It’s hard to believe I last wrote a travel-related post back in August 2020, although I did write a post about our towbar tribulations with LTSA in May of this year. Unfortunately, with my Lymphoma returning in early 2020, travel eventually became impossible. I don’t want to bore you with all the details of treatment and recovery, but if you are interested, you can check out my Lymphoma blog. I cannot tell you how much Sarah and I have missed the motorhome and exploring New Zealand. Murphy’s law states that “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Personally, I’ve always liked O’Toole’s commentary that Murphy was an optimist 🤣🤣🤣.

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New Zealand has been very lucky with how it has controlled and managed the Covid outbreak. Sadly our luck ran out back in August this year. With the weather starting to improve but not yet fine enough for an extended period, replacing the surface timber on our deck was a task to be completed. But, Mr. Murphy had other ideas. We ordered the timber on Tuesday for delivery Thursday only to have Auckland placed into a snap lockdown on Wednesday, and there we have remained. However, a slight easing of restrictions five weeks later allowed our timber to be delivered finally. It felt really good to have completed the project together.

With the slight easing of restrictions came the hope that we might finally be able to get away in our motorhome again. With its COF expiring in September and the testing stations open again. I went out to the farm where it’s stored to take it for its inspection. Not wanting to disturb the farmer where it’s stored, I planned to collect it, get the COF and return it. Little did I know that while mowing the lawns, he had moved it, with it now sitting on softer ground. Thankfully he’s a good bloke and didn’t seem to mind being called out during lockdown to help with extraction. All good in the end with the vehicle passing its COF without issue.

A couple of weeks later we hoped that the Government might end Auckland’s Lockdown. With that in mind we headed out to the motorhome for a bit of a spring clean. After months of going nowhere the green mould of winter was showing its face all over the roof. Sarah got on-top of things with some Wet and Forget leaving nature to do it’s thing. While I washed down the worst effected areas of the body. We don’t have running water where the motorhome is stored so it was a case of buckets and the water that remained in our tanks.

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A couple of weeks later we were back out, where we store the motorhome, checking to see that the wet and forget had been doing its job. I am pleased to report that it was and the roof looks so much better now. With plenty of the day still left we decided to go for a drive and maybe stretch the legs at one of the West Coast beaches.

Without any clear destination we found our way to Bethells Beach. As you can see from the photos the sky was a little gloomy but that meant finding a parking spot was easy and the beach almost deserted.

After spending the last ten weeks in lockdown it felt good to stretch our legs. I just wish that the current restrictions allowed us to stay places, even within the Auckland boundary there are still many places we could explore. Still hopefully the population of NZ will reach the governments ambitious target of 90% fully vaccinated and we will be able to get back on the road. I really look forward to writing some proper blogs again.

A final word: With my treatment getting my Lymphoma under control and now being almost fully in remission I have decided to stand for the board of the NZMCA in their 2022 elections. I decided to stand because after 20 years of being a member of the NZMCA its really time to give something back. I feel that my broad business experience can offer the board a lot and really look forward to the challenge if elected.