole site or only available in the reception area, l have used the 3G on kindle for internet access though this is pretty slow compared to a laptop or ipad.  Wifi charges vary from a couple of euros for 24 hours to whopping 8 euros for an hour.

Our motorhome has space & shelving for books, it could be a drinks cabinet, but guidebooks are invaluable, we tend to veer towards the Rough Guides for the nitty gritty of where to eat / visit etc whilst the Dorling Kindersley are a useful pictorial guide for a quick overview.

So there we have it, a quick note of things that might help you on your travels, as to ours, over the winter months l be blogging of our Road Trip to New Zealand 2013, & today's last picture is a taster of what is to come. Kia Ora!

Homeward Bound

Day 12 Saturday 5th October 2013 

Wow, what a change in the weather.  The rain had stopped during the night although the sky wasn't exactly blue we did have the views across the vineyards below.  The vans bringing the grape pickers had moved in at day break & were hard at work as we left the campsite to return to the motorway on our journey home. This area of France, with the rolling vine clad hills & pretty stone villages will be one that we'll be returning to for further exploration.

The day passed pretty well, the motorhome's 2.8TDI engine eating up the miles.  This part of the autoroute system is pretty quiet & in some places deserted.  As today was the 'head north day', we remained on route stopping overnight at the Municipal Camping at Chalons en Champagne, a site that we have visited before as it's a useful distance from the ferry port at Zeebrugge.

So parked up on hard standing, careful to avoid the trees which  interfere with the Sat TV, we once again stocked up with local honey from the 'honey-man' as he buzzed from van to van offering his wares,  500 ml pots at 4.5 euros. 

today's mileage = 191 miles

Day 13 Sunday 6th October 2013

Lovely sunny day, bright blue skies greeted us as we prepared to move off.  The site was not particularly busy, mainly people en-route to somewhere else.  Also this was one of the more expensive overnight stops at 23 euros.

Once back on the motorway with the GPS set for the P & O ferry terminal at Zeebrugge we enjoyed a pretty enjoyable drive north.  

A lunch stop just south of Lille followed by a straightforward drive through Lille itself which, on a sunday, was pretty much like any major city, not exactly busy!  Normally we would bypass Lille by turning right towards Tourai, but being a sunday we thought 'what the heck'!

It is noticeable that once on the Belgian road system the road condition become somewhat bumpy, however the fine weather seemed to bring everyone out.   We always enjoy looking at the local agriculture as we travel, here in Belgium we are amazed at the amount of muscle on their beef cattle, we were not disappointed on our drive to the port to see the pretty small fields by our standards, housing herds of Belgian Blue cattle or growing maize for animal feed.

As we headed towards the port, the long sandy beaches to the south were busy, kite surfing, sand yachts, everyone out and about enjoying the fine weather.  The P & O ferry port sat waiting for us as we drove in, we weren't the first to enter of the last, though there were a good number of motorhomes & caravans waiting to embark.  The afternoon's entertainment being the inspection by customs of all vehicles for illegals; everywhere being checked - the shower, the wardrobe, the drop down bed, the lockers ............. 

So with no stowaways found, everyone was on board by 5.30pm.  As the ship set sail. we sat eating our evening meal in the Bistro watching the shore line disappear, had a near miss with a zig zagging container vessel [even the crew looked twice] & then followed the slowly setting sun westward across the North Sea homeward bound.

Total mileage = 211 miles

Wet & soggy in Bourgogne

Day 11  Friday 4th October 2013

Amazingly it is still dry.  We had been expecting rain & so far only a brief shower during last night.  The overnight stop, Le Pinede en Provence, was the busiest site to date, but also one of the cheapest.  The clientele seemed to ranged from those who were using the campsite as a base to tour the area, others as an overnighter between either heading south or returning north.  

The pitches were located under the shade of tall pines with hard standing & electrics.  The site also had a small restaurant [closed], swimming pool, bar with wifi [2 euros for 24hrs], & shop with on-site bakery with bread  & croissant available to order.  There was a good selection of nationalities here, though mainly Dutch & German & everyone was all very friendly bar the campervan, complete with kayaks & trailer, parked next to us.  The couple, sorry can't remember which country they came from never spoke once, either to us or to each other, the nearest to the sound of speech came when the chap brought out his battered guitar & began singing. They did leave pretty early on the friday morning. 

As to us, with the weather looking ok for the time being, we made our departure, filling up with diesel before rejoining the autoroute northwards.  Today's travelling was going to be autoroute, straight up the A7, passing Lyon & continuing to Beaune where we would  leave the motorway & head to Meursault & an overnight stop.

The scenery up through France was dramatic especially the mountains to the east of us as we left Provence. Unfortunately, once past Chalon sur Saone, the countryside disappeared beneath low cloud as the rain kicked in.

It was still raining as we turned off the autoroute.  The first thing to note is that this is a serious, grown up wine region. Wineries, grapes, caves in profusion, the Bourgogne wine region & harvest in full swing despite the awful weather.  The vineyards all had large numbers of workers picking the grapes by hand, no signs of any grape harvesting machinery & interestingly, all the fields were surrounded by stone walls with large  wine chateaux in profusion. 

It was decidedly damp as we drove into the camping site, which was boozily called, La Grappe d'Or, a very picturesque site, built on terraces with views across the busy vineyard towards the pretty village of Meursault, well, it would be once the rain stopped.  The reception was closed at this time so we went & parked on a vacant hard standing pitch which would, we hope when the visibility improved, provide us with that view, the vineyard, village & church.

We were eventually found by Madame who relieved us of 16 euros in cash, as the site didn't accept card payments for under 40 euros.   l looked, but didn't buy the wine on offer here.  Most sites offer local wine of some description for not more than 5 or 6 euros, here the wines on offer were in excess of 20 euros.

Today's mileage = 223 miles

veni, vidi, vici & the wine was good too!

Day 10  Thursday 3rd October 2013

We were off & away in fairly good time, wanting to be ahead of any rain that was creeping across the country towards us.   Today's route was to take us up the A9, past Nimes & exciting at junction 23 for Pont du Gard.

The Motorway itself was fairly busy as we passed Montpellier & on as far as Nimes, so it was nice to leave the autoroute for the drive on near straight roads that headed towards ancient roman aqueduct.    The road took us through the crumbley old town of Remoulins, past the cafes where the locals were sat sipping coffees & watching the world or in our case, the traffic pass by.  

We took the road signposted Uzes, passing vineyards & fields of maize, turning off after about 2 or 3 kilometres, following directional signs to the world heritage site & car park.  The car parks were somewhat large, flanked by the creative landscaping of dry stone walls, lavender & olive trees.  

Parking up the motorhome beneath the shade of a tall cypress tree, we headed across the car park towards the entrance, which at this point resembled a cross between the Yorkshire Sculpture Park & the Eden Project.  Walking through the concourse the immediate thought was, wow high tech yet again.   There was no official entrance where entry fees are paid, you were just in.

Leaving the entrance area of virtual museums, cafes & shops, we followed the path & joined the throng of tourists from all over the world.  There were a variety of walks, some took you up through the scrub to a high vantage point, others took you past carefully cultivated mediterranean plantings.  We went for the main route, straight for the bridge & there it was as we rounded a corner, just past several ancient olive trees clinging to the rock pavement.

It was certaining a wow moment. A vast piece of engineering straddling the Gardon River, the shear size distracting from the guided tours & the hot & out-of-breath cycling for softies holidaymakers pushing their bikes.  Amazing to read the graffiti carved into the stonework,  fabulous views down onto the river below, watching a couple of large black dogs enjoying a cooling swim.  Perhaps the best views came from the north side of the bridge.  Here you could observe the aqueduct in all its glory with not a human to be seen, or very few at any rate.   So how much did it cost all this pristine roman history? Well, 18 euros per vehicle for an all day visit.  You paid on leaving the complex at a ticket machine in the concourse; these were not well signposted at all & l wondered how many people missed them altogether & suffered the embarrassment of being stuck at the exit barrier?

After spending lunch on an aires beside the river at Remoulins, we headed north along the D6068 which runs parallel to the autoroute.  The road, busy in places, took us through part of the cotes du Rhone region & it was interesting to see how many northern european motorhome owners were enjoying the liquid refreshments at the various roadside caves!  Stocking up for winter perhaps?  

Our overnight stop for this evening took us across the Rhone at Pont Saint Esprit, to the Arthurian sounding medieval town of Mondragon & the campsite, Camping le Pinede en Provence, set amongst pine trees just above the town.

Miles driven today  = 84.2 miles

In which we reach the Mediterranean!

Day 9 Wednesday 2nd October 2013

According to Tuesday night's weather update on the BBC internet service,a large low pressure was somewhere fairly close, unfortunately my wifi time had run out so we knew no more this morning.  The plan had been to head down to Perpignan & then across to Collioure on the coast & spend a few days there before heading northwards. 

Fortunately, we had arranged to meet up again with my friend for a morning coffee, so out comes the  classic mountain bikes so as we can risk life & limb by cycling the wrong way up one way streets.  Oh & before l climbed on board l did get husband to check my handlebars as l really was not up to another wobble & crash ride!  Well, so glad that l did as, guess what, the flippin' basket had not been put on correctly so there's no wonder l was having problems steering, nothing to do with the bottle of wine! Vindicated.

I had heard all about the renovations & improvements to No 11 & it was great to see this ancient, as in Renaissance, apartment up & running as a successful B & B.  I remember when she moved in, the apartment was an epitome of chic living 1970s style that had remained untouched for, well, years.  Mind you there was just so much potential there, wonderful skylights, huge fireplaces, ancient tiled floors & a close proximity to all the sights & sounds of  this historic town.  Anyway, over coffee all 3 of us checked the weather.  Not good.  Heavy rain speeding across the south west heading for the Mediterranean in the next 48 hours followed by what looked like the onset of Autumnal weather patterns.  What was needed was a change of plan,  Husband had read about the Pont du Gard & wanted to see this before the rain hit, so after saying our goodbyes & altering course we set off aiming to do an overnight stop on a coastal aire du camping car near  Sete, 

The drive took us via the autoroute towards Montpellier, the closer we got to the sea, the busier the roads became.  Eventually we turned off the A9 & headed towards Adge & then along the narrow piece of road, La Corniche separating the sea from salt flats & lagoons.  The landscape was not exactly inspiring though the sight of flocks of pink flamingos was rather exciting.

The planned overnight stop turned into a bit of no go.  For those not in the know, aires are overnight camping places designed for motorhomes, they may have electric, they usually have water & emptying points, they could be free or you could pay for which services you choose to use.  Now, these areas, often car parks, are available for usually no more than 48 hours, you may not put out your awning or take out your picnic tables & chairs.  Get the picture?  The whole area along the Corniche had been redeveloped, new car parks, straight cycle tracks, new motorhome stop.  We pulled into the aires de camping cars, then pulled out. The book said there were parking places for 30 vans.  OK, the French were parked up for eternity, spread out enjoying the beach & sunshine, no room for a one night visitor.  Nothing like obeying the rules!

So we drove on, all car parks came complete with height restriction bars.  Eventually we stopped further along the coast at Frontignan, pulling up on a lay by opposite the sand dunes & beach.  It was great to have reached the Mediterranean at last!  As to overnight stop, with there being no Free parking, we ended up amongst the pine trees on the Camping Le Parc near Lattes which had the added bonus of 24 hour wifi for 2 euros!

Total mileage = 108 miles