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Van Nationals 2011 - Tapu School - Tapu Coromandel Peninsula Click here for photo's from the 2011 Van Nationals Van Nationals 2010 - Eyre Lodge Christchurch With the van prepped I headed south around 0900 on the Tuesday before Easter for a slow cruise to the Nationals. Mel and Ryan would fly to Christchurch on Easter Friday and Shelley and Jeff were heading down with Fish on Wednesday. The trip was pretty uneventful with good weather. I decided to overnight at the Plowman in Levin. When gassing up in Levin the locking gas cap jammed and wouldn't go back onto the filler pipe so this had to be stripped down and repaired. Wednesday morning, with the gas cap repaired I cruised down to Wellington and waited in the cue for the ferry just after lunch. I had a good crossing in the afternoon and overnighted at the top 10 Holiday Park in Blenheim after an awesome pork dinner at the pub across the road. Fish, Jeff and Shelley turned up on Thursday morning after the red eye crossing and we headed into town for breakfast. After waiting around for Kane, Stumpy and Tony, who were stuck in Picton with diff problems, we decided to push on and cruise down the coast where they would hopefully catch up. After stops along the coast road, Kaikura and a couple of other places we arrived at the venue at Eyre Lodge, north of Christchurch at around 5 pm. It was great to catch up with vanners we hadn't seen for ages. Friday was a lazy day with a couple of runs organised heading into town. I headed into the airport and picked up Mel and Ryan around midday. We grabbed some lunch then had a bit of a tour around town before heading back to the lodge. The recently fitted Hornblaster train horns were awesome at 150Db in the Lyttleton road tunnel. Friday night was the VANZ AGM which went rather well. Saturday was show day and we convoyed into town to the show venue early. With everything set up, the doors opened at 1000 and the display looked great with about 28 vehicles on show. Plenty of people came through the doors and we wrapped up around 3 pm and headed back to the venue. After a great dinner the DJ partied us into the we small hours. Sunday was games day and we convoyed into the Groines for a BBQ lunch and club games. Great fun, then it was time for the Van-Mazing Race. That was cool fun and we managed to get home first and retained first place after all the points were tallied up to win the race. Sunday night was prize giving and we managed to come away with Best Big Van, Best Big Van Interior and Best Engineering. Most surprised and very pleased. After prize giving a band arrived and ripped into some great music for the rest of the night. Monday was pack up and shuffle off day. Our plans were to remain in Christchurch for a couple more days so we headed off just before lunch to start our South Island holiday. After a couple of days in Christchurch we cruised over to Greymouth for a few days (touring the West Coast) then headed up to Nelson for a few more days. We crossed back over on the Wednesday morning ferry and arrived back in Auckland on Saturday after a few days in Napier. All up an awesome 3 weeks away and great Nationals thrown in as well. We chalked up just under 4000kms and spent $1050 in gas. Not too bad I thought. Roll on the next Nationals, North Island style next time. Keep on Vanning….. GarryClick here for photo's from the 2010 Van Nationals
Van Nationals 2009 - Kaitoke YMCA Camp - Wellington Thursday I was hoping to get away from home on Wednesday evening and head for Taupo but delays in getting the interior back together meant that it wasn't until 1 pm Thursday afternoon that I finally left home with a full tank of gas and headed south down the southern motorway, Reports of snow on the Desert Road convinces me to head down through Taupo and check out the first snow of winter. Not far out of Auckland I came across the first of the idiots on the road when I was passed by some clown in a Range Rover towing a twin axel 25 ft caravan. I was cruising at 115 so he must have been haulin at around 130 when he passed me. Wanker. It was a pretty uneventful trip down. It was the first time the van had had a decent run for about 1 1/2 years so was expecting some problem to crop up but all went sweet the whole trip. With the rebuilt interior there were a few minor creaks from the newly fitted panels but the best thing was the result of fitting Dynamat throughout the van. It definitely cut out all the extraneous road and engine noise and the van cruised like a limo. I would recommend anyone to fit Dynamat if they want a quiet ride. With another tank of gas at Taupo and dinner at BK, it was down through the Desert Road to check out the snow but by the time I cruised through there, there was only light drizzle and no snow to be seen other than the fresh dump on the mountains. Topped the tank off at Levin and called home to let the boss know where I was at when Beven cruised passed in his very cool black sandman panel. I hit the turnoff to Whitby at about 9-30 and soon came across the next wanker, or wankers. Cruising around the estuary on a windy wet road with double yellow lines I ended up in the middle of a bunch of "boy racers" who pulled out of a layby in front of me. The two behind me decided to pass on the double yellow. The first made it and I flashed my headlights at him as he pulled in front. The next tried and spun out in front of me, taking out a bunch of side road markers, just missing a pole by mm's and softly parked backwards into a fence. I gave him a couple of toots as I passed as they looked OK. Another wanker. He passed me on a passing lane a bit further up the road and the passenger gave me a thumbs up as they sheepishly went by. I arrived at the venue at around 10 pm, sorted out some accommodation and settled in for a few rums and a catch up with those who were there. What a cool venue. Greta 6 person bunk rooms with en-suit between two rooms, Sleeping for about 160 people, nice dining room with fireplace, separate hall(gym) for partying, spar pool, small swimming pool and plenty of grass area for club games etc. Great place. Friday Woke up to a nice day, not hot, not cold and no rain. After breakfast gave the van a bit of a wash off and at around 1030 we lined up for a cruise over the Rimutaka hill road to a small auto museum just out of Carterton. We stopped off for a few photos in Featherston and then onto the the museum for a look around and lunch. Very cool place with an awesome collection of auto memorabilia along with some cool cars. After lunch it was a free time to do what you want in the Wairarapa area. After a bit of a cruise around I decided to head back to the camp and do some prep work on the van for the show the next day. After a great dinner it was time to hang out and catch up on what others had been doing over the last 12 months. Mel, Shelley Ryan and Jeff arrived at around 7.00 after an uneventful trip down from Auckland in Shelz car. The VANZ AGM got underway a bit before 8pm and ran for a couple of hours with plenty of discussion on various issues. As a result of a couple of retirees, VANZ now has a new Secretary and a new Public Relations Officer. After a few more ales it was around midnight before we got to bed. Saturday It was an early start to be at the show and set up on time. The convoy pulled out at around 7-30 and we headed for Lower Hutt and the indoor show venue. Took a while to set all the vans up and get everything ready to go. The doors opened at 1000 and the people started flowing in. All up we had 31 vans on display and the show looked great. Good mix of big and small vans and nearly everyone put on a display of some sort. With the judging underway we headed off for a walk to the mall for a bit of a look around. The show was a huge success. At the end of the day there were over 1000 people through the doors and the comments floating around were very favorable. It was good to catch up with a few past vanners who came in for a look. The show finished around 4-00 and we all made our own way back to the venue via gas stations and liquor stores. Saturdays diner was another good feed and then it was off the the gym where an awesome 6 piece band was powering up to rock the night away. Theme for the night was favorite cartoon character and almost everyone was dressed up for the occasion. The band rocked on, the dance floor got a good workout, the shooters flowed freely, the supper was fine and everyone had a great time. Sunday Another fine day dawned and after breakfast it was a sort of do your own thing type day. However Doug had come up with some interesting club games so a few 4 person teams were put together to battle it out. A number of item were involved including ten pins, golf clubs cans of fizzy and copious amounts of water balloons. The game stretched out 'till lunch time and everyone had fun, even the spectators when the last of the water balloons were unleashed on them. After lunch everyone just chilled out and later it was decided to get the vans together for a photo shot. This took a bit of sorting but eventually some neat pictures eventuated. Diner followed then it was off the the gym again for prize giving and a mystery auction. Entertainment for the night was a one man band who was awesome. He had his own mixes compiled by himself playing all the instruments and did an excellent job of entertaining us even though most were prtied out from the night before. Monday Monday was pack up time and we managed to get underway by about 10-00. We headed back over the Rimutaka Hill and up through Masterton, eventually arriving at Napier around 2-30 for a few days stay with my mum and sister. We left Napier the following Saturday and arrived home in Auckland around 2-30. All up an awesome holiday, great weather, an excellent Nationals and the van ran like clockwork. Roll on the next one in Christchurch, Easter 2010. Garry.
Click
here for photo's from the 2009 Nationals.
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