Local Focus: Bikes, hikes, and silent nights - three weeks at That Place

Local Focus video journalist, Ben Carter takes three weeks away from the daily grind to tag along with Tom Oskam and his trail dog Flo from That Place, a mountain-bike park near Whanganui. Watch as they battle the weather and their dogs to prepare the park for the summer season.

Living in the suburbs with a working dog can be hard work at the best of times, and my little blue heeler is no ordinary working dog.

Gibson requires an extraordinary amount of exercise. No amount of rain, mud or snow can deter him from enjoying the great outdoors.

He does not care if gale-force winds and freezing temperatures make my hands numb, the stick must be thrown.

After another hostile winter, I decided it was time to treat ourselves to a rural escape. We loaded our house bus and set course for a 52ha block of land called That Place, just half an hour from the Whanganui CBD.

That Place is a dog-friendly mountain bike park and campground owned and operated by the Oskam family.

The moment we left town our spirits lifted. Three weeks of sunshine, mountain biking and living in a house bus was just what we needed. To be fair, the house bus is more bus than a house.

The seats have been replaced by camping equipment and broken op shop furniture. But that wasn't going to be a problem because That Place has an outdoor kitchen, shower and BBQ.

We reached the Kaiwhaiki village after 15 minutes and continued winding along the Whanganui River until the metal road slowly turned into a rocky driveway.

As we rolled past the welcome sign and into the scarped valley surrounding the Oskams' property, the sunlight disappeared and we noticed a few small puddles. Never mind.

The moment we pulled into the campsite and the bus doors swung open, Gibson darted off to secure the perimeter and I began setting up a cosy living space and workstation.

As I merrily fitted sheets on to the mattress and dusted off my hiking boots, I could hear Gibson doing zoomies around the bus with his new best friend Flo. It seemed we had arrived in paradise.

But moments later, reality struck.

Two muddy dogs entered the bus in a whirlwind of excitement. Now the floor was muddy and the bed was muddy.

I ejected the dogs from the bus and they continued getting muddy. I ran an extension cable to the woolshed and then my hiking boots were muddy. It took all of 10 minutes for the bus to turn into a muddy hellhole.

I looked up and the clouds were back, the wind picked up and I knew we were in trouble. But there was no going back.

For better or for worse, we were committed to That Place for the next three weeks to experience the Oskam way of life, and capture their journey as they prepared to reopen for the season.

This Local Focus feature video is the result of those three weeks of rain, mud and laughs at That Place.