We are off to a caravan rally in Levin over the weekend but are stopping en route at Otaki at our friends rural property for a couple of days. It may well be mid winter but we decided to take a visit to Otaki Beach. This area is well known as the site of the first permanent children’s health camp. In 1929 Byron Brown, a local businessman, donated 4 acres of land, (later enlarged to 70 acres) for a health camp, after growing concerns about children’s health and welfare. Up to 120 children stayed at the camp for 6 weeks, thriving on a regime of good food, plenty of sleep, fun at the adjacent seaside and a few hours of schooling each day. Between 1941 and 1945 the camp was taken over as a wartime emergency hospital, and reopened again after the war. The hospital still helps disadvantaged children to this day, with a holistic approach addressing the social, emotional and physical needs of children.
Gates to the Otaki Children’s Health Camp
Down at the beach the sea was sullen and grey, and the cold wind whistled about. We could barely make out Kapiti Island away in the distance. Brrr, it’s a bit too cold to linger down here today.
Otaki Beach
Back at Geoff and Eileen’s home I was invited to go hunting for pumpkins hidden away in the garden. If I can find a couple, Eileen told me, I’ll get to keep one for myself. Wow, with an offer of a free pumpkin, there was no stopping me. But how could those poor pumpkins survive under such thick weeds? There’s one, then another, and finally I released the third pumpkin from the weeds.
The yield from the great pumpkin hunt
Muffy however, was going a hunt of her own. The outside locker door was open and in she jumped. It doesn’t really matter how many times she has explored this locker before, if the door is open she just can’t help herself.
What’s in here?
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