On the road for 3 weeks.

Everything is in place and we are ready to leave from Rose and Carls.

 The view from the front window of Goldie at our first nights camp ground. We are staying at the Mangawhai Heads. Heading South this road allowed us to by pass the Brenderwyns, a steep and difficult part of State Hwy 1.

 This is a very beautiful and relaxing camp ground.

 Many of the caravans here are set up permanently, it must be very busy during the summer.

Matamata, (Hobbiton)

While staying at the Crystal Hot Springs camp ground as a cyclone passed through we met a father and son that were cycling from Cape Reianga to Wellington. Note the 'Fat Boy' bikes they are riding. The son wanted to do the ride to raise money for St. Johns Ambulance.

 Matamata has become a 'must stop' on the tourist route as it has now taken on the persona of 'Hobbiton'. The 'i site' in town has a very interesting example of a 'Hobbit' building.

Matamata with her town clock at the center of town.

Gliding in Tauranga.

 I was delighted when Dave ask me to go gliding with him from the Tauranga Airport. We met Dave and Jackie on the airfield, where I was ready to go!

 The Club tow plane is used to get the glider up to the desired altitude, in our case 3000 feet.

 Dave and I are ready to go. We had a great flight out over the Mount beach and a 'birds eye' view of the 'Mount' as we did a circle around it.

Landing back on the grass at the airport.

Camping at the Mount and on to Bowentown

 Here we are right at the foot of the Mount with only the Boardwalk between us and the surf beach. It was a very sociable time as we were able to visit with many friends and relatives. 

 Bowentown is an hour north of Tauranga, with a very pleasant Regional Park situated at the Heads. The Regional Park has very limited overnight camping but many of the above campers stayed overnight, including ourselves.

The 'Heads' can be seen from the hills in the Regional Park.

Whangamata Beach Hop 2014

Whangamata is a pleasant seaside town of about 4000 people until 'Beach Hop' hits in late March. Then the town explodes with 100,000 visitors arriving to enjoy the era of the 1950ies and 60ties with bands playing Rock en Roll, people dressing for the period, vintage and classic cars on display and a huge parade and of particular interest to us a collection of Retro Caravans. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, set up camp on the high schools sports field and prepared to let the fun begin.......

 

 Goldie our 1974 Retro Chevron Liteweight caravan as she was setup on our arrival.

 Rick and Daves Retro Oxford Caravan.

 A couple of Caravans as the sun sets on our first night.

  

 Note the name on the front....Happy Ours  BYO

 The blue 1971 Datsun is original with less than 35000 miles and is the caravans tow car.

Many people posted information signs showing history and details about their caravans.

Day and night photos as borrowed from Retro Caravans Web site, Rick and Dave thanks for a great job.

                                         Ready for take off....

                                         Check the period cloths on the line and the flamingos.

 

                                         Retro caravan with a 1950ies Zepher tow car.

                                     1971 Datsun tow car with a Retro Caravan.

                                         Always time for a little R & R

                                        Main street for the weekend

                                         A very Classic Cadillac