Heading up to Foxton

We left home on a lovely calm day and the drive around the Pauatahanui Inlet was picture perfect.  The shallow inlet was like a mirror with the surrounding hills dotted with houses reflected in the water.

Pauatahanui Inlet

Kapiti Island showed up well as we drove up State Highway One as it hugged the coastline.  The warrior chief Te Rauparaha seized control of this island from the local tribes in the 1840’s and used it as an impregnable base from which to launch his ferocious raiding parties.  These days Kapiti Island is a bird sanctuary with strictly controlled visitor numbers to safeguard the native bird population.

Kapiti Island

We were travelling to Foxton for the 3 day Queen’s Birthday Weekend.  The boom time flax milling days are long gone, when Foxton had many flax mills utilising huge amounts of flax from the vast swampy riverbeds.  The flax was used in many industries, from rope to matting.  We didn’t visit the Foxton Flax Stripping Museum this time, but had a quick look at the De Molen windmill, which dominates the shopping area.  This working windmill was built from actual Dutch plans from the 17th century, and the machinery was imported from the Netherlands, and the windmill processes New Zealand wheat into flour for sale to the public.

De Molen Windmill

There are all sorts of interesting places to visit and things to do in Foxton, perhaps we can explore further next time.  I wouldn’t mind a ride sometime on this green double decker English bus. 

The London Pride

We continued down to the beach, looking for the Manawatu Caravan Club grounds, where we were spending the weekend.

Four caravans from our club arrived for the weekend, and we were soon settled in the sites set aside for casual visitors.

Our caravans on site for the weekend

Only two caravan clubs own their own grounds in New Zealand, and the Manawatu Caravan Club is one of these.  Members pay rent to leave their caravans, mostly older models we noticed,  permanently on site, and most have added an annex to give extra living space.  There are 133 sites in the camp, with 10 set aside for casual visitors.  With a large hall available for use, and excellent facilities, it was a very pleasant place for us to hold our club rally.  Most other caravan clubs in our country do not have their own grounds, and generally hold rallies at various motor camps, reserves, schools and DOC Camps each month.

View of some on-site caravans and attached annexes

There was quite a flurry of excitement the night we arrived when local camper Tom arrived back from the beach with his “catch of the day”.  One of his friends rushed to get a set of scales, and the large snapper weighed in at a hefty 9.2kg.  Tom caught this beauty and some smaller fish with his long line dragged out by a torpedo.  He will get a few good meals out of that fish, we think.

Happy camper Tom and his large snapper