Steamin Along

One very well loved house truck/motorhome/camper is about to go up for sale. She’s been at the doctors recently for some overhauling of her bits & pieces. There has been a bit of this after catching a virus during the last weekend away Talk about whinge! She’s been squealing at me almost constantly ! So back to the docs & the diagnosis was for a touch of surgery on some of her parts. A bit of a facelift if you will, of her nether regions.  After the trial run to Rotorua & back there was some reflecting of events & one has to admit that the level of pain was a bit higher than we would have quite liked going forward, especially as the drive was only an hour or so long. Most time periods for a level of comfortable driving have been around the two hour mark. There has been bread making in the new oven There has also been some pain management going on in the background, & we must admit that an increase in medication doesn’t always take care of business completely....

This week Steamin Along is at the doctors. The poor girl hasn’t been well lately & has needed the alternator refurbished, a battery status monitor (my choice) & now she’s at a new doctor because she failed her six monthly medical 😬 aka the Certificate Of Fitness  @ $190 I must say she’s high maintenance! 😂 The brakes are heading for a mental breakdown, as are the shocks & some spring 🌼 bushes are needed, as well as a new mirror & a middle seat bolt that fell out & mysteriously disappeared. All I’m hearing is kaching 💰 and the song 🎶 Money 💰 money 💴 money 💵. An extremely friendly piwakawaka (Fantail) at Acacia Bay in Taupo   I think she may have to go to a new home after this makeover as she’s suddenly been put out of my budget long term. So the answer I’ve been waiting for has come, & the painting is done. It’s time for the fox 🦊 and hounds 🐕 to go out hunting a new travel accessory.  Comparisons for the record is about the differences of...

I stopped in Tirau for a break from driving. Driving a truck or Motorhome requires a lot of brain gym & that’s tiring. I’ve decided that I’m going to show things that are off the beaten track, because we often miss those things in life in general. For me it’s like getting off the mouse wheel we so often run on, doing the same things, going to the same supermarkets & other places, & seeing the same people. I get utterly frustrated with that lifestyle, as I need challenge & variety to thrive. So without further ado, here are some things I saw on my last trip through Tirau. An old garage opposite the cafe I like, Lola & Co Some art on the footpath  I’ve begun walking the streets of towns so I can see what’s there. So often I stop for a wee break 😂 & don’t really look around. I want to experience the places, so I’m going to stay in each town for some days one day. Well there’s a nice dunny/loo/ toilet You’ve gotta love the sense of humour some people have done ...

  Did I mention how quirky this place is? It’s arty & an eclectic mix of styles, with abject poverty & wealth standing together in unison. A most amazing & very obvious comparison. A house in a field just waiting for visitors Fabulous art in some places, including the buildings themselves A beautifully restored cottage The old & new together I just love the original dwellings of yesteryear The ordinary is necessary for the significant to stand out Fabulous Rock formations And caves 🤩 A common sight in rural New Zealand, the lone farmhouse or shed There was a Lot of water on the land from a storm A heck of a lot actually Layered rock used to make stone walls. A funny story goes with this. My cousin showed me a stone wall & I told him I wasn’t into the modern stone walls with cut rock… It’s a natural formation it turns out 🤣  Darling verandah style porches That’s a swollen stream for you! Some pics were taken on the way to the quarry & others on the way...

The truck ride to the lime quarry was really cool. It was great to be out in nature again, from a high vantage point where I could see more & this post & the next will have unedited pics to show the true perspective of what I see.  A slip that covered half of the road with a mature tree & soil  Thankfully truck drivers have a special RT channel that they can tell each other about these sorts of things, when in range of each other. There were also sheep on the road at one point. We went out to the Benneydale area to get the truck loaded with the lime, & then to the Link Road area to a farm to drop the lime off, so I took some pics of some new things, that I haven’t covered in the blog. Yay new things & most importantly…places 😃 A trucks eye view on the road to the lime quarry, doing 20km an hour, so as not to disturb the lime dust too much Lime quarry where the stone is mined &  crushed The bins where the trucks get loaded from. They hold more than...

Next morning I had planned a quick trip to deliver some prized rocks to a small elfling in Taupo…& the battery warning light in the truck stayed on when I started the truck 🤦‍♀️  Eek what to do! A message to a friend I thought was still close by after the clock chimed 10am (Hotel departure time) & the fairies had all retired to their homes. No answer 😬  Reporoa Area A hop across the carpark to see another wings member who told me to drive & not stop to the destination, after a few revs sorted the lights. A quick lunch at a Wairakei Rest area with the engine still going & over to the cuzzies, after letting them know what was going on. I paused along the way to take some pics, naturally 😉 I love curved shapes After a day of visiting & waiting to hear about an auto electrician appointment, we got her in & she had to stay overnight. A refreshed alternator is being installed as you read 😉 There was a truck ride to deliver some lime too… so naturally I to...

 It’s so good to be on the road again 🎶  There was a trip to the Millenium Hotel in Rotorua for a magical weekend experience. This experience was supposed to have happened back in 2020 but then we all know what happened that year huh. It was going to be a test pour moi to see if selling of a certain ungainly mobile home needed to be undertaken. Cest Magnifique! Recently there was a visit to see a medical person & one was told that idea of selling said beast could be forsaken, but for the want of some small objects known in the modern world as meds/pills. We are allowed More! Many more! One is simply dazzling 🤩 with this information! ✨  A veritable champagne flute of hope 💃 & sunshine ☀️ rays of light & whatever other words come to mind, after a late night 😂  An old hotel in Tirau Thus far the experiment seems to be a positive thing! We have a way to go with the increase yet, but signs are looking good. There has been some despondency over looking at f...