Travelling along the Manawatu Gorge makes me feel rather nervous, especially since the last huge rock slide which kept this road closed for quite some months. With steep crumbly rock faces on one side, and a long drop down to the river on the other, there is not much room to manoeuvre along this narrow windy road. Robin took it all in his stride, expertly towing our caravan around the many curves in the road, as one after another fully loaded trucks drove towards us on the narrow road. Luckily we made it through the Gorge unscathed, and drove into Woodville, our stop for the evening.
How many Woodville’s in the world?
We spent the evening at the rather muddy Woodville Recreation Reserve. But it was quite reasonably priced, and provided what we needed in the way of power, showers and toilets. Geoff had it on good authority from a number of his former contacts in his working life that the local fish and chip shop was one of the best, so we decided to put the statement to the test. Our verdict? Not too bad at all, but certainly not a ten out of ten score.
Camped at Woodville
There were sheep in the adjacent paddocks, and they had worked out in there woolly brains that if they lowered their heads down and wriggled hard, they could squeeze under the fence. Going from one paddock to another as their fancy took them. The recycling bins were next to our caravans, and there was a steady stream of locals putting their bottles, papers and plastics in the appropriate bins. Then the bins were emptied in the early evening and the bags of recycling carried away to the next stage of their journey. It was good to see such a good effort being made in such a small town.
We took a wander through the town and noticed that the footpaths had been nicely repaved since our last visit. Sadly, like most small towns, there were many empty shops around. The local butcher’s shop tempted us with his advertising boards outside his shop, and we came away with some award winning beef and blue cheese sausages, and a nice piece of honey flavoured pickled pork.
The famous artist Gottfried Lindauer settled in Woodville in 1890 and a replica of his studio now stands in the main street. He was born in Pilsen, Bohemia, and studied at the Vienna Academy of Art. He arrived in New Zealand in 1874, and soon made his mark as a Maori portrait artist.
Replica studio of Gottfried Lindauer
Gottfried Lindauer
We couldn’t leave Woodville without calling in to the bakery to buy a couple of Eccles Cakes for lunch. Then it was back to the caravans for an early lunch before we moved on. Next stop Eketahuna.
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