Drop In Rally at Foxton

Its not too far up the road to Foxton, and that suits us fine at this time of year.  It’s best to limit our time on the busy roads over the Christmas season when cars are whizzing every which way, all in a hurry to get to their holiday destinations.  We joined the 40 or so vans camping at Foxton School who had “dropped in” for all or part of the rally, as it suited individual plans.  Three vans from our caravan club managed to get sites close together, with a fourth arriving a little later.  So we are all nice and close together for when 4zees rolls around.

At Foxton School

Foxton is well known for having problems with their water supply and we had read about a temporary solution offered to residents.  Somewhere around was a stand pipe which allowed residents to fill containers with fresh drinking water – but where was it?  We drove around looking in likely places, and finally came across it, but with no signage pointing the way it was difficult to spot.  The long term solution is to drill water bores much further into the ground, we understand.

The “Strawberry Man” drove around the school grounds ringing his hand bell – the back of his little car piled high with punnets of luscious strawberries.  Campers appeared from everywhere, money in hand, to purchase some of these delicious summer fruits.  Its certainly a hard life when we are reduced to having strawberries on our breakfast cereal, just to make sure we get through them all.

Strawberries for breakfast

We were all sitting outside yesterday when I felt the earth move.  Vibrations ran up the legs of our camp chairs – did you feel that, I asked the others?  Yes, it was another earthquake, this one was reasonably small and centered in Cook Strait, and so far no damage has been reported.  A little later dark clouds came rolling over and it looked like it was going to pour down with rain.  Chairs were quickly put away, and roof vents were lowered, just in case. 

 

A promise of rain

Later in the evening we took a walk around the neighborhood to check out the flashing Christmas lights.  They were across the front of the property and up the driveway.  A sign invited people to walk around the back of the house to see even more lights.

Christmas lights in Foxton

And then to our surprise, the home owners invited our small group to check out the decorations indoors.  It was a Christmas wonderland indeed, flashing lights, Christmas furnishings and ornaments everywhere.  Even the “littlest room in the house” had a Christmas theme.

Ho ho ho, a Christmas toilet

It was a lovely experience, and the home owners were very warm and welcoming, telling us of their plans for new decorations next year.  We walked back to the school with the rain gently falling, ready for a last cuppa before bedtime.