Music In The Mountains

Friday afternoon rolled around and the truck was ready to pick up. Heslops hadn't found the source of the problem but they had tinkered with a few things and taken it for a test drive. All seemed to be running smoothly. Phew!
We hitched the rig up and drove off to our very first rally, "Music in the Mountains". It's an annual event held by the NZMCA at Tapawera school. We were impressed with how organised everything was. All vehicles were parked in rows with enough space to manouvere out if needed. By 6 o'clock we were parked up, enjoying a meal that was waiting for us (thanks to Amanda, Paul, Graeme and Rob).
After dinner, we collected our chairs and set off to sit and enjoy the first performers. They were a band from the North Island called 'Legal Tender'.
The next day, Bernie wanted to fix some things on the truck, so I went for a walk around Tapawera Village. It's such a cute town and the locals obviously take pride in their properties. I came across a sign for the 'Shedwood' bush walk. I followed the directions, which led me across a paddock and into native bush. The track led uphill for 20 minutes, I had the company of a couple of black fantails who were too quick for me to photograph. After an hour I was back walking along the main road of Tapawera, where I visited an art exhibition displaying local artwork.
We had lunch at the rig and Steve called in to visit. After a shared dinner with Amanda, Paul, Rob and Graeme, we grabbed our chairs to listen to Suzanne Prentice. Although it wasn't our sort of music, she was a great performer and it was an enjoyable night.
We decided to leave on Sunday so I could spend the next day getting ready for the new term. The 'Gypsy Pickers' were playing on Sunday night, but as they are a Nelson band we thought we'd have another opportunity to listen to them during the year.
So Sunday morning started with a cooked breakfast (thanks Bernie). Then we went for a walk to check out the dump station to make sure we could get in. When we got back, some friends of Bernie's from Westport (John Lee & his wife) called to say hi and to check out the rig. After they left we visited a couple in the van beside us,Geoff & Carron Stevenson (who are members of 'Motorhoming with Pets'). It was great to meet up, Carron is taking a writers course and has had several articles published already. That's exactly what I want to do this year, learn how to write for a magazine. Just as we were leaving Colin Smith arrived along with his poodle, it was nice having a brief chat with him. Then we hitched up, and arrived back in Richmond mid afternoon. The truck went well...the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

Dinner on our first night.

'Legal Tender'

A little 'sober driver taxi' available.

'Shedwood Bushwalk"

Lots of cicadas to be heard.

The white patch to the left is Tapawera school where the rally was held.

There were 507 cameprvans and caravans at the rally.

Suzanne Prentice

False Start

On Thursday we packed up the rig and headed to Tapawera to experience our first Motorhome Rally. We both had to work on Friday, so the plan was to take the rig to Tapawera, set it up, then drive the 4 wheel drive back to Nelson and go to the rally the next day. Amanda and Paul were holding a spot for us beside their rig.
Unfortunately, fifteen minutes down the road, at Spring Grove, the truck lost power and stopped! Fortunately we were close to the Spring Grove garage so we restarted the truck and limped it into their yard (they were closed!).
We called Heslops and they sent an after hours person out to connect the truck to their computer to find the problem. They couldn't find anything so suggested we carry on incase it was a 'one off'. The Heslop's guy said he'd follow us to the top of the Spooners Range. We didn't get that far though. On the south side of Wakefield, the truck coughed, and lost power again!
So we had to turn it around and take it back to Richmond, where we parked the rig up and then dropped the truck off at Heslops for them to look at it again the next day.

Leaving Richmond

Parked at Spring Grove garage waiting for Heslops to arrive.

Heslops to the rescue.

Relaxing Ruby Bay

We're so lucky to have such stunning places to stay that are only a short distance from home. Last weekend we went to Ruby Bay and stayed at McKee Domain. We'd planned to meet Amanda & Paul there (they also own a Big Country), plus their two friends were staying there too. Rob, who owns a Big Country and Graeme who owns a Sundance (a fifth wheeler made by Heartland). So we were excited to be spending a few days among experienced fifth wheelers.
McKee Domain is strictly no dogs, in fact you aren't even allowed to have them in your car while you drive through. Thankfully Becs and Hamish stayed at home and babysat the dogs. And, in fact, as much as we love and miss our furry friends, we knew we'd relax that little bit more knowing the dogs wouldn't be under our feet.

The truck was still at Heslops having the injectors replaced to correct the starting problem, and although we'd asked for the repairs to be finished by Friday, that wasn't to be! So our rig was parked in Richmond without a truck to tow it! When Paul heard about our dilemma he said he'd be happy to pick the rig up and take it to Ruby Bay for us.  So we arranged, for Bernie to meet Paul at our rig and help hitch it up. I was to meet them at McKee Domain. Again, things didn't go as planned! Paul's truck's hitch, wasn't compatible, even though his truck tows a Big Country like ours. Fortunately, Paul's friend Graeme was with him and he suggested going back to get his truck, a Dodge Ram, that has a hitch which tows a similar fifth wheeler. 
So, to cut a long story short.... Graeme towed our rig to Ruby Bay. We parked beside Amanda and Paul and enjoyed a few drinks that evening. McKee Domain was packed with people enjoying the last of the holidays before school went back. There were tents, caravans and camper vans everywhere!

Here's a few photos of our first night.

The view from our door, tents everywhere!

We both slept well that night, drifting off to the sounds of waves crashing onto the beach,(we were 500 m from the beach).

The next day, Bernie cooked a massive bbq breakfast, it looked really delicious but at that time of the morning I was only thinking of a cuppa. We pulled out the deck chairs and sat and enjoyed the scenery, which is one of many aspects that's drawn me to this lifestyle. To our left we had a bank of native trees, which were obviously home to many native birds. We watched the native wood pigeons (kereru) swoop, glide and demonstrate their acrobatic displays. I was impressed with the agility of this large, and usually clumsy bird. I tried to capture a pigeon in flight, but they're too quick, and I am still a novice at photographing things with a fast shutter speed!

I've always been interesting (and baffled) by solar power, even the terminology confuses me... 12 amps, 24 amps, invertors etc. At this stage, it sounds like another language to me. However, I am intrigued and somewhat obsessed with the panel that shows our solar power. Here I was turning off all the lights that weren't needed, only to see that LED lights really use minimal power. I guess I had to see it to believe it.
On Saturday, a very knowledgeable guy, 'John' knocked at our door, he specialises in camper van LED bulbs. Almost, all of our bulbs were LED, except the ones above the kitchen and dining room. So, we replaced them through John, and have decided to replace bulbs in the storage compartments with LEDs in the future.

The gauge showing our solar power, this is showing how much we were using at that time.

Most of Saturday was spent discovering and learning. We had a notebook and a camera. Bernie was interested in how Rob had set up the storage compartment behind his truck. We had similar ideas and seeing one in practise was valuable.

We made a list of things we needed in the rig and went into Motueka to stock up.

Main street in Motueka

On Sunday, we woke to blue skies and the sounds of people packing up their camping gear. While Bernie cooked another bbq breakfast, I decided to go for a walk and experiment with my camera. I found a walking track beside the beach. The track meandered amongst native bush, while remaining close enough to the sea to appreciate the sound of the crashing waves.

I put my camera on manual, (and remember I'm new to photography), but eager to learn, I was keen to try one or two manual settings. I spotted a tui foraging on the forest floor amongst vines to find insects. Also, there were several wood pigeons feasting on berries and clumsily landing on branches. I got all excited ... I had a great photo in my sight and while I changed my camera settings to a faster shutter speed, this so called, model pigeon, swooped and flew inches towards me before gracefully flying upwards.I missed a perfect shot!


Here are some more photos of our weekend...

Amanda & Paul; they've been living on the road for 5 years.

View over Ruby Bay towards Nelson.

Some of the many signs...

Rob's rig, it's a Big Country but slightly bigger than ours.

Graeme's 'SunDancer"

Amanda & Paul Walters 'Big Country'

Early morning seating, watching the wood pigeons while we had breakfast.

A tui with an insect in it's beck.

Lee Valley

The Lee Valley in Brightwater has lots of clean, deep, swimming holes to choose from and the dogs love it. They know where they are going when we turn off at Brightwater, and they start whining with excitement.