does anyone have an upright locker in red, a floor light in purple, or the throwback wrestling figure in blue? i am desperate and i figured i would post here since this blog has more followeds than my acnh one 😭
ACNH dream journal #1 - Pipis Room Island (@pipisroom-island)
DA: 2773-0984-2841
Welcome to Pipis Room Island or as I like to call it “how-many-cool-spots-can-I-fit-in-there Island”. If you want to visit a fun, colorful and inspiring island, you found the perfect place!
What was so great about this island? Well everything. First of all, the villagers are all super cool and funny. Raymundo says “cash money”, what more do you want? Then, the vegetation was awesome: the flower fields, the forests (!!!) the star fragments, it all fits so well! and if I’m not mistaken you’re trying to grow blue roses? me too good luck with that
Another amazing element: the jockness. After all, Tofu describes herself as the Jock CEO and it shows. The island has the best gym, a lot of great musical places and even a jock shrine (I paid my respect as a great jock admiror myself)!
Finally what I loved the most was the humour. The island has a great vibe and fun spots are everywhere! I can’t wait to see the future changes of Pipis Room, what a great place to live in!
Once we landed in Christchurch we picked up the car from Lucky Rentals – unfortunately we got a very old Fiat Punto with 145,000 miles on it! We checked into our Airbnb apartment, which was very easy to find and in a great location, about 20mins from the city centre.
We left off our bags and walked into Christchurch to see what the city had to offer. First impressions of Christchurch is that was very quiet and it was not very big to walk around. We had dinner in a bar called RockPool before heading back to the apartment.
The next day we decided to complete the Bridle Path Walk around the cliffs of Christchurch. It took us around 2 hours to complete, but it was worth it! The views were unbelievable! On our way back we stopped for a coffee/lunch in Lyttleton and went to the supermarket. We stayed in the rest of the evening, as there was a huge thunderstorm.
Hokitika
On Thursday we set off on our way to Hokitika and stopped off at Arthur’s Pass National Park to complete a 2 hour hike. It was tough walk and I don’t think it was worth the effort! We continued onto Hokitika were we checked into our Airbnb and had dinner at Fat Pipi’s, an Italian restaurant in the town.
Frank Josef Glacier
After a lovely breakfast made by Paul and Virgie, we made our way to the Hokitika Gorge. This was a 15 minutes to a rope bridge over a stunning blue river – definitely worth the effort to visit! After this we made our way to Frank Josef Glacier stopping off at Lake Matheson. We completed a 2-hour walk around the lake and we were able to see the reflection of the mountains in the lake. We stayed in at Frank Josef Montrose Hostel. It was extremely basic, but we had our own private bathroom, free parking and a free breakfast!
The next morning we walked up to the Fox Glacier, after a long walk it was too cloudy to see the glacier, which was disappointing! We spent the afternoon at the hot pools.
I think 1 night would have be suffice in Frank Josef, as there was not much in the town therefore was very quiet at night.
Wanaka
After having our breakfast, in the lashing rain we made our way to a Wanaka. We stopped off and completed the Monroe Beach walk - as it was raining we unfortunately didn’t see any seals or penguins.
When we drove over the mountains the weather changed, and it was beautiful and sunny therefore we got great photos of Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka.
We checked into the Airbnb and walked around Wanaka – there were plenty of bars and restaurants along the lakefront.
The next morning we completed a walk to the summit, which over looked Wanaka and the lake. It was very tough in the heat, but the views were worth it! We also visited ‘that tree’ – the tree growing in the middle of the lake.
We had some lunch and a few drinks in the sun and went to Bombay Palace for beautiful dinner overlooking the lake.
Queenstown
We drove to Queenstown and parked the car at Pinewood Lodge. We walked into the town, as our room was not ready. There were plenty of shops, restaurants, bars and tourist activities, which was a change!
We checked into the lodge, which was not great, as it was a shared bathroom and kitchen area. We got ready and walked over to the Sky Gondola for a buffet dinner. I was pleasantly surprised as the food was so fresh and tasty – I couldn’t fault it!
The next morning we hiked to the top of the Queenstown summit. It was extremely tough, but we made it to the top to see some great views!
That evening we walked into town to have dinner and some drinks.
Te Anu
As we had the Milford Sound cruise at 12:40pm we left at 8am as it was a 4 hour drive. Once we drove past Te Anu the raining started, so it we was a difficult drive around the mountains to Milford Sound. When we got to the ferry terminal, it was difficult to find where to get the boat so we nearly missed the cruise!
We didn’t get clear views of the waterfalls, but we did see seals!
We made our way back to Te Anu and checked into our Airbnb hosted by Paul. It was a beautiful room and bathroom. We had our dinner at Ristorante Pizzeria Paradisco – definitely recommend!
Cromwell
On our way to Cromwell we completed a short walk through the Bannockburn sluicing. It showed the mines left after the Gold Rush in New Zealand. It was interesting!
We checked into the Airbnb, which was awful, as it was a shared bathroom and the house smelt of cats. That evening we ate in a Thai Crom, which was average.
Looking back, we should of travelled onto Twizel instead of staying a night in Cromwell.
Twizel
On the way to Twizel, we completed the Hooker Valley walk, which had great views of Mount Cook and the valley. It was worth the 10km walk, as we got great photos!
We stayed in Twizel Holiday Park in a cabin with a shared bathroom and kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised as the kitchen and bathroom were very clean.
Picton
The next morning we had an 8-hour drive planned, so we left at 8:40am. We stopped off at the Church of the Good Shepherd which was beautiful and overlooked Lake Tekapo. We didn’t arrive in Picton until 6pm – it was a very long day!
We checked into our Airbnb, which was a beautiful apartment, which was very clean and they provided breakfast.
Tomorrow morning we have booked to take the ferry from Picton to Wellington at 8am … next stop North Island!
When I decided to retire in 2017 I did a lot of reading of other blogs to plan our future travels. Mainly those written by Shellie Evans and Chris Miller both of whom take great photos as well as writing in a style that appeals to me. It was a post made by Shellie that had always stuck in my mind as one of the things that makes motorhoming in New Zealand special. That was the post about the freedom camping area at Pipi Bank Station a remote sheep station on the East Coast of the lower North Island. It was the photos of the place that struck just the right chord with me and I have wanted to visit ever since reading about it.
First we had to get there, with us moving on from Porangahau past the site of what is the longest place name in the world. I had always thought that this title belonged to a place in Wales, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch but this apparently has only 58 letters whilst the New Zealand one has 85 so quite a big difference. With neither being what I would consider something that you could use in the course of a normal conversation without getting tongue tied.
From the longest name signage the road heads towards the small village of Wimbledon with the turn off to Herbertville and the freedom camping area just before the village. Like a lot of roads we have encountered in this part of New Zealand it’s very narrow without a centre line in a lot of places which together with a lot sharp bends make for a cautious drive in the motorhome.
It was a short drive through the town of Herbertville and along the coast road past the memorial to Joseph and Sarah Herbert after whom the village is named, to the Pipi Bank Station. Where the NZMCA App gives you the impression you can park anywhere along the coastal side of the road once you have driven past this sign. However over the last few months this area has been fenced off making access to the old freedom camping area impossible. We had continued down the road until reaching the point where it starts climbing into the hills finally realising that the freedom camping area no longer exists. We had a bit of fun performing a 90 point turn in our 9 metre motorhome, hemmed in with a fence on both sides of the narrow road, before heading back towards Herbertville.
A reread of the App (just as well there was phone signal) tells you about two areas located on the side of the road prior to Pipi Bank Station so we decided rather than bother the people who run the station we would just spend the day and night there. Sarah who is one of those people who is always considering others and wanted us to park to the side of the area so we would leave plenty of room for anyone else who might arrive. Turns out that we need not have worried about this though as we were the only ones parked in this area for the night.
Some people have commented about being sand blasted by the wind along this coast but we didn’t experience that at any of the beaches we stayed at probably because we had such fine weather during our stay along this coast.
We did have a moment when we wondered if we had parked incorrectly and be moved on, when a Ute pulled up right next to us . It was however some people who were following us down the coast that we had met in both Kairakau and Porangahau. They were spending the night at the local campground where they told us about a very unusual charge in the tariff an additional $1.50 for the night to cover the dog!!!! They had just come to see where we were and what it was like.
Another couple of motorhomes turned up after us and did exactly what we did driving past the Pipi Bank sign only to reappear a short time later. One of which also spent the night but they chose to be rather anti social and parked in the other parking bay back towards Herbertville.
Each of the beaches we have stayed at along this part of the coast have been different from the last and so it was here. With the Wainui river cutting through the expanse of sand between us and the sea. The sand then stretched out well over 50 metres beyond that so it was quite the walk to the water. Although it’s not hard to imagine during a storm that the waves would be pounding at the beach by the camper.
Like a lot of these places the local community appear to use the beach as a natural resource with a number of people fishing from various points along the beach. I lost count of the number of quad bikes we saw heading up and down the beach with people heading off to catch or gather something.
Looking back towards the sheep station it’s impossible not to notice the grand house. One of many mansions we have encountered in this part of New Zealand. I guess that in the heyday of sheep farming in NZ the wealth created by owning such a large station would allow the family income to build such an impressive house.
Although the road runs directly behind the spot we had chosen there were just a couple of farm vehicles heading up and down the road to disturb our total tranquility. Also in the far distance we watched the occasional container ship steaming either up or down the coast. Just on the horizon which made us wonder where they were going.
The countryside in this part of NZ is just so distinctive with the light on the hills providing some great shots.
Of course I cannot leave the motorhome out of the shots. Even after 18 months and over 20,000kms I still cannot believe that I am lucky enough to be an owner of something like this.
Or another amazing East Coast sunrise! It was a really strange place with both of us left wondering where everyone was. It’s funny because when we had stayed at Kairakau Beach the camping area was overflowing with motorhomes and here there were just the two of us for the night. I guess the distances involved suggest that these sort of places that are right off the beaten track stay that way but ones that are just over an hours drive from a major hub like Napier/Hastings will always attract more visitors.
The only real disappointment about the place and one that you cannot really see in the photo but some of the locals have been dumping plant and tree waste over the bank in front of the motorhome which just spoils things a little. There was no rubbish just plant matter so no smell thankfully.
So Shellie things have changed a bit since you wrote your blog about this place and I didn’t use your photo in the end but thanks for allowing me to use it if I wanted. It still remains a remote wild place that I would recommend to anyone and I hope that whoever reads my blog, even if my photos aren’t up to your standard, is as inspired to go there as I was by reading yours.
To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can click the links to read the blog about that area.
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Where is everyone? – Herbertville When I decided to retire in 2017 I did a lot of reading of other blogs to plan our future travels.
Special Liberty Island de chez Starbucks au Crown Cafe
New York City, Liberty Island.
Si vous vous rendez sur Liberty Island pour visiter la statue de la liberté, vous ferez sans aucun doute un tour au ''Crown Cafe''. Pourquoi donc ? Parce que c'est le seul point de ravitaillement de l'île en mesure de satisfaire les 3 besoins vitaux du touriste qui se respecte: nourriture, boissons et pipi room.
La fréquentation variant au gré des arrivées et des départs de ferry, il faut arriver au moment opportun pour se trouver une place assise à l'intérieur. Dans les moments de rush, le flux de gens rend le service assez chaotique. Malgré le monde, le personnel a été très disponible et très sympathique.
Entre la cafétéria et le fast-food, c'est ambiance sandwich - hamburger - frites - salades. (casual american food) pour un prix modique.(10 à 15 dollars en moyenne)
J'y avais déjà mis les pieds en 1995, et je dois dire que depuis, le Crown Cafe a été très bien rénové. Les tables et bancs à l'extérieur sont restés les mêmes et donne un air ''art deco'' à la terrasse qui donne sur la mer.
Ici, on a goûté le café ''Special Liberty Island'' de chez Starbucks: noisettes, crème, et praliné... une tuerie pour les amateurs de café ''Starbucks'' ! de quoi vous donner envie de revenir, car cette saveur n'était pas disponible à Manhattan.
Le petit truc pour éviter au maximum la foule:
En prenant le ferry assez tôt le matin, et en évitant la plage horaire des repas de 12h00 à 14h00, vous éviterez (peu être...) un voyage debout dans le ferry et vous pourrez prendre tout votre temps pour boire ou manger tranquillement au Crown Cafe.
they insisted on living on this chunk of undeveloped land at the very back corner of the island...something about needing to dig up some "totes très bien" backup singers?
maybe they're an archaeologist? or maybe they're a pop star? or maybe they're an archaeologist pop star?
finally was able to design scoot's remodel in a way that i didn't completely hate 😩 tried to go for a vibe that suited a simple man whose main joy in life is surfing 🌊
got the small business owner crew together to discuss plans to increase pipis room's tourism 👀
even though he's new to the island, scoot moved here with the intention of opening up his own surf shack after his buddy snake told him about our gnarly waves, so he's been very proactive in our discussions!
a boba shop, a community center, a bakery, a surf shack, a bait and tackle shop, a farm, a space camp, a hero training school...hopefully our variety of businesses will be our selling point for potential tourists!!!
i feel so out of practice decorating homes 😭 i keep looking at goose, hazel, and raymundo's remodels i did trying to remember how i did them and i just can't chfjdkskskdn rip to the remaining 7 villagers on my island whose homes i haven't remodeled yet 🤡