Weekend Rally at Opaki School

After a pleasant lunch stop at Henley Lake we travelled up to Opaki School, just north of Masterton for the three day Central Regional Rally, hosted by the Wairarapa Caravan Club.  Regional Rallies are held every two years, and are hosted with the four regional clubs each taking their turn. 

This looks like the right place

The approach to the school grounds was a bit tight, especially for the larger caravans and motor homes.  But with a bit of guidance from the men at the gate, and some careful manoeuvring, we all made it through without any mishaps.  There were 25 assorted vans on site for the weekend, one “fifth wheeler”, 10 motor homes and 14 caravans.

Lots of different shapes and sizes

Anything a little bit different always attracts quite a bit of interest, and Peter was rather intrigued as to what was under the fifth wheeler.  There was only one way to find out so he crawled under to see what he could discover. 

What’s under here?

As we were rallying at a school, this was a non power rally, which shouldn’t have been a problem.  But……we had a bit of a “whoopsie” overnight when our gas bottle ran dry and the fridge stopped working.  Robin had to make a hurried early morning trip to get the gas bottle refilled.  He knew the bottle was getting low, but didn’t think it was quite that low!

Re-fitting the gas bottle

We joined the large group as they ambled along the pathway to the Wee Red Barn on Saturday afternoon, where we purchased a large punnet of freshly picked strawberries and berry ice-cream, just the thing for our dessert. Everyone met in the hall in the evening for Saturday’s evening entertainment which was a “Dutch” Auction.  We had no idea just what a “Dutch” Auction was, bring along some money and join in the fun, we were told.  It seems that bids are made on a wrapped secret item, with the bidders having no idea just what they are bidding on.  Dave was in charge of the large yellow sack and handed each parcel to Harry, who was auctioneer for the evening.

Dave with his sack of goodies

Harry as auctioneer

There was some rather spirited bidding going on for all sorts of interestingly wrapped parcels.  It was a lot of fun, with all proceeds of $128 for the evening going to the local branch of the Cancer Society.