Wet and Windy at Foxton Beach

At last – time to hook up the caravan and head away.  Although it’s only been five weeks since our last caravan rally, Robin seems to have been experiencing cabin fever and has been champing at the bit for weeks.  We decided to leave home on Thursday, to give us an extra day away.  And here we are, all alone and friendless,  camping by ourselves at the Manawatu Caravan Club grounds at Foxton Beach.  As it turned out, none of our caravan club buddies decided to come a day early and join us.

All alone on Thursday

This camp was badly  battered a couple of months ago when a small tornado blew through in the dead of night.  A roof was lifted off one of the static caravan awning’s and flung about, part of the hall was damaged as were portions of the fence.   It must have been a terrifying thing to go through.     This part of the fence, where visitors like us stay, has been propped up as a temporary measure and the camp is still waiting for the insurance details to be sorted out on all the damage.

Holding the fence in place

We met up with Life Members Peter and Elaine later in the day, who came up for the AGM rally weekend.  Although they no longer caravan, they found a holiday cottage to rent  close by.  Come over in the evening, they invited us.  So we did, to find all the lights out, and an electrician there in the dark making temporary repairs, until he returned again the next day.  We had a great night reminiscing about our caravan adventures, rallies and safari trips enjoyed together over the years .

The wind gusts kept rocking the caravan during the night, and Friday morning dawned wet, blustery and miserable.  We took a trip to the local supermarket to find that after some time being “dry”  the petrol pumps were being reinstalled.  That would be great for the locals.  With our purchases of bread, milk, newspaper and a giant chocolate eclair each for lunch, we drove down to the estuary to check out the conditions.

Petrol pumps being installed

The wharf at the estuary was deserted, no boats in sight, and the wet grey conditions doing nothing to make one want to take to the water.

A grey morning down at the estuary

We settled down in the caravan for a quiet morning and after lunch our caravan buddies trickled into the camp, one after the other.  That’s great – we have company now.