CAMPING THE KIWI WAY

One of my stays was at Tuppence in Pirongia — one couldn’t stop singing the Penny Lane song after that. I was greeted by Ursula our host and parked up and was shown where everything was, including water, recycling and compost bin. It didn’t take long before I felt like I was at home for my four day stay. I told Ursula that I was meant to have a water filter put in that day and when her husband got home from work he put my filter in free of charge and had a quick look at my tyres to see if they were okay as he works at the tyre shop in Te Awamutu. Truly blessed and grateful.

They have a very entertaining dog, who quite happily stole a cabbage I was given off my lap and never gave it back. What a delight, chasing a cabbage-eating dog.

Really enjoyed staying here. They have a lovely quiet rural property on the edge of Pirongia Village and are great hosts. They are 5 minutes away from the village by vehicle and about 15 minutes walk to the shops. Te Awamutu is 15 minutes away and the Mobil Station has the only dump station in the area (but no water tap).

Ursula and her hubby are members of All Points Camping and have been running this park-up property in Pirongia for 10 years and have just recently put the price up from $5 to $10 non-powered, $15 powered per unit. Bookings essential. Open all year around and pet friendly.

Pirongia village offers the following: a Four Square, hairdressers, bakery, cafe, the hive gift shop, book exchange at the community hall, psychic reader, colour therapist, massage therapists, acupuncture, Tai Chi, community classes, monthly and annual craft market, church, sports grounds, and river walk.

The historic museum and visitors centre tells you the history of the area and famous people like Mary Scott (novelist) and the Māori wars. They have a walking map of archaeological redoubt sites in the area. Pirongia Heritage & Information Centre pirongiaheritage.org.nz. The next Annual Craft Market, which I highly recommend is on a Sunday at the end of September.

There are also walks available on Mt. Pirongia which is a 15 minute drive from Penny Road at the Pirongia Forest Park. I highly recommend the nature walk for a picnic or an outing. ckw.nz/doc-pirongia 

The highlight of my visit was exploring the village, going to the heritage centre, the walks, seeing the future site for the Pirongia Wellness Centre where I had a picnic with my cousin, and the Sunday Food and Craft Market, on the last Sunday of the month at the community centre, where I got some fresh veggies and something crafty and small for my bus.