Category Archives: Campervan Adventures

Australia New Zealand, Campervan Adventures

Kiwi Dundee

1 Comment

Day 17 Tue Nov 12

This was one of the highlights of our trip so far. Based on the recommendations of many of their customers, our travel agents booked us on a tour of the Hahei area guided by Kiwi Dundee. Our Kiwi Dundee turned out to be a lovely, slightly eccentric, woman, named Adrienne. She picked us up from our digs around 9:00. We needed to reach Hot Water Beach while the tide was still low.

There are a couple of hot springs, which bubble up through the sand. People come equipped with spades to dig their own personal hot tubs in the sand. One of the springs is pleasantly warm, about 35-40 degC, the other is much hotter, probably about 55-60 degC. If you choose the hot one, well the sea is handy for cooling off.

Personal hot tubs
Ancient Maori sharpening stone. is

Adrienne showed us something interesting at Hot Water Beach. It was this stone. The Maori used this stone to sharpen tools and weapons.

We moved on to look at the site of a Maori fortified village. On the way up to the top of the hill Adrienne explained how various plants were traditionally used.

View from the top.

After that we stopped for lunch, before heading off for a walk in a native forest. She was very interesting and informed on the native plants, tree ferns, and Kauri trees. These trees are endangered partly because of past logging and Kauri dieback disease.

Tree Fern

In the past gold mining took place in the area. We explored an abandoned shaft.

Mine shaft

The local jail was also cut into the rock, today it is only used by the local Weta population.

Diane didn’t like the Wetas.

They look like big scary spiders, but they are not spiders. They are actually related to crickets and grasshoppers.

A really excellent day out. If you are in the area I would fully recommend it.

Kiwi Dundee is the name of the company that organized the tour.

Campervan Adventures, Food, Restaurants, Travel

Spain Day Five

Leave a comment

After a leisurely breakfast, we decided to go for a walk along the river that runs beside the campsite.

The path lead us to a village called Labuerda.

The road to Labuerda

I suppose it took us about half an hour to walk to the village. It is small (according to Wikipedia it has 172 inhabitants). It is attractive, set around a square with a c12th church as its focal point.

Behind the village is the massive Peña Montañesa.

We had a mooch around the village, found the Parque de Mayores (Park for Oldies) and a few interesting doors.

We decided that we like lunch and a cold beer. The only place that appeared to be open was a bar/restaurant called Fonda Carrera. Neither Diane nor I speak much Spanish, “dos cervezas por favor” is about my limit. As a result, we couldn’t make it clear that we wanted a cold beer. We also wanted something light to eat. We were ushered downstairs to a table in this covered courtyard, where lunch was being served. We ended up having a very good lunch of five, six or seven courses, depending on how you counted. I had manitas, which according to Google translate means handymen, slightly disturbing. It can also mean trotters, pig’s trotters to be precise. I almost chickened out and ordered the chicken. But I thought that pig’s trotters don’t often show up on menus in the United Kingdom. So, why not go for it? I’m glad that I did. They were slightly gelatinous, but tasted magnificent. The meal, which included half a litre of wine each and coffee, came to €26 each.

Handymen (Manitas)

After lunch, we wandered back the way we had come. We stopped for a while, so I could do a watercolor sketch of Peña Montañesa.

Later on, as the sun was setting, it took on a wonderful rose colour.

Another enjoyable day, completely unplanned.

Campervan Adventures, Travel

Spain- Days Three and Four.

Leave a comment

Day Three

It was time to say goodbye to Playa Arenillas and start, gradually working our way to France. The plan today was to drive along the North Coast to San Sebastian, where we would have a stop for lunch and some sightseeing, before heading about fifty kilometers further south to our campsite for the night.

The plan worked well until we arrived in San Sebastian. Almost all the car parks in San Sebastian are underground and consequently have a maximum head room of two metres. The van not including the television antenna is 2.3 metres. We drove around for a wee while before we eventually found some on street parking, with the added bonus of being next to a bus route into the city centre.

We liked San Sebastian a lot. Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to explore.

Diane found a 👞 shop.

We spent about two hours there before we decided we needed to head off to our next campsite. It was about sixty kilometres south. At a place called Urbasa. The drive south was fairly flat, but as soon as we left the motorway the road went up, rapidly. After negotiating a series of very tight hairpins the road levelled out on to a plateau about a thousand metres above where we started. On the way up we got stuck behind a cyclist, I say stuck but he was going as fast as we were, about twenty five to thirty kilometres an hour, up a significant climb. It was only as we passed him I noticed that he was wearing a Caja Rural (a Spanish pro team) jersey. I suspect that he might have been a professional out on a training ride.

It is a lovely campsite which we shared with a herd of donkeys, one of which thought that our windscreen wipers might make a tasty snack.

It might have been a good place to spend a day or two. There were lots of walks and bike rides, around the site, but we were only using it as a break in the journey.

The next morning, after breakfast in the site café we headed off, back down the hairpins and into the Pyrenees.

Day Four

We had a longish trip ahead of us. We were trying to work out where to stop for lunch when Diane saw a sign for Castillo di Javier. So we had to visit.

It is very well preserved/restored. It was the birth place of St. Francis Xavier. (Javier is the Navarra spelling) I think it is now owned by the Jesuits. There is a Jesuit seminary next door. It is an interesting place to visit (and only cost €3). The story of his life is well, if a bit hagiographically told through artefacts and art.

There is a good restaurant next door. Well worth a detour

After a tour of the castle, the associated chapel and a good lunch we headed off into the Pyrenees. After couple of hours driving through increasingly beautiful scenery (and increasingly challenging roads) we arrived at our home for the next two nights, Camping Peña Montañesa in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The view from the site

As we had arrived late and couldn’t be bothered to cook, we had dinner at the campsite restaurant. It was OK, but nothing special. The beer was cold and the food that was supposed to be hot was hot. We could have hung around after dinner to watch the Champions League Final, but decided to go back to the van. We knew when Real Madrid scored by the noise.

The campsite is also situated in a dark area. After dark the stars were spectacular. It was good to go to sleep with the skylight open looking up at the stars.

Art, Campervan Adventures

Spain day two Bilbao and the Guggenhiem

Leave a comment

We were still staying at Camping Playa Arenillas. Today we had decided to go to Bilbao, specifically to visit the Guggenheim Museum. The trip required two buses and although the information we had from the campsite was a bit vague, we thought we had it sorted.

Not quite. There was supposed to be a bus stop near the campsite,  but we couldn’t see one, so we decided to walk along to the stop in the village. As we were walking along the bus went past. Diane elisted the help of a couple of local council workers, but they spoke as much English as we speak Spanish. They tried to get us a taxi,  but to no avail. We gave up and they went back to doing what they should have been doing.  Shortly after, a bus that wasn’t shown on our timetable appeared, to take us into Castro where we could get the bus to Bilbao.

We got to Bilbao about twelve and found a taxi to take us to the Museum. It is an impressive building. Designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 1997. For more information follow this link

What we thought was the entrance.

We found our way in.

External views

The ground floor is given over to exhibitions and installations. One in particular,  which is site specific, Richard Serra’s “The Matter of Time” is highly impressive.

The Matter of Time

It is massive, sinuous and confusing to navigate. So in a sense it echos the museum. It is formed from large 50mm thick steel plates. So as well as being an amazing work of art, there was some serious engineering involved in its production.

There were two exhibitions on at the time of our visit.  The first was of the work of the French painter Jean Dubuffet. 

Following the Second World War he decided to reject the conventional norms of aesthetic beauty, to create art in what he described as a more authentic manner. He adopted non-conventional materials. In some ways his art was informed by the same sensibilities as the contemporary Italian “Arte Povera” movement. Though how much contact they had is unclear. Ultimately what he produced was one of the foundations of what was known as the “Art Brut” movement.

Dubuffet

The second exhibition was titled “Motion, Autos, Art and Architecture” it is curated by Norman Foster. In some ways it was similar to an exhibition that the V&A put on a couple of years ago. The emphasis was slightly different. The V&A exhibition concentrated on the design of the car, whereas this exhibition concentrated on the vehicle as an art object. There were some beautiful cars, notably a Citroën DS and a 1959 Cadillac (the one with the tail fins). The cars were complimented by art contemporary to their creation. It worked well.

The top floor is dedicated to the permanent collection. There is a Rothko, an Yves Klien, a Cy Twombly series, as well as a few others.

Outside the museum there are various large scale artworks, mainly by Jeff Koons, “Mamam” , Louise Bourgeois massive spider sculpture also features.

Puppy-Jeff Koons
Mamam

It was worth the trip.

Campervan Adventures, Travel

Spain Day One

2 Comments

My morning started with the ship playing very gentle wake up music over the public address system at around five. It was enough to wake me but not quite enough to get me out of bed and into the shower. It took a while, but I realized I should get up and dressed if I wanted breakfast before we disembarked. I had a cup of coffee and some cereal to get my body and brain started.  Diane, joined me half way through, she initially wasn’t going to have any breakfast. After that, we checked the cabin to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind. Then, we wandered down to deck three to get the van.

The van now has a name by the way. It, or I suppose I should say she, is now known as “Bianca”, because she is white and Italian. White was not my first choice of colour. Diane would not have chosen it either. But, it seemed to be the only colour available, so we went with it.

We spent our first two nights at Camping Playa Arenillas. It is on a beach near the small town of Islares. Islares is halfway between Santander and Bilbao.

Around the campsite.

We had a self misguided (Google assisted) tour of the area looking for a supermarket. There probably were several in Santander, but we decided to head to the campsite first. From there we went on a tour. We found some things in a small village shop. Then, we ended up in Castro Urdiales. It is the nearest town of any size. It is an attractive fishing port.

Columbus sailed on something like this.
Why she has only the one arm I don’t know

After we got back, we went for a walk down to the beach. We met an Irish lady. On her advice, Diane decided that a swim would be a good idea before we left. We debated eating at the campsite restaurant, but decided to cook in the van.

Apart from a small shower on the way along the coast, the rain in Spain stayed mainly on the plain. It is quite hilly around here.

Above the campsite we can see these rather strange structures, any ideas as to what they are? 🤔 Ideas welcome in the comments.

Campervan Adventures, Cooking, Travel

On our way.

Leave a comment

I haven’t written much on here for well over a year. AFC Wimbledon haven’t exactly inspired me to write. I haven’t been to as many away games this past season compared to earlier seasons.

We have a new Campervan though. The Big Green Bus has gone to a new owner. I hope they have as much fun with it as we did. We have replaced it with an even bigger bus, yet to be named. We had a couple of trips out to familiarise ourselves with it. This but is the big one. Three weeks in Spain and France.

I am writing this on board the MV Galicia, heading for Santander, in Northern Spain.

We drove down to Portsmouth to get the ferry last night and sailed about 21:30. We encountered a hold up at the check in gate. We got stuck behind a car that had two dogs and the wrong paperwork. Despite these issues, everything went smoothly. Our cabin is small but perfectly adequate for two nights.  The bunks are comfortable and the toilet works.

Going on board
Leaving Portsmouth – The Spinnaker Tower
On the ferry

We had supper in the lounge,  tapas and a glass of wine, then went to bed about eleven. We woke up somewhere off the Brittany coast.  Breakfast was good, nothing spectacular but perfectly fine.

This was probably the first time I had been at sea for more than a short inter-island hop since I left the Merchant Navy. We also did something that I never did during my MN years. We sailed between Ushant and the mainland. We always went round the outside. But I assume that the Master is a Breton and knows what he is doing.

The whole journey was been a pleasant experience. Diane decided to upgrade us to a Commodore class cabin, which helped. It was only £35 more than a standard cabin. It gave us significantly more space. We also had access to the Commodore lounge. This lounge is quieter than the public lounges and has complimentary tea, coffee, and cakes. At lunch time and pre-dinner wine and tapas are available, also complimentary. Well worth the extra cost in my opinion, if you are planning an overnight trip on Brittany Ferries

Biscay Sunset
Clouds over Biscay

After a very enjoyable dinner we wandered up on deck to watch the sun go down. Also to give the whales and dolphins one last chance to show up. Diane had been religiously looking for a whale or a dolphin all day.

Biscay Sunset

It was then time for bed, as we had an early start on Wednesday morning. The ship docked at 7:00, so that meant up about 05:30 if we wanted breakfast before disembarking.