After eight months of waiting my K-Pod teardrop-style camper was finally ready to collect from the manufacturer in Tauranga. Our plan was for a two-day trip up to Tauranga then a four-day trip back via a number of backroads to really test the camper out and get material for these articles.
Leaving late Saturday morning, I joined Ashley and Gillian for a scenic trip from Wellington up through Fielding and Kimbolton to Mangaweka. Our accommodation for the night was a bach just out of Mangaweka that they had access to, set on a piece of farmland with sheep, lambs and the odd cow grazing around the deck, and an amazing view down the Rangitikei River valley. It was quite an experience being woken up in the middle of the night by a cow munching grass right outside the bedroom window. The next morning we had breakfast watching the rising sun playing on the bluffs just across the river from us, and I got some very pleasing photos at the expense of a cooling coffee.
We left the bach reasonably early, giving us time to detour off the Desert Rd and stop on the road to Tukino ski field for some photos of a snow-clad Mt Ruapehu. Lunch was at a very pleasant little café at Motuoapa just north of Turangi on the side of Lake Taupo, then we stopped again briefly at Kerosene Creek, just south of Rotorua at what was supposed to be a very attractive thermal stream. Unfortunately the beauty of the creek was marred by the die-off of all the ferns along the bank, leaving just bare muddy banks and dead bracken. With the day getting on, we continued to Rotorua, around the eastern side of the lake and across to our final destination at Papamoa Beach. As usual, Ashley and Gillian were sleeping in their car, but I had arranged a cabin for one night before joining them on a powered site in front of the cabin the next night, once I had picked up the camper. Tired from all our driving, dinner that night was early bar snacks at the nearby restaurant and bar, soaking up the evening light over the beach, before we all retired to my cabin for a social end to the day.
The next morning I had just packed up, ready to head off and get the camper, when I got a message from Jack at K-Pod asking if we could pick it up in the early afternoon. As Gillian was visiting family for the day, Ashley and I took the opportunity to have a leisurely explore of the Omokoroa area near the K-Pod factory, with lunch on The Esplanade looking out over Matakana Island. When we finally arrived to get the camper Jack gave me a full walk-around of the camper and all the options I had chosen, and I was soon the proud owner of a new K-Pod with our personal colour scheme and feature list. Heading back to Papamoa Beach I was very pleased with how easy the camper was to tow and manoeuvre. Once I had it parked on the campsite, I spent a few hours moving all my gear out of the car and into the camper storage and generally getting familiar with everything. After dinner – home-made burgers on the BBQ in the camp kitchen, again overlooking the beach – we tested the K-Pod as a lounge for the three of us before I settled down for my first night in my new mobile home. Once again, I was very pleased with how well it suited my needs.
Wednesday was the start of our return to Wellington. Our original plan was to head across to Kiritehere Beach for a night, the work our way down the west coast, but we had trouble sorting out accommodation, so decided to head straight down to Awakino. We left Tauranga in beautiful, sunny weather, but once we got over the Kaimai Ranges the clouds rolled in. About 20km before we reached Awakino we turned up Taumatamaire Rd for my first backroad run with the camper. This gave us some nicer scenery as we worked our way up into the hills, and also gave me a short run to test the camper off-road. While it was easy to tow, and followed well, it was a little bouncy, especially when hitting multiple potholes a bit too fast. It did not soak up the rough ground as well as the car does. When I checked later, I found that the tyre pressures were much higher than I had been told, so I am now experimenting with lower pressures for both on-road and off-road use.
The campground at Awakino was basic but clean and pleasant, so I took the opportunity to cook in the camper kitchen for the first time. I found it very comfortable to use, and with the lift-up kitchen door keeping the drizzle off while I cooked, and an awning to sit under while eating, it was a very successful self-sufficient dinner and post-dinner clean-up. With the rain increasing as the evening wore on, I was soon settled in the camper watching downloaded YouTube shows and enjoying listening to the rain without worrying about leaks or surface flooding.
We had planned to go across to visit Mt Dampier Falls and the on to Taumarunui the next day, but the number of slips we had seen on the main roads on our way south, and even on Taumatamaire Rd, where we saw trees standing in a slip half way across the road as if they had surfed down the hill, made us unsure of heading into even more remote areas with more steady rain forecast. In the end we decided to head down to Whanganui on the main roads with a tentative plan to go to the Patea Dam on the way past if the weather was not too wet.
By the time we got to the Patea dam turnoff, the weather had temporarily eased to light showers, so we headed into the misty hills on wet but mainly rain free roads. This was a steep and windy climb in places with plenty of evidence of cleared slips, and with the streams and waterfalls in full flood However, apart from the last 10 km or so through private land, it was all sealed. It was fascinating to get out of the car at the road end and find the ground to be embedded with thousands of fossils, showing that it had once been under water. On the way back we were lucky enough to get a lightening of the clouds and the well-watered grass paddocks took on a green glow against the darker hillsides.
Unfortunately the weather had changed again by the time we got to Whanganui, and it was pouring down as I parked the camper. I really appreciated the easy of setting up compared to trying to pitch a tent under these conditions. With good kitchen and dining facilities at the camp we were able to sit in comfort for our pre-dinner coffee. There was a school rowing squad staying at the camp, and we were very lucky that their support team had over-catered their lunch and offered us all a free pasta dish to heat up for tea. Once again, I was soon relaxing with my YouTube, unconcerned by the rain.
Our initial plan for the next morning had been to do a bit of an explore before heading for Wellington, but the weather was still not very good so we decided to just head home. I got home in time for lunch and spent most of the afternoon showing May the camper and planning the minor enhancements we need to make, the main one being to add a bolt-on step to each side to make getting in, and especially out, a bit easier.
