First Days of the National Rally at Putorino

Putorino is one of those tiny places you whizz by on the way to somewhere much bigger.  It is situated on SH2 approximately half way between Napier and Wairoa, a tiny speck of a place, with a pub, a Sports Centre and not much else.  The Sports Centre was to be our base over Easter, with 35 vans and 1 tent in residence all parked up in rows on the playing fields.  There was a large grassy area fenced off beside the vans in case the emergency helicopter has to land for the community.  The distressed calls of cows just separated from their calves bellowed out from the adjacent farmland, with the calves frantically calling back.  You don’t hear much of that in suburbia – all we get is traffic noise.

Waikare Sports Centre at Putorino with vans parked behind

We’re in here sommewhere

Club flags were flying and Derek and Robin went to add our Heretaunga flag alongside the others.  With that job done, it was almost time for the official opening.

Robin and Derek with the club flag

A colourful parade of club banners were piped into the hall, stood up in the stand and the Official Opening was underway.  CCNZ President Alan Dale and  Rex Stewart, President of the Eastern Region said a few words, followed by former Mayor of Wairoa Les Probert who officially opened the 23rd National Rally.  Club photos were then taken, Robin set up his tripod and rushed back to get in line.  Luckily he didn’t trip himself up in his hurry.  

The Heretaunga contingent

Robin was Chief Auctioneer at the Friday afternoon Dutch Auction, with help from Karen and Graham.  Most bids started quite low and people eagerly raised the prices as they bid on the mystery newspaper wrapped items.  The cut off point of $5 kept prices reasonable and within reach of most pockets.  

There’s another bid over there

By the time the last item was offered up, the bidders agreed to an open ended auction.  Excitement was high and the bids went up in leaps and bounds.  It all came to an end at $15 and the victorious bidder showed off his prize, an ambulance ornament.

The winner of the last auction

“If you can walk, you can dance”, Glenys the dancing teacher told us on Friday night.  Some took up the challenge and followed instructions in dancing the Veleta and other sequence dances around the hall, while the not so nimble sat and enjoyed the antics..  There was even a bit of do-se-do-ing taking place too – that reminded us of those long ago days when the pair of us were keen square-dancers. 

Friday night dance class

The Saturday Sausage Lunchtime Sizzle was a great success with the cooks doing a marvellous job.  Goodness knows how many sausages were cooked on the BBQ, along with a whole heap of sliced onions.  The ladies in the kitchen were hard pressed to keep up with the orders, as the queue snaked almost out the door of the hall.  They valiantly buttered the bread,  placed a dollop of fried onions, a hot sausage with a squirt of tomatoe sauce on top, wrapped it in a paper serviette and handed the orders over to the hungry customers.

All waiting for lunch

Four of us walked up to the local Putorino Cafe and Pub for a coffee, but by the time we got there we decided that as it was such a hot day, an ice-cream was a much better idea.  We heard the roar of motor bikes as Harley after Harley pulled up in front of the pub and the riders dismounted – most seemed to be well dressed bikers sporting black clothing covered with the Harley Davidson logo.   It looked liked there was an Easter Road Rally taking place.  After stopping and chatting for a while, they mounted their bikes and roared off down the road to Napier.

Putorino Pub and Cafe

The evening ended with a pub type quiz Trivial Pursuit competition.  Teams of six listened intently to the questions, then our collective brains went into action.  There were six categories, ranging from entertainment and literature, people and places, geography, science and sports and history – the last being our best with only only one incorrect answer.  And…….if the team had listened to me, we would have scooped the pool with the history questions.  One question we didn’t know – what did Otto Titzling invent?  The answer – the bra.  Our score at the end of the night was a credible 65 out of 80.


If you want to know more about Club Caravanning click here.