The Bedford Rally...

I've just spent four days over the long holiday weekend
at the Bedford Rally.
It was held at Lance Cryer's place "Bedford Heaven' at Puriri...
A small town between Thames and Paeroa.
There was only one down side - poor internet reception...
So you haven't heard from me for a few days!

It's a fascinating place...
Full of old Bedford carcases that are used for spare parts.
This was the way in...

Past a big truck loaded with crushed bodies...
Stripped of their bits and pieces...
Only good for scrap metal.

The way in continued...
Past the line up of old history.
Luckily Lance had a tractor or two...
It had been raining and we all got bogged...
Driving into the paddock where the rally was held.
Another new experience for me...
I've been loaded onto a tow truck but not towed out of the mud before.

A

All sorts of restored Bedford house-buses turned up at the rally...

This  had been a mobile post office.

More restored Bedford's... Parked in the muddy paddock...
Owners gathered comparing buses... Motors... Gears...
And all sorts of things.
That's me with my bike on front.
I was towed in backwards...
Really down on one side and my back left wheel in a hole.
But soon a big 11 meter bus arrived...
The owner wandered over and offered to jack me up...
 No trouble... So soon I was level... Sitting on several blocks...


Here are piles of parts...

And beautiful old Bedford bodies...
Reclining... Waiting... Reflecting!




 
And the beautiful restored... Much loved... Lived in...
House-buses.

History parked amongst the weeds...


Another house-bus... Lived in as a full time home.

Beautifully restored and painted.

I
I wandered amongst the old bodies...
Wondering at the stories they could tell

Fire... Paeroa RV Centre

I have spent the last two nights at the Paeroa RV Center.
I bought my Bedford here...
From the couple who were managing it at the time.
They have been away but are back now
so it was great to catch up with them...
Although I think they were a little sad that this
Beddie is not theirs any more...
And it is looking different.

Part of the RV Centre is a very sad sight...
There has recently been a major fire... As some of you will know.
It happened at 4.30am... Still dark in the early hours of the morning...
The large concrete slab was the foundation for a large storage shed.
It housed 14 vehicles, a brand new car delivered the day before...
And was home to two cats.
All totally destroyed. It was such a furnace the fire brigade could do nothing but let it burn to the ground.
Each vehicle had at least two LPG bottles... Explosions everywhere...

These are the charred remains...
 

Plus this vehicle... The only one not insured...
 

It's still waiting to be taken away.
It was a tragic thing for the  people with vehicles stored...
All shapes and sizes and values...
Some fully insured... Some not.
It's made me re-assess my insurance with Covi...
The motor-home and house-bus speciaists..
And make sure I have adequate cover for both my
 vehicle and the contents...
Just in case...
Some people lost very personally valuable treasures.
I feel very sad for them...
 Knowing how my bus is my home and the all-sorts
I have tucked away in her.

Licorice Allsorts... Is My Name...

Here is my name... The finished... One only... Original art work.
I love it... It makes me laugh...
It's all bright colours...  Joyous...  Feminine curves...
A feast for the eyes... Just like the lollies are for the taste buds.

Jude painted my name by the door...

And on the other side... Under the drivers window...
More allsorts...
More happy... Fun... Original art.

This is how it grew... From what I showed you yesterday...


To more colour... Flowers... Curves... Allsorts...



This is how it looks... Quite eye catching...
My bus is even more of a talking point...
Lots of people stop and come and look and talk to me...
I love it... I meet all sorts!


And the  other side...

I'm Naming My Bus... Finally...

This is a lady who goes by the name of 'Jypsy Jude'.
She is a wonderful artist...
She has been painting since she was aged two.
I met her when I had just bought my Bedford...
She is another Beddie lover...
She offered to paint a name on my bus but I was undecided
what I wanted to call it.
After processing names for several months
I made a decision and contacted her.
I had moved from Ray's Rest to Thames to Paeroa.
Jude lives in Waihi - about a half hour drive away...
So this morning I went to her home...
A delightful old cottage as individual as she is.
The weather was fine... Not too much wind...
Black clouds threatening...
But she decided it was good enough.

In the months since I first met Jude she had been waiting for inspiration...
The right 'magic' to know what to paint.
She found it this week when shopping for a breakfast cereal!

Here is the name... And her sketch... That grew as she painted.
We talked over a cup of tea before she would start...
She wanted to get a 'feeling' about me...
So that her painting would reflect us both.


The very beginning... The first brush strokes... I'm nervous...
But trust her... I have seen lots of her art around her cottage...
And I like her style... So what is going to grow?

Reflection... Thinking... Considering...

I can't even paint a picture on a piece of paper...

Let alone on something as large as a bus! 

Jude has several tins of paint in her bucket on her stool...

She mixes the colours on the paint tin lids...

 

 The second colour goes on... I'm fascinated...

She is very casual about it... Chats away as she is painting...

I'm parked up her drive and we are outside in the sun and wind.

And even she doesn't quite know how this painting is going to 

develop into the finished end result.

She has trained herself to paint it slowly, the detail bit by bit...

And wait for the picture to emerge and be finished.

It's taking shape... she obviously has in her mind what she is painting...

I love the bright colours... Licorice Allsorts are... 

Attention to detail... And it's growing with every brush stroke...

And  growing... Jude is very quick at mixing and painting'

Can you see how her inspiration from the cereal packet then her sketch...

Is taking shape?

I keep watching to see what will develop next...

Ray's Rest... Firth of Thames

 

I left Warkworth and had a very pleasant, hassle free drive...

Up hill and down dale...

And stopped for the night at Orewa.

I managed to park in my favourite place there...

Fronting to the sea... And this was my view for the evening.

 

Further along past the cars is the surf club...

There were lots of people out enjoying the evening...Walking their dogs.

There was even a rubbish bin right outside... 

That was very convenient as I could dump all I had accumulated...

Including old newspapers...

It was Saturday... Again... And I would have a new one!

I only buy the Herald on Saturday.. It takes me all the week to read it!

The next morning I was woken early by strong wind and rain.

It had been forecast but often these things pass over during the night...

But not this time. I was rocking and rolling...

I decided to be brave... Hold on tight to the steering wheel...

And go as far as Albany... There is a big shopping mall there...

That seemed just the place for such a morning...

And I haven't been shopping/browsing for ages.

I had coffee, looked in a few shops, 

developed a headache from the noise...

And decided to leave.

The sun had come out... the weather didn't seem so bad after all.

My destination was Kaiaua on the Firth of Thames...
A freedom parking place called 'Ray's Rest'.
The wind  hadn't gone... It was tricking me...
It was very windy on the top of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Ray's Rest was very windy...
This is where I parked...
The usually calm sheltered waters were whipped up into
rough waves washing up shells and seaweed.

These photos don't do it justice... But the sea was a churned dark grey.

 

This is taken from my door step... The waves not far away...
But they didn't come in... The tide went out!

The colours of the sea as it got dark were amazing...
The cloud colours reflected in the water...

And this intense blue colour in the darkening landscape.
 I never get tired of watching the moods and colours of the sea...
It's always changing...

Next morning I woke to still, calm and peace...
The sea was totally quiet and the tide creeping in.
No wind... The sun was out...

But it didn't last very long... The wind whipped up...
The clouds and rain came...
And a rainbow...
It has blown a gale ever since I have been here...
I'm moving on this morning... Into Thames...
To collect my mail... buy a saw...
And I'm thinking about getting a flounder spear.
Early yesterday morning there was somebody in the shallow water...
Nearly high tide... With a light and spear looking for flounder...
What a yummy breakfast that would be.
I think I have to try it when I come back.