Weekend at Himatangi

It’s not too far to Himatangi from home, just a short 40km drive away, so we arrived at the camp on Friday in next to no time.  The small coastal community at Himatangi has a population of about 600.  The coastline was once a seasonal gathering place for local Maori who caught fish and shellfish there. Leaving the shells in piles (middens), they inadvertently created an archaeological record of what the area once looked like. The oldest known middens can be found near a series of lagoons 4 kilometres inland, indicating where the beach line was 500 years ago.

With twelve vans arriving for the weekend, the numbers boosted by visitors and prospective members, Bill as Rally Captain was kept on his toes getting everyone safely on a suitable site.    We spent the afternoon sitting outside soaking up the sun as the caravans rolled in, and several of us had red faces and sunburnt noses to show for it  by the end of the day.  The boss lady Margaret of Himatangi  Beach Holiday Park welcomed our group to the camp, thanked us for coming, and then presented the group with two bottles of wine.

Some of our vans on site

We had the use of the hall for our get-togethers, which was most appreciated.  As usual, Friday night was Joke Night, and the jokes came thick and fast, as did the guffaws of laughter echoing around the hall.  During Morning Tea on Saturday we welcomed new members.  The cooks all did themselves proud as a huge variety of tasty dishes were set out on the tables for our Saturday evening Pot Luck meal.  That kept everyone quiet for a while as we all sat eating our dinners, with some going up for seconds.  It was all so delicious, there was very little in the way of leftovers, we noticed. 

A Housie Evening kept us occupied  later in the evening.  Barbara had raided some of her huge collection of buttons at home, so we could use them as markers, and Bill was the caller.  Guess it was a matter of luck, but we noticed that some had several wins.  Not us two though, as usual, we didn’t manage to win anything.  But it was good fun, and everyone joined in enthusiastically, ribbing poor Bill as they waited in vain for their own particular numbers to be called. 

Barbara with her button jars

There was the usual mixing and mingling during the weekend, and although there were no new cars or caravans to check out this time, Selwyn's “water hog” attracted quite a bit of masculine attention.  It was dripping, he said, and as trying to find out why.  Quite simple really once he had a good look and pulled the hose off, he discovered that the valve had been put in up-side-down. 

Checking out the dripping water hog

Bill and Barbara had found this humorous tea towel tucked away in a cupboard, and it spend the weekend taped up to their caravan window, giving us all a laugh.  Another fun weekend, spent in good company with friends, we certainly enjoyed ourselves.