Rotorua stop over

After leaving Thames, we headed into Rotorua and spent two nights at the NZMCA Park in Ngongotaha. Always a handy, easy stop.

From there, we made our way around the lake to Hamurana Reserve and set up right on the lake’s edge for two lovely nights.
This is a great little freedom spot. There’s a reasonably new toilet block with three toilets, and a sink on the end for those in smaller vans wanting to wash dishes. They’re cleaned regularly, although with all the little bugs around, it can look a bit grotty at times. On the opposite end, there are six large rubbish bins, which seem to get emptied weekly.

Despite being right next to the road, it’s surprisingly peaceful at night. We had great signal too—Wi-Fi/net speed was 100%, which is always a bonus!
It was also so nice being able to use our Ezi-Jack system again on the front of the caravan. Makes hooking up and unhooking from the vehicle so much easier—honestly one of those things you don’t realise you need until you have it. Big thanks again to Ezi- Jack NZ for that setup.

We also caught up with a lovely couple from Australia we first met at Little Waikawau—always nice when paths cross again on the road. They shared a pretty good story about a little incident they’d had, which gave us a laugh! They’re heading back to Oz now, but it was great to see them again.

And as always, we met a few more great people travelling around our beautiful country—hope they all enjoy their time here as much as we do.
Maggie absolutely loved all the attention from the international travellers—she made plenty of new friends along the way. Safe to say she’s building quite the fan club… pretty sure she’s got admirers all around the world now 🐾🌍Read more