Good weather for Ducks

Our marvellous run of warm sunny weather has broken.  But then, it is mid winter after all.  And what could be a more mid-winter thing to do than go camping in the rain? Due to an afternoon appointment, we were one of the last to arrive at the Paekakariki Holiday Park in the late afternoon, just in time for a delayed 4zees.  Once the van was on site and hooked up to power, we joined our caravan club buddies in the kitchen for a catch up of everyone’s news.

Although damp underfoot at first, the rain soon came down turning everything sodden.  And kept falling, all through the night.  We all awoke on Saturday morning to find our caravans surrounded by water.  Some puddles were deeper than others, and our black mat was completely submerged.  And guess who forgot to pack the gumboots for the weekend?

 

Surrounded by large puddles

But a little rain didn’t dampen our spirits.  We gathered for Morning Tea in the kitchen building, and as the pair of us are Rally Captains for the weekend rally, we outlined our plans.  The scheduled walk along the beach was cancelled, but we could look forward to a meal out later tonight at Finns Restaurant down in the village.  Menus were circulated to give our club members an idea of what was on offer, and the prices.

In between showers I went for a quick walk and stood entranced under a gum tree as several Tui sang and chortled high above me.  Called “Parson Birds”  by the early settlers because of the tufts of white feathers at the throat, these birds appear black but in reality their feathers are iridescent dark blue and bronze and they have a circlet of lacy white feathers covering the back of their neck and shoulders.  Sadly, my photo does not do this beautiful native bird justice, so I have downloaded one from the internet to show how gorgeous they are.

Tui, formerly known as Parson bird

This is a lovely large camp with over 200 power sites, and beautiful mature trees which certainly encourage the abundant bird life.  There are five caravans and three motorhomes attending this weekend from our club.  And it looks like we have most of the camp to ourselves

.  

It’s certainly a rather damp day today

Wonder if we can hope for nicer weather tomorrow before we all pack up and head for home?  Guess we will just have to wait and see.