Hawera to Wanganui

A trip to Hawera without  visiting the Yarrow’s shop in Manaia is rather like going to Ohakune and not calling in at the Chocolate Éclair Shop!  Always a “must do”, and we took the short 14km drive to Manaia in the morning.  This shop is full of delightful goodies, and we stocked up with a few nice things, leaving the caravans back at camp.  Including some interesting frozen cookie dough – we’ll let you know how that cooks up.

Yarrows Bakery, Manaia

After morning tea back in camp, we finally got on our way.  No chance of a last minute view of the mountain – the incessant rain and low cloud put paid to that.  Driving down SH3 we passed herds of black and white Friesian dairy cows, which are the backbone of the economy in these parts.  And a never ending stream of milk tankers on the road busy carrying all this milk from the farms to the Fonterra factory.

Yet another Fonterra milk tanker

Driving through Patea, we passed the large sculpture of a whale skeleton.  This work was created by artist Kim Jarrett and was commissioned by the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust for its annual celebrations in 2006, the sculpture was later gifted to the South Taranaki District Council.

Whale bone statue at Patea

The Sat Nav took us into Wanganui by way of a windy rural road we had never traveled before, past farms and lifestyle blocks dotted with rather large country houses.  Out in the country we may have been but we were held up by several road gangs working on various stretches on the road.

Men at work

Then at the end of this little country road, we drove past a skeleton of a building – obviously a factory of some kind in a former life.  Certainly not much left of the building now – and we wondered what it used to be.  (Have since found out that this used to be a Fertilizer Plant.)

Derelict old building

Turning onto Somme Parade, we soon arrived at our destination, the Wanganui Top 10 Holiday Park, where we will be spending the next four nights with our caravan club friends.  The rain set in and the ground was sodden – we do hope this wet weather doesn’t stay all weekend. 

At Wanganui Holiday Park

It’s been quite some time since we stayed at this camp, and the young couple in charge have made many improvements, including updating the ablution blocks.  Hopefully when the weather clears we can have a good look around the camp.