{"id":9920,"date":"2024-04-14T22:44:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T10:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=9920"},"modified":"2024-04-23T20:45:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T08:45:25","slug":"the-rv-rainbow-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/14\/the-rv-rainbow-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"The RV Rainbow Connection (RV Day 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today we began our 15-day journey driving around Northlands on the North Island in a motorhome. We wanted to get a taste of this very iconic Kiwi experience and also get a chance to finally unpack our stuff for a while so we don\u2019t have to move every few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the Uber on the way to pick up our motorhome, there was a rainbow out my window to the east. What a good sign!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wilderness Motorhomes is where we rented our home on wheels for the next fifteen days. Our baby, Harmony, is 22 feet long and 7 feet wide. She\u2019s a beaut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a very thorough briefing by Autumn at Wilderness HQ, we hit the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First stop: the only Costco in the entire country, just outside of Auckland, and I\u2019m pretty sure half the city\u2019s population was shopping there. Big mistake to stay. They definitely had some interesting products that we don\u2019t have at home so we got a few things and left as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Delish!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We had to stop at a New World grocery store to pick up the things Costco didn\u2019t have. Just like at home, running around on a Sunday going shopping. Fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there we headed north to a pretty village called Matakana<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ma\u014dri design in sidewalk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We walked around, bought some chocolate covered Hokey Pokey from Honest Chocolat<\/a> and figured out where we were parking our home for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tried to book a spot on line at Mangawhai Heads Holiday Park<\/a>, but the website wasn\u2019t accepting our credit card and no one answered the phone when we tried calling. Reception closed at 6 p.m. and it was now 5 p.m. It took 40 minutes to get there. We jumped in Harmony and made our way as quickly as possible, which isn\u2019t very quick considering the heft we were hauling and the two very winding mountain passes we needed to drive over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drove through what reminded me of the English countryside – verdant rolling hills with sheep and cows dotting the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw two more rainbows on the way. Good luck for sure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where\u2019s the pot of gold?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We arrived with 15 minutes to spare and snapped up the last beachfront spot at the holiday park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We plugged in and set to work unpacking and organizing our stuff. We made a quick dinner and relaxed for the first time all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My evening activity was killing the gnats that managed to sneak in every time we opened the door. Seems as if we traded them for the sandflies. At least they don\u2019t bite!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 14 Today we began our 15-day journey driving around Northlands on the North Island in a motorhome. We wanted to get a taste of this very iconic Kiwi experience and also get a chance to finally unpack our stuff for a while so we don\u2019t have to move every few days. In the Uber … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[20,22,21],"class_list":["post-9920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-new-zealand-north-island","tag-motorhome","tag-northlands","tag-rv"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1497-1.jpg?fit=1500%2C2000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9872,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/13\/people-who-love-to-eat-are-always-the-best-people-julia-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":9920,"position":0},"title":"\u201cPeople who love to eat are always the best people.\u201d -Julia Child","author":"Victoria","date":"13 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 13 Saturday mornings are busy at the Parnell Farmers\u2019 Market. It\u2019s a good place to arrive hungry, which we did. After browsing the food stalls, we each settled on a gozleme, a stuffed Turkish pancake. To follow up with something sweet, I went for a mini Portuguese tart, one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1370-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1370-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1370-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1370-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11109,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/27\/one-more-night-rv-day-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":9920,"position":1},"title":"One More Night (RV Day 14)","author":"Victoria","date":"27 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 27 Mitch started singing this song in the luxurious RV shower last night and we can\u2019t get it out of our heads as we get ready to celebrate returning our massive motorhome to Wilderness Motorhomes. Their slogan is \u201cLeave the Ordinary Behind.\u201d I guess we just prefer the ordinary.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9922,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/15\/magical-mangawhai\/","url_meta":{"origin":9920,"position":2},"title":"Magical Mangawhai (RV Day 2)","author":"Victoria","date":"15 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 15 We had a great first night sleep in our motorhome. It was comfortable and super quiet at the campsite. We awoke to lots of birds, some new ones again for us that we haven\u2019t yet seen. Kelp Gull We got a late check out from the park and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1690-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1690-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1690-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1690-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11153,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/28\/its-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":9920,"position":3},"title":"\u201cIt\u2019s the most wonderful time of the year.\u201d","author":"Victoria","date":"28 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 28 While some might think the above Andy Williams lyric refers to the holiday season, for us it\u2019s the return of Harmony, our motorhome, to Wilderness HQ. Buh-bye! While it wasn\u2019t a horrible experience, overall we were pretty disappointed with our Fiat B\u00fcrstner. If IKEA built motorhomes, Harmony would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5335-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5335-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5335-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5335-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10308,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/19\/collect-moments-not-things-rv-day-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":9920,"position":4},"title":"\u201cCollect moments, not things.\u201d (RV Day 6)","author":"Victoria","date":"19 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 19 Good news! No one knocked on our door last night, so we had an uninterrupted night sleep at Woolleys Bay. And there was no ticket on our window. \ud83d\ude4c Woolleys Bay This morning we walked through the bush from Matapouri to Whale Bay. 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