There were several questions that needed answering: What roads are still closed? Has the wind abated? Will we be able to travel to the Wairarapa today? Yesterday was a non event as far as caravan towing went with wide spread flooding and road closures. Hopefully today will be a better day and we can carry on with Plan B.
With heavy wind warnings on the Rimutaka Hill Road, the driver decided to head north and travel over the Pahiatua Track road, although that can be prone to winds too. So the caravan was hooked up, and we were on our way, driving very carefully.
The weather was showery, the winds were blustery, but it wasn’t too bad at all, as long as the driver kept his wits about him. And the traffic was rather light too, which was a bonus.
Driving up the Track
Once down the other side, the wind gusts really increased, particularly the stretch of road between Mt Bruce and Eketahuna. No wonder we passed several wind warning signs on the road side. The cabbage trees were dotted here and there, and were in full flower, which attract moths, bees, and flies and wasps. After flowering berries form, attracting tuis, wood pigeons, bellbirds, blackbirds, starlings and sparrows.
Cabbage tree in flower
150kms after leaving home we pulled into our stop for the next two nights, Carterton Holiday Park. New managers have taken over the lease of this camp since we were here last, and they seem a very pleasant young couple indeed.
Once we were settled on site, and had some lunch, we took a trip down to the trendy little town of Greytown. In particular, we were after some gourmet sausages from the local butcher, and came away with a fine assortment of different flavours. How does lamb, lemon and oregano sound, or perhaps you would prefer a meal of their beef sausages which were the NZ Award Winners - Gold Medal for 2016? Just a few doors away was another favourite shop, the French Bakery. And yes, I did call in there too, and came away with a couple of delicious fruit pastries for dessert tonight.
Greytown Butchery
A new ablution block has appeared in Greytown since our last visit – that’s handy. You really need to know where these facilities are while travelling around the country.
Handy new toilet block
Returning to camp we had a restful afternoon. We are all on our lonesome tonight but we are looking forward to watching the TV documentary about the life of Leonard Cohen, who recently passed away, one of our favourite singers. And tomorrow we will have friends joining us for the night, and then we will head off on Friday to another venue for the caravan rally.
Camping by ourselves tonight
1 comment:
Great that you were able to get to Greytown. Enjoy those sausages. It's fun trying different flavours and always good to support the local small businesses.
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