Taking the Slow Road

Trips away in the caravan are always fun, and what is nice these days is that we can take our time, if we want,  getting to our destination.  Not at all like the trips when we had to work for a living.  Then we had to rush from here to there, often over long distances, trying to see as much as we could.  Taking the slow road is so much more relaxing.

After a couple of days at the Drop In Rally at Foxton School, just taking things easy and enjoying the lovely hot weather, it was time to move on.  As planned, we stayed at several “new to us” venues over our holiday.  Such as the car park behind the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club.  Lovely friendly staff, and we stayed here at no charge, so made sure they received some patronage from us at the bar.  Just a shame we were too early in the week to enjoy a meal in the restaurant, otherwise we would have dined there in the evening.

Our next new destination was Ashcott Park, Ongaonga, in a lovely rural setting.  No other campers came to stay, and we didn’t even see the property owner, so had to leave our fee in the letterbox for him.

And our third new venue was Mathews Park in Norsewood, another rural stop, with the Ruahine Ranges in the background.  Once again, we camped alone, but the Small Bore Club next door kept things lively when they started firing their rifles.

We stayed at a couple of old favourites as well.  Ashurst Camp with it’s lovely old shady trees is always a joy to stay at, as is the apple orchard POP in Hastings.  And we enjoyed some company from our caravan buddies too.  Dot and Derek were at the Drop In Rally, and stayed a couple more days than us before moving on, and Don and Pamela joined us at Hastings for several days.  The Hastings Rellies were visited several times, we were invited around to share a delicious roast lamb meal and we caught up with all the family news. We never go to Hastings without buying some fish and chips from Hawkes Bay Seafood, the best fish and chips ever!  Then we ticked a couple of things off our Bucket List, visiting the International Police Museum at Dannevirke, and the National Aquarium of NZ at Napier. 

On reflection, we are pleased we came home on Thursday, rather than Friday as originally planned.  There have been wind warnings today for high sided vehicles (that means us), so it is just as well we are safe at home today.  As well as the strong winds, torrential rain has been falling during the day.  I think it’s my fault, as I insisted that Robin water the garden last night after all that neglect with us being away. Or maybe Robin’s to blame after all, as he washed the 4WD before the rain arrived today.  Whatever……. as the grand-daughters say.  Luckily the garden survived while we were away – just look at those beans!  Our broccoli have tiny little heads, which just need to grow a little more, the lettuce and silver beet are ready to pick, and there are even some baby tomatoes coming along.

Silver beet, broccoli and beans

Some flower pots survived