It was such a bad performer that we removed it from Google Play, vowing for it to not surface for air until it was something worthy (even though it’s free!). Well, today marks a very special day with the long awaited release of CamperMate version 2.0! Link to Google Play. There’s a couple of cool things about this version (well, hopefully mor than a couple!)..As you’ll notice (if you had the previous version) it’s no longer buggy and has a nice new menu structure which unashamedly we’ve created similar to the new Facebook menu! As most of us spend far too much time on there, we thought it might be fairly intuitive! We’ve also integrated the new Google maps which works offline..You’ll notice that when you load it for the first time, it’ll take around 10 seconds to build the offline database, but there’s a % statement there giving you an update on progress. And, if you have a tablet, you’ll also be able to run CamperMate 2.0, as we’ve set the specs up especially for you.

Anyway, feel free to give us some feedback on the new version, it’s a constant journey and we are constantly driving for a better app! Come and check us out at www.facebook.com/campermate. Video coming soon!

At just 21 kilometres off State Highway 1, Gore Bay is a small village of mainly holiday homes mostly of which are situated a stones throw from the ocean. From 1856, it was used by William ‘Ready Money’ Robinson as a gateway to his Cheviot farm, ferrying in goods and passengers from boats.

The drive itself is part of the Alpine Pacific Triangle and boasts a great view at the top of the hill just before entering Gore Bay called Cathedral Cliffs (-42.8678845195499, 173.3042949346577). It’s best to see this at some stage after lunch when the sun is on the cliffs rather than early in the morning, if you can manage it.

 From there it’s just a short 2 minute drive down to Gore Bay which is a beautiful long beach with rocks at each end. Upon arriving, you get the feeling that there’s no rush here and that time stands still. There are no shops here so if you are coming for the day, make sure you stop in at Amberly or Cheviot for any supplies. The beach is perfect for just strolling around. At low tide you can go boulder hopping on the Southern end of the beach and look for washed up Paua shells or sprats swimming about in the shore.

Being on the tourists trail, Gore Bay is very campervan friendly, with good public facilities such as a recycling station (-42.86405118186294
,173.3077751846736),

Public toilets and rubbish bins (located on the southern end of the beach).

So, my advice? Gore Bay is a must-see for anyone with a little time up their sleeve in the North Canterbury region. Sure, it’s a little off the main highway but if you’re not in a rush then pack a picnic and make a day of it, you won’t be disappointed by this now confirmed, ‘little gem of the South Island’.

After an hour or so, I realised this was a great opportunity to hunt out some more points of interest, as I had not done this journey for some time. I found a few really cool water sources that I hadn’t found yet or hadn’t been added by people through the app. This publicly accessible tap (-44.0611003340315, 170.5025768280029) provides clean tap water at a rest area, there are a couple of picnic tables here also, so this can be a great way to restock your water bottles on a hot day.

After taking far longer than first anticipated collecting more POI’s, I arrived in Queenstown late in the evening and met up with my fellow travellers/fishermen where we prepared for leaving early the next morning, bound for Jacksons Bay, 25 minutes drive south of Haast. The drive to Haast via Wanaka is one of my favourites, as you find yourself driving over the Crown Range

Past the beautiful Lake Hawea (this photo was taken with my iPhone5 and a filter added on Instagram) but ‘in the flesh’ it looks amazing still!

To finally reach Haast where as mentioned earlier, cell phone coverage on any of the networks was non-existent! A relief and panic set over me at the same time, however it was now time to sit back and enjoy the time here (once mosquito repelant had been caked on). We went and had a look at the beach to see what the conditions were like for the fishing trip the next day, luckily it looked amazing!

With a little sleep, we woke and started the 25 minute trip South to Jacksons Bay at 6am where were were greeted at the Jacksons bay wharf by bigger and hungrier mosquitoes. The public toilet there was an adventure with so many mosquitoes trying to find a piece of skin to get into! It was a case of getting onto the boat and out to sea as quickly as possible to avoid these swarming gangs.

And so the trip began! We were heading out about 13kms and to a depth of 350 metres to fish for Bass, Groper (aka Hapuka) and we had heard that the Tuna were running which they do for about 3 months a year along this coast, but as with fishing there were no guarantees. The conditions were looking great though, so we were hopeful!

The conditions were uncommon for this stretch of coastline which normally consists of heavy seas, it was so flat in in fact that the skipper hadn’t experienced anything like this in the last few years. It took some time to reach the sweet spots where we put our rods out and managed to catch a few Tuna, Bluenose a big Blue Cod and a couple of Bass, a cousin to the Groper. One of the guys caught this monstrous 35 KG fish from a depth of 375 metres, can you imagine hauling this up from that depth? Wow! If you get the chance I would strongly recommend taking a trip to Haast and Jacksons Bay (if you want to go a little further), you’ll find lots of other campervans along this stretch of coastline. Bring plenty of mosquito repelant though and prepare for no cell phone coverage!

We stayed at Wilderness Accommodation which had clean and tidy facilities at a great price, and showers that were a great temperature also.

It just so happened that yesterday I decided to take a drive out to French Farm and Wainui, signposted as soon as you reach the hill top (you will know exactly what this means when you do the drive!).

With the temperature at a wonderful twenty six and hardly a cloud in the sky, I turned off toward Wainui with a mask and snorkel, hoping to visit an old site I had collected Paua from before.

Since the earthquakes in Christchurch the cruise liners now dock in the Akaroa harbour rather than Lyttelton, so it was a nice surprise to see one of them docked here (see photo below).

French Farm is the first settlement you will come to, around 8 kms before Wainui. There are some great facilities here (Dump station, toilets, picnic area) where I also saw around 6 other campervans enjoying the beach. Wainui has a great beach which is perfect to spend a quiet afternoon fishing, swimming or just relaxing! All up you are looking at about a one and a quarter hour drive from Christchurch, and if you are wondering, yes there are still Paua in this area so after my catch it was home to make Paua Soup. If you are diving for Paua though just remember that the minimum size in 125mm and there’s a maximum allowance of 10 per diver (but this is often far more than what’s necessary)

Then it’s a quick chicken strips wrap from the Kaikoura Subway and back on the road heading to Blenheim/Picton for the ferry to the North Island. I hear they are thinking of changing the port where the ferry comes in to somewhere closer (to Christchurch) which on the face of it would be great for reducing travel times but seriously who wouldn’t want to visit the quaint little town of Picton with its population of 2928? Arriving into Wellington and it’s traffic galore, here I was thinking Christchurch was bad. It’s time to take a chill pill and casually exit off the ferry and blend into the motorway traffic for a two and a half hour trip to Whanganui, a great city with a population of around 45,000 situated on the west coast (yes, that means black sand beaches!) and around fourty minutes drive from its bigger sister Palmerston North. The city has many look out points over the city and river, with the best being the Durie Hill Tower, built in 1919 and high enough for most people to get a slight puff on by walking up. Plenty to see and do here especially around Boxing Day each year as petrol heads converge on the city to get their fill in the Cemetery Circuit motorbike races or the jet sprints up at Upokongaro, about 15kms north of the city and up the river. Travelling North via Taupo, this is the point where envy kicks in so while you drive alongside Lake Taupo, people are cruising alongside in their boats water skiing, fishing and pretty much living the life on the great lake. What I love about this place is that it has a great mix of tourism and local life, intersecting in the hustle and bustle of the town. Did I mention the Portaloos? For travelling, this is such a great facility situated on the left hand side as you drive through with ample parking and conveniently located 100 metres away from the information centre.

There’s a boundary somewhere between Taupo and South Waikato when you transition from the thick Pinus Radiata forests situated alongside the highways into the lush and flatter dairy farmland of Waikato, I’d say that Tokoroa is that place. While the forestry mill has been winding down over the last years, it’s still got a wee buzz about it. Definitely recommend this little Asian bakery just opposite the main bus stop in the main street. It seems to have prices that bakeries had 10 or 15 years ago and the quality of the food is great. The place had plenty of locals flowing through it so it must be popular.

 With a full stomach it’s onto the great Coromandel, specifically Tairua where it epitomisesSummer. Surf, sand, nature and ice creams. The Thames/Coromandel district council have some great facilities for travelling New Zealand. I have never seen so many rubbish bins before in one place, thumbs up TCDC!

The icing on the cake for me was the most amazing public BBQ’s I have ever seen! Situated in the Puanui Domain they are so clean and have an amazing view (-37.00441014370932 , 175.8664663959979) otherwise download the CamperMate app.

A week was spent cruising around the Coromandel, visiting some of the most amazing beaches with native bush right to the shoreline and very few people. What I would find amazing is that if you are willing to go for a walk you could spend a day on your own beach and see just a handful of people.

With a mask and snorkel you can also explore the sea life with a range of species on show. Go at low tide and you also increase the chances of seeing a crayfish if you are in an exploratory and adventurous mood. It was at this point in the trip I felt the most at home I have ever felt, carrying my mask and snorkel along a native bush track waiting for low tide to catch some kaimoana (sea food) for tea. My happy place! It was time to leave the Coromandel and head back to the South Island destination Mapua/Nelson. This section of the trip flew by as there was only a few days before I had to be in Christchurch, however not before stopping off at a brilliant swimming hole on the Motueka River at the end of the Rocky River Road (-41.156862,172.920696). There’s a cute little pull off area with a small walkway down to the river.  On this day there had been some unusual snowfall on the mountains resulting in a colder than usual river temperature so was an extra refreshing swim. Thoroughly recommended! There’s also trout in there too, so you might want to purchase a 24 hour licence from Fish and Game to try your luck, a 24 hour licence for an adult will cost you $23 (at the time of writing). While I took my mask in for a swim I didn’t see any fish but further along the river there were plenty of serious looking fly fishermen, so I’m guessing there’s plenty in there! If you want to stay in touch with the CamperMate project you can check us out on Instagram for some random road trip pics, Twitter for real-time road alerts or Facebook for some random posts about travelling in New Zealand. Enjoy the rest of your summer (or winter if you are reading this in the Northern Hemisphere).

Most New Zealanders have heard at one time or another the tale that you can brew a good cup of tea from Manuka (or Kanuka for that matter). Captain Cooks men (and many scrub cutters) around this country could probably attest to it. While on a weekend trip to Nydia track in the Marlborough Sounds, the fish weren’t biting so I decided to give up the fishing and give it a go. As there was no earl grey anywhere in the hut, it was the perfect time.

The Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium) is common throughout all of New Zealand including Stewart Island up to 1800 metres above sea level. Manuka grows to about 8 metres while it’s bigger cousin Kanuka grows to about 16 or so. Back in the day they were used by Captain Cook to brew beer and make tea..He even wrote in his diary..”The leaves, as I have already observed, were used by many of us as tea, which has a very agreeable bitter scent and flavour when they are recent, but loses some of both when dried. When the infusion was made strong, it proved emetic to some, in the same manner as green tea”.

It only took me about a 2 minute walk into the bush to find the Manuka, they are pretty common! I started carefully plucking the leaves off then got incredibly bored doing that so decided to grab the leaves at the base of the branch and strip off. This proved far more productive, however it also bought with it all the flowers etc. No problem! These could be filtered out later.

So took my leaves and an extra branch and ended up with about a handful of just leaves in a bowl. At this stage they were letting out a sweet smell which I hoped would come out in the tea. My main concern was making a tea that you could barely taste, which would’ve been a bit of a waste of time, plus I’d heard from a scrub cutter years ago that you needed heaps to get it to taste. So I decided to go against the advice of a spoonful of young leaves per cup and wing it. I added about 4 cups of boiling hot water to the bowl and added a lid to it to keep it warm while it brewed. When roughly 4-5 minutes was up I thought it would be ready. As I had no siv or strainer, I used a cheese grater (and coincidently used those tiny holes on the grater for the first time in my life). It worked. I didn’t use all the water and ended up with two cups of tea. I was amped as I was expecting a colour similar to tap water, but perhaps with a few sticks and leaves in it, but now had two cups sitting on the window sill cooling down and ready to try..Could not wait!!

The time had come to experience this amazing nature drink that I was sure would have some crazy yet-to-be-discovered immune system boosting, disease fighting compounds!

Sadly, it tasted like shit. Way too strong and bitter so I watered it down, then again and again until it was a colour similar to tap water after all. While every part of me as screaming  for me to enjoy this wonderful natural product of the bush, my taste buds were telling it to %*&$ off. And so it was poured out on the front lawn of the Nydia DOC Lodge, along too with my dreams of being a Manuka Tea slurping, Pikopiko chewing native bushman. If anyone has a better recipe for making tea from a native NZ plant, drop me a line over Twitter…Until then I’ll be sticking to my Bell Tea, plenty of milk and one sugar Enjoy your travels around New Zealand this Spring/Summer!

Have you ever thought about the native plants you are walking past as a source of food? Might be of interest to know that many are edible and provide a great source of nutrients. I personally tend to stick to the coast and often find myself snacking on greenery such as the Neptunes Necklace (Hormosira banksii) which is great for a crunchy snack when surfacing from a dive or the sea lettuce which is great to supplement a meal of crayfish. The Neptunes Necklace is one of New Zealands most common sea weeds and found on rocks below the high tide mark. Each little bead is about a centimeter or so in diameter.

My favourite would have to be using  Bull Kelp to cook fish in..Perhaps its the caveman coming out in me but there’s something about getting completely back to nature and living off the land like it was done by local Maori many years ago. Simply cut open some kelp down the side, place the gutted fish inside and put it in the embers for 15 minutes or so. The kelp should be burnt but the fish inside will be nicely steamed. How about brewing up a pot of Manuka tea? Captain Cook and his men were casual drinkers of the stuff who described it as “a bitter scent and flavour when they are recent, which loses some of both when dried”, which when interpreted means you should get ‘em while the leaves are young. About one teaspoon per cup is the reccommended amount and leave for about 4 minutes to brew. It’s also possible to make beer from Manuka.

Another edible plant is the native fern PikoPiko (Polystichum richardii)

which is found throughout New Zealand from coastal areas to mountains and normally eaten around this time (Spring/Summer). The part that is eaten is the new shoots or ‘fiddleheads’ as seen in the picture here. They can be eaten raw of I prefer them steamed a little to soften them up and adding them to a meal as a vegie. Remember to wash all the greenery in clean water and only take a little!

It seems that freedom camping hasn’t been in the media much recently for obvious reasons, but no doubt as the summer arrives we will likely hear all about it. There have been some central/local government decisions like this one which is part of a wider management plan for freedom camping. Its going to be interesting over the next few years to see if bans such as these will actually affect the local economy, I’ve talked to a few passionate motor home owners who are swearing not to visit any of the councils that are banning freedom camping.