Ngai's View - Castlepoint

Last time I was in Castlepoint was a school camp back in the 70's! Stayed at the same place as well and all I can remember is that one of the boys fell off the trampoline and broke his leg or arm. I'm not sure that Castlepoint has grown that much since then except perhaps up the hill. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

As chief navigator I managed to tiki tour us all the way around the back of CHB and Tararua. As Clint said it was very wet out Weber and Pongaroa way and the clay soil has this creepy way of oozing across the roads as if it were alive. Got pretty sick of seeing mud and bull rushes! I had actually been wanting to come this way for ages because years ago an old friend of mine Alex Hayes lived out near Alfredton. Somehow I was expecting an Onga Onga type of village instead it was a Sherwood like turnoff (meaning a school and a community hall).

Our campsite at Castlepoint was really well situated. Beautiful view and slightly sheltered from what we were expecting to be a very windy night. Afterall Castlepoint is notorious for its strong winds often over 120km an hour and not unknown to go over 200km. The boardwalk we were both expecting that connected the end of the road with the lighthouse walk is no longer. I guess it is not needed since it looks like the sandy bar is above the tide line. Really windy out at the lighthouse. Sort of hold on to the railing type stuff. Stopped and watched the surfers taking on the waves coming through the gap by Castle Rock. Very impressive.
I always get spoilt by Clint on these trips as he has all his kitchen and cooking stuff sorted out and I just sit back and stare out at the view...

Yep I know I'm lucky! Dinner and breakfast - Yum.
Clint spent the first half of the night pissed off at the flap connector banging and then finally he got up and took it down. I slumbered through all of that because I listen to music and podcasts all night with my earphones on.
I got some great early morning photos the next day. As I got up to take them a muffled voice from the depths of the top bunk said: "It looked better 30 minutes ago". Hehe. I notice he didn't get up though to take these so called better shots.
We had a leisurely drive home on SH2 and Melle was ecstatic to see us since Ana was still in bed. (not surprised).
So another place in NZ gets ticked off my list in my quest to get Clint to see all of the country. In November we will head down south to Karamea, Heaphy and then Golden Bay. We haven't been out to Farewell Spit yet. I will also take Clint over to Pureora in the next few weeks. Such an unsung hero of a Forest Park.
Then next year I will look forward to taking Clint and his Mum and Dad around the top of NZ. My Mum and I did a great road trip around there a couple of years back and Molly and Ana and I went up to visit Tane Mahuta a few years before that. (highlighted by Ana's refusal to get out of the car to see it:-).
So Rakiura and Breaksea Sound are the last two places on my own bucket list - Can't go there in the AdMach!

Castlepoint weekend

We needed a trip to test the new petrol tank. Somewhere not too remote was called for just in case things didn't go to plan. Being winter reduced the possibilities even more.

Since the weather looked good we headed for Castlepoint, somewhere that had been on the list for a while. We headed inland from Dannevirke via Weber, Pongaroa and Alfredton. The countryside was showing the signs of the recent wet winter, plenty of slips to skirt around.

We stayed at the Castlepoint Holiday Park. $16.50 per person per night powered or unpowered. It was very quiet, not surprising for this time of year, but very clean with excellent facilities. 

Dawn at Castlepoint

Castlepoint Lighthouse

surfer

Dawn, from bed.

Castlepoint camp ground

New life

The Adventure Machine is getting a new petrol tank and has been in winter recess but now it's calving.

Australian Lowline calf- 4 days old

Our first calf of the season. Unfortunately the mum, who is a first time mum, doesn't quite know what to do and thinks the calf is a threat so bunts her away everytime she gets near. This means getting the cow into a bail to let the calf feed. But what a wonderful calf, so full of life and determined. She is yet to named. Ah the joys of having animals.

Final Stages. The awning.

An extension from the rear of the vehicle has always been a fundamental part of the design. It will provide space, shelter and privacy when needed.

Animated gif of the awning.

The cost of getting one made commercially was not in the budget so I decided to make it myself.
I purchased a light weight poly/cotton canvas. Green was the only colour in stock so green it is.
My little Brother sewing machine could not handle the thickness so I bought a 1937 Singer model 99 for 80 dollars and it works a treat.

Singer sewing machine model 99

When the fuel don't flow....

Our planned Anzac Day trip to Lake Waikaremoana was curtailed just an hour into it.
Whilst going up a reasonably steep hill, the truck suddenly lost  power. It would idle fine but as soon as a little accelerator was added it died. If I stepped on the accelerator hard it would roar into life.

I am mechanically challenged, but it seemed as if it were a carburettor problem and it felt as though the carby had two types of jets, one for low revs and one for high revs, the low revs causing the problem.

I managed to nurse it home and had a look through the factory service manual to find this motor has a carburettor with low and high flow jets, a primary and secondary for each. A trip to town to get some aerosol carby cleaner and the problem was sorted....sort of. It still run rough and hesitated on light throttle.

I asked Ongaonga Motors to clean and check the carby, which they did quickly and expertly and she runs just fine now. Marcus (the mechanic) said the carby 'was full of water and sh*t'. Hmmm this would explain the problems.

Wikipedia has this information on carburettors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carburetor

East Coast New Zealand- Beautiful

Kaiaua Beach, East Coast New Zealand

Freedom Camping in Gisborne

Donneraille Park, Gisborne.

Freedom camping is alive and well in Gisborne. For a very reasonable fee, the camper gets rubbish collection and a great set of locations to choose from.
I was impressed that there was no rubbish left at either location. Freedom camping doesn't necessarily mean a mess.

Somewhere to cook

A blurry photo of the new shelf with cooker. 

My idea of a shelf

Folded away for travel.