Back over the Hill again

After enjoying a weekend “over the hill” in the Wairarapa, we returned again on Tuesday.  This time we went to Featherston to meet up with our SLG friends.  For this trip we took the southern option, driving down through Kapiti, over the Haywards Hill,  through Upper Hutt and over the Rimutaka Hill.  And we reflected on how much easier traveling would be with the construction of a road tunnel going straight through from Levin to the Wairarapa – not that that is likely to happen.

It’s the early colonial days, the Rimutaka Hill Road was a mere bullock cart track, and took a couple of days to negotiate.  These days of course, the road is not too bad, and there seems to be ongoing improvements to knock out some of the corners.  And for the faint hearted, it pays not to look down at the steep drop over the side, and watch out for all those large trucks which hurtle towards you.

Lots of wiggly corners on this road

We arrived in Featherston and enjoyed a leisurely cuppa and a lot of chatter with our friends.  There is always plenty to talk about when we get together.  Les had arranged for us to go out to lunch at the Clareville Bakery.  That name sounded familiar – didn’t we pop in just a few days ago to buy some fresh  bread and pastries? There was a lovely display of flowers outside.  Pretty window boxes full of flowers and gorgeous yellow lilies in bloom.

Once inside we were shown to our table and pondered  the menu.  Mmm, all sorts of yummy choices on offer, something for everyone.  It was interesting to read the history of this lovely old building, which started out like as a Chapel and Sunday School.

As expected we all enjoyed our meals, with some (not us this time) going back for big squishy custard squares.   Clareville Bakery won the award for “Best Rural Café of the Year for 2017” – congratulations!!

We’re all looking rather well fed

Who would expect to see a yurt tucked behind the Nirvana gift shop in Greytown?  That’s certainly not something you see every day.  The circular yurt is lined with silk, with an attached amenities block and will be available as a B&B, we were told.  Just a shame that we couldn’t have a peep inside.

The Greytown Yurt

After another cuppa back at the home of Anne and Les, we said our goodbyes and headed for home.  The roadworks had finished for the day on the Rimutaka Hill, and the big machines had been taken down from their precarious position where they had been slicing away the corner, so there was no hold-up on our return journey.

Road works on Rimutaka Hill

We retraced our journey over Haywards Hill, to rejoin the streams of traffic on SH1 at Plimmerton,  all returning home after work.  And yes, I did manage to take another quick photo of  Kapiti Island as we drove along the coast.  Isn’t it lovely!

Kapiti Island

Another lovely day with our SLG friends.  We will be hosting the next one, in just a couple of week’s time, and it will be our pre-Christmas get-together.  So they will all have to journey up to our neck of the woods next time.