Our two week holiday concluded with a night staying at the NZMCA park in Marton. We were joined there by Geoff and Eileen who were returning from meeting their family in Auckland, so it was good to catch up with them again. The following morning we set off to join up with our caravan club buddies at Palmerston North Holiday Park for the weekend rally.
The weather was changeable over the weekend, and couldn’t make up it’s mind what to do, we had both sunshine and rain, and the wind made sure the golden leaves from the large oak trees kept fluttering down, and blowing this way and that. As usual, Friday night was catch-up night, and joke night too. There was a great turn out for this rally, and luckily we had the use of the lounge area to meet in.
Palmerston North Holiday Park
We came across this poor fellow as we walked around the camp. An unwelcome visitor, perhaps?
On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk through the very pretty Victoria Esplanade, a beautiful park covering 26ha which is adjacent to the motor camp. Toot, toot went the train as it trundled past. The volunteers on the Esplanade Scenic Railway has been giving rides to young and old alike since 1969 on the 2.2km long miniature railway line. Wonder who is having more fun – the driver or the passengers?
Esplanade Scenic Railway
The walkers met up at the Cafe Esplanade – some a lot earlier that others, as it turned out. Seems that some took a really long walk, and arrived when we were cosily ensconced sipping on our coffees, or in Robin’s case, trying to deal with a huge ice cream before it melted. The cafe is housed in a lovely old historic building, which was moved into the park, and had a previous life as a post office.
Cafe Esplanade, housed in an historic post office building
After coffees and ice creams had been consumed, our walk wasn’t quite over, and we took a turn through the Dugald MacKenzie Rose Gardens. Opened in 1968, the garden contains over 5000 roses in named beds, planted around a pool. The Garden has received the Garden of Excellence award from the World Federation of Rose Societies. There were so many lovely roses on show, in all sorts of hues. We particularly liked the old style roses, with their heady scent, and did the sniff test to try and find those with a scent.
Dugald MacKenzie Rose Garden
There were the usual 4zees in the afternoon, and a few quizzes on Saturday night to see if our brains were still working. Before we knew it, the weekend came to an end. After our two weeks on the road, it was time we returned home, we felt. The weekend rally was a great conclusion to our tripping around. And it won’t be too long till we have another short trip away again. It’s a hard life being retired!
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