NZ: Napier to Castlepoint

We continued south from Napier to Castlepoint.

Here’s an interactive map of our route, with some of the stops marked:

Heading down the hill:

Heading down the hill

We stopped at the dump station, for the first time dumping our waste tanks:

Dump station

Our van has a cassette toilet, our first experience with one:

Our van has a cassette toilet

Dumping the toilet cassette:

Dumping toilet cassette

Bluff Hill Domain:

Bluff Hill Domain

Bluff Hill Domain

Napier is known for its art deco architecture:

Napier

Napier

Napier

We stopped at a Mitre 10 Mega hardware store to get some more housewares for the van:

Mitre 10 Mega hardware store

And Soho Cafe for lunch:

Soho Cafe for lunch

South of Napier:

South of Napier

Waipawa:

Waipawa

A classic NZ hotel in Waipukurau:

Waipukurau classic hotel

Dannevirke:

Dannevirke

Dannevirke

One lane bridge:

One lane bridge

Pahiatua:

Pahiatua

Kiwi sign:

Kiwi sign

Curvy road:

Curvy road

One lane bridge:

One lane bridge

Arriving at Castlepoint Holiday Park & Motels:

Castlepoint Holiday Park & Motels

Castlepoint map:

Castlepoint map

Our site, another scenic waterfront site:

Our site

Our site

Castle Point Lighthouse:

Castle Point Lighthouse

Walk on the beach:

Walk on the beach

The Shop, the only store in town; we wanted to get some fish & chips there, but they were closing:

The Shop

Surfer:

Surfer

Beach

Lighthouse

We really enjoyed this area.

NZ: Rotorua to Napier

Continuing our journey, we traveled south from Rotorua to Napier.

Here’s an interactive map of our route, with some of the stops marked:

Our van in our site in the morning:

Our van in our site

The electrical connections are a bit different in NZ… some in better condition than others:

Electrical connection

We brought our AeroPress and manual coffee grinder, and bought some local coffee and an electric kettle / hot water jug to make coffee in our van:

Coffee

Some ducks in front of our site:

Ducks

Heading out, we stopped at the Skyline Gondola:

Skyline gondola

Skyline gondola

Selecting a morning snack:

Morning snack

Snack and coffees with a view:

Morning snack and coffees with a view

Watching the luge:

Watching the luge

Gondola selfie:

Gondola selfie

Back down the gondola:

Gondola

Souvenier photos:

Souvenier photos

Souvenier photos

Geothermal power plant:

Geothermal power plant

Huka Honey Hive:

Huka Honey Hive

Huka Honey Hive

Huka Honey Hive

Huka Falls:

Huka Falls

Huka Falls

In Taupo is the world’s coolest McDonalds with a plane:

McDonalds plane

McDonalds plane

McDonalds plane

A waterfall viewpoint:

Waterfall selfie

Waterfall

Waterfall

Arriving at Napier Beach Top 10 Holiday Park:

Napier Beach Top 10

Campground map:

Campground map

Rainbow:

Rainbow

Napier Beach:

Napier Beach

Tiny cabin:

Tiny cabin

Other sites:

Other sites

Our site, also with a nice view:

Our site

NZ: Tauranga to Rotorua

After spending a couple of days at Mum & Brian’s house, where we had quality time with the fam and got some basics for the van, we were going on an adventure!

I'm going on an adventure!

Just the two of us, heading towards the place where the scene in that GIF was filmed: Hobbiton. Then on to Rotorua for the night.

An interactive map of our route (with the origin vague for privacy):

We stopped at McLaren Falls for a second breakfast, crossing a one lane bridge:

McLaren Falls one lane bridge

The van parked; it fit in a normal spot fairly well:

Van parked

Second breakfast at the Falls Cafe:

The Falls Cafe

Scones and flat white coffees (of course; that’s the only style of coffee we had the entire trip):

Scones and flat white coffees

McLaren Falls Park looks like a nice park, but no time to explore it; we had places to be:

McLaren Falls Park

The falls:

McLaren Falls

McLaren Falls

Heading downhill:

Heading downhill

Arriving at Hobbiton, with (of course) lots of camper parking:

Camper parking at Hobbiton

Sausage roll and coffee for lunch:

Sausage roll and coffee

Hobbiton selfie:

Hobbiton selfie

I feel that Hobbiton deserves its own post, so I’ll do that tomorrow.

Sheep when leaving Hobbiton:

Sheep when leaving Hobbiton

Corrugated iron sheep in Tirau:

Corrugated iron sheep in Tirau

Tree tunnel:

Tree tunnel

Arriving at our first campground of the trip, Willowhaven Holiday Park:

Arriving at the campground

Campground map; we were in site 3 (but not tent site 3 or cabin 3; their map is a little confusing):

Campground map; we were in site 3

Lakefront view from our site:

Lakefront view

We just stopped there to register before the office closed, then headed out again, towards Rotorua. Past the home of Zorbing:

Home of Zorbing

You can tell that Rotorua is a major tourist town when even the grocery store has camper parking:

Camper parking at grocery store

Grocery shopping:

Grocery shopping

Then we headed to Polynesian Spa for a relaxing soak:

Polynesian Spa

We enjoyed a private lakefront thermal pool:

Polynesian Spa private pool

Afterwards, we had a lavish charcuterie platter and fruit smoothies for dinner:

Charcuterie platter

Then back to our lakefront site:

Back to our lakefront site

Our campervan

I hadn’t mounted the Starlink dish on the roof yet, so I placed it in front of our site:

Starlink dish in front of our site

It was a great day. I’ll post about the Hobbiton stop tomorrow. Before that, stay tuned for a timelapse video of our travels; I will have a video on the same day as each travel post.

NZ: family time in Magawhai

Our first day in New Zealand was Sunday November 9th, 2025. As mentioned yesterday, we arrived at Auckland International Airport very early, were greeted by my brother Gavin, plus my brother Neville and his wife Karan, then went back to N & K’s place to take a nap, where we would also stay for the next two nights.

A couple of hours later, we were feeling a bit more human, so N & K took us up to Mangawhai, about an hour north of their place. They have a cozy cabin in a holiday park (aka campground) there. They took us to a favorite chocolatier called Bennetts for a second breakfast:

Bennetts

Jenn, Neville, Karan, David:

Jenn, Neville, Karan, David

We enjoyed toasted sandwiches and coffee; our first of many flat whites, favorite coffee of Kiwis:

Toasted sandwiches and coffie

Afterwards, we sampled some chocolate shots in Bennetts’ shop:

Chocolate shots

Chocolate shots

And bought several things in their shop:

Shopping

Then we headed to the Mangawhai Heads:

Mangawhai Heads

Neville, Karan, David, Jenn:

Neville, Karan, David, Jenn

We were greeted by a dolphin (actually about three of them):

Dolphin

Dolphin

Dolphin

Dolphin

On the way back south, we stopped in Warkworth for lunch, where we had some Kiwi foods I’d been missing: a meat pie, a sausage roll, and a caramel slice — the first of many:

Pie, sausage roll, slice in Walkworth

And more flat white coffees:

Flat white coffees

That evening, Gavin joined us for a BBQ dinner:

Dinner; Jenn, David, Gavin, Karan, Neville

That’s it for our first day. Stay tuned for more.

Disney California Adventure halloween

After Disneyland, we crossed over to Disney California Adventure with Halloween decorations.

Disney California Adventure trolly

We hadn’t done the Bakery Tour before, so did it this time:

Bakery Tour

Bakery Tour

Bakery Tour

Bakery Tour

Bakery Tour

We also noticed a NPS-style Ornament Valley sign we hadn’t seen before:

Ornament Valley

Grizzly Peak:

Grizzly Peak

Waterfall:

Waterfall

Watching people on the Grizzy Peak ride:

Grizzy Peak ride

Grizzy Peak ride

Halloween decorations:

Halloween decorations

We went to Magic Key Terrace for dinner:

Magic Key Terrace menu

Magic Key Terrace menu

Magic Key Terrace menu

Magic Key Terrace menu

Cars Land neon:

Cars Land

Cars Land

Cars Land

Cars Land

Disneyland halloween

We visited Disneyland with Halloween and 70th anniversary celebration decorations.

Disneyland entrance with Halloween decorations

Train station:

Train station

Character photo

Marching band:

Marching band

Daisy Duck:

Duck

Trolly:

Trolly

Goofy:

Goofy

A selfie in front of the castle:

Selfie in front of castle

We did the Pirates ride:

Pirates ride

Lunch:

Lunch

Jungle Cruise ride:

Jungle Cruise

Falcon:

Falcon

Chewy:

Chewy

Castle:

Castle

Jenn’s teacup giggles:

Jenn's teacup giggles

Fire engine:

Fire engine ride

Disneyland had an “interactive park experience” called “Key to Disneyland”, where you buy a big plastic key, go around several locations in the park, and stick the key into keyholes, to unlock lights on the key, and ultimately unlock a secret compartment on the key, with a special collectable pin inside. Jenn loves collecting things, so was keen to do it:

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

Key to Disneyland

The unlocked special pin:

Key to Disneyland

Disneyland 70th anniversary:

Disneyland 70th anniversary

2025 travel route

Let’s look back at our coach travel in 2025. You may also want to check out the travel summaries from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

You can also see all of these summary posts together via the Route Summary tag, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

We bought our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP diesel pusher motorhome in September 2021, and other than a few times when we’ve been out of it during servicing appointments or flying vacations, we’ve lived in it full-time since then.

When we bought the coach, it only had 5,161 miles on the odometer. In 2021 we drove it about 2,300 miles. In 2022 we drove another 8,772 miles. In 2023 we added 9,945 miles. In 2024 we went much further, 12,248 miles. In 2025 we reversed the upward trend, with “only” 11,524 miles. So we have driven our coach 44,789 miles on our adventures so far, for a grand total of 49,950 on the odometer. (The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901 miles, so we’ve effectively driven it twice around the world!)

One of our goals is to visit every state in the US:

  • In 2021 we stayed in 7 states: Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, California, and Arizona.
  • In 2022 we added 5 more: Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas (plus revisited others).
  • In 2023 we visited 11 more new states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida, in addition to revisits.
  • In 2024 we stayed in 15 new states: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
  • In 2025 we completed the contiguous states, with 10 more: New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

A total of 48 states. Just two left, Alaska and Hawaii! (We’ve been to Hawaii before, but only count states visited since purchasing our coach.)

We also traveled around New Zealand in a campervan in 2025, but I’ll summarize that in a future post.

Here’s a map of our coach travels and stays in 2025, via the excellent RV Life Trip Wizard website, using a variation of their maps that more clearly shows the state borders and color-coded time zones. We started the year in the panhandle of Florida, then the route headed mostly counter-clockwise, with some messy loops in the northeast, finally ending up in California:

Timezones 2025 map

Another variation of the map, with more detail:

Route map 2025

Here’s a slightly out-of-date animated GIF that shows the northeast route, since it’s a bit messy:

Route map 2025

Here’s the route map with the travel in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021 also displayed in different colors; our 2025 travel in light green, our 2024 travel in orange, our 2023 travel in purple, our 2022 travel in blue, our 2021 coach travel in dark green, and our 2021 Yellowstone rental trailer trip in brown:

Route map for 2021 to 2025

The same map as an animated GIF, adding each year:

2021 to 2025 maps

Here’s a fun variation, showing the 2025 route without the background map:

Route map for 2025 without background

As usual, we revised our route a few times from what we had planned for 2025; here’s an animated GIF that compares what we had originally planned (as shown in last year’s 2025 travel plans post), and what we ended up doing (as above):

2025 maps

Another interesting animated GIF, showing the elevations along our route (also from last year’s 2025 travel plans post); see the elevations and road gradients at the bottom, and a moving dot along the map route showing where those elevations occur (this route has some differences from the latest maps, but I didn’t want to bother redoing the GIF):

Map with elevations

Super flat until we reached the Bighorn mountains and Yellowstone in Wyoming.

Here’s a Google Maps list that shows the places we stayed in 2025.

Fascinating!

Travel from Red Bluff to Paicines, California

We drove our coach 297 miles, about six hours of driving, from Red Bluff to Paicines, California.

We had originally planned to do this in two steps, since we like to aim for about three hours of driving per day. But at our first rest stop we decided we’d prefer to have a single longer drive, since it was mostly on I-5, so arranged to arrive earlier and cancel our original stop for that night.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-5 South:

Entering I-5 South

Hey, hay!

Hey, hay!

Rice field:

Rice field

Our coach on traffic cams:

Our coach on a traffic cam

Our coach on a traffic cam

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Swimming pool

Rest area:

Rest area

Woodland bridge:

Woodland bridge

Sacramento River:

Sacramento River

Sacramento:

Sacramento

Paladin touching my foot:

Paladin touching my foot

Aquaduct:

Aquaduct

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Interesting pea soup restaurant:

Interesting pea soup restaurant

San Luis Reservoir:

San Luis Reservoir

Exit to Hollister:

Exit to Hollister

School bus:

School bus

A trailer that didn’t disconnect the water hose and electrical cable; not a great way to travel:

Trailer didn't disconnect water hose and electrical cable

Road to Thousand Trails:

Road to Thousand Trails

Thousand Trails San Benito:

Thousand Trails San Benito

Narrow bridge:

Narrow bridge

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Sutherlin, Oregon to Red Bluff, California

We drove our coach 285 miles, about six hours of driving, from Sutherlin, Oregon to Red Bluff, California.

A long drive, but all on I-5, so pretty easy and familiar.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Rainy:

Rainy

“Slow Down”:

Slow Down

Misty mountains:

Misty mountains

Examples of various solutions for transporting a side-by-side — motorhome towing, toy hauler, and truck camper towing:

Examples of various solutions for transporting a side-by-side

Rest area:

Rest area

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Me taking a photo of Jenn taking a photo of Paladin:

Jenn taking a photo of Paladin

Jenn’s photo:

Jenn's photo

Southern Oregon hills:

Southern Oregon hills

Southern Oregon hills

Ashland:

Ashland

Southern Oregon hills

“Siskiyou Mountain Summit, elevation 4310 feet, highest elevation on I-5”:

Siskiyou Mountain Summit, elevation 4310 feet, highest elevation on I-5

Hills

“Oregon Thanks You, Come Back Soon”:

Oregon Thanks You, Come Back Soon

“Welcome to California”:

Welcome to California

Agricultural Inspection Station:

Agricultural Inspection Station

Mount Shasta:

Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta

Junk cars in a rest area:

Junk cars in a rest area

Shasta Lake:

Shasta Lake

Shasta Lake

KOA:

KOA

Our site:

Our site