BAD PARKING.

 Life on the road involves using carparks or kerbside parking on a fairly regular basis.

Parking a 9.0m rig is always a careful exercise and even more so if the towbehind is on.
Our length then is 14.0m and there are many places we would like to park but at times it is just not practical or possible without be seen at the least , as inconsiderate , or at the worst described in very colourful language.

Some might call us parking sensitive but we prefer to say we are parking aware.
In a short period of time we have collected some prime examples of Bad Parking.

 Motorhomers have a mutual understanding that we park in every second space - basic rules for safety and privacy.
The rigs on the left and right of the photo had parked as per the rule.
Then along came the big black rig.
To every ones amazement he backed into the safety zone , so close, the steps and the door could not be fully opened.
He was not invited to Happy Hour.


 This guy probably wondered why nobody parked beside him.

Did this guy pass the" parking with a trailer" test?

 On the wrong side of the road and straddling the line , just about half the car in each carpark.

Ran out of Tarseal , or gone bush perhaps.

This style of parking provides plenty of room to open the doors .

Line up the line with the towball.

Angle parking is clearly marked , but not on this angle.

It seems it is contagious.

Plenty of space so why bother to keep between the lines.

Main Street , small town . On yellow "no parking" markings and with a "For Sale" sign on the screen. Was there all day.



In a few months , will do stage 2.

FLOWERS OF THE DUNES.

Since we have been living life on the road we have had the joy of experiencing  three Spring Seasons.

All three we have been in the DoC camp at Uretiti.

The first Spring caught us completely by surprise.
We had no idea that these windswept dunes , at times drenched in salt spray then baked in sunshine to where the sand is too hot to walk on in barefeet , could in just a few days show us Nature at its best.

We have tried to capture and display here what a lot of people have never enjoyed .  Cheers.

White Daisies with a hint of blue.

A cheery ( check the spelling ) succulent of some sort.
The orange tinge to the petals glowed real brightly in full sunshine.

This pink clump of beauty was hanging off a rambling , scruffy looking vine.

Not really a bloom , these dried seed heads were in mass  along the leading edge of the dune.
Their dry but fresh appearance added to the total Dune experience.

These bell shape blooms flower progressfully  up the stem.

Deep in a growth of pine trees we found this small display of what appears to us to be an orchid.
A Native Orchid ?  If you know about this plant, please tell , we are most interested .

Lemon and yellow blooms appear in a large variety of forms.

Little Buttercups ?
Another bloom that glowed in the sunlight.

 Our first look at the Mauve Cineraries .
There was many more to come.

The flattened  dunes in the camp present a display of the humble little yellow daisy.

Very colourfull but no idea what it is.
Perhaps an excapee from the garden on the other side of the fence.

Variation after variation.
Nature lined up to impress us , again.

Every day the clumps got bigger.

These  were only the size of a 10c coin , what they lacked in size they made up for in quantity , there were 100s of them.

Fairly sure this is a Lupin of some sort.

And then the WOW factor arrived.

Literally  acres of mauve.

Not confined to one site , as the dunes rolled on so did the blooms .

Wild Freesias ?

Snow Drops or Onion Weed ?
Either way they make their own contribution to Natures Basket of Delights.

The basic Daisy again.
A magical ring , it is easy to imagine elves and fairies dancing in this array.

 Two colours on the one vine.

Oops - have already shown this beauty.
But hey , why not.

Then the Mauve wave burst out all over the Dunes.

Acres of colour , other times of the year it would be hard to imagine a scene like this.

Looking North.

And from the same spot , looking South.

Alongside the walkway to the beach this Bouquet from Nature.

As the Mauve reaches its peak the white version begin their show.

As they dry off, the display changes but continue  to be a delight to the eye of the beholder.

Another week and they will be gone , until next Spring.

Lupins are often quite solitary but we came across several clumps putting on a good display.

In a damp hollow by the pines , a large growth of Arum Lillies.

A bit further on a Plane Tree in bloom.
 It's definately  not a plain tree.

Looks a lot like a Bottlebrush , but yellow and wild ?

Thanks to Nature for the Spring Display.

It's not a oncer , 

and next Spring it will burst upon us again.

Last but not least , Gorse , and acres of it.
Who else but DoC could get away with the uncontrolled growth of such an obnoxious weed.

It does add it's splash of colour.