Christmas Outing with SLG Friends

Our last SLG outing for the year was held on Tuesday – where has the year gone to, we wondered?  Calvin arranged our outing, and we met first at his and Helen’s lovely home for a festive morning tea.  And a look around their lovely garden, our hosts are great gardeners and it really shows.

Inside the house Helen had her Christmas decorations on display, lovingly collected over the years.  Plenty of Santa's, of course,  and we were intrigued by the Christmas trains.  With a flick of a switch, the sound effects started, they could even blow smoke from the chimneys, we were told.

Santa’s trains and car

Now in a positively festive mood, we continued on our way to the Upper Hutt Cossie Club for Christmas Lunch, where Calvin had reserved a table for our group.

Not only a very reasonably priced lunch, but we were also entertained while we ate.  All sorts of music, some Christmas songs of course, with others encompassing a good variety of well known tunes from over the years.

Lunchtime entertainment at the Cossie Club

Our meals were hot ham served with plenty of veggies, followed by pavlova and fruit salad, all for the grand sum of $18, with free entertainment.  You certainly can’t beat that price.  Any drinks, of course, were extra.

Our group always has plenty to talk about.  We discussed our respective Christmas plans, reminisced about outings we had been on, members who were no longer with us, wished each other well, and when mid afternoon rolled around, made our way home. 

We have the longest distance of our group to travel home, and there were plenty of road works around.  The massive job of building the road through Transmission Gully is making a good start.   The 27 kilometre four-lane motorway will run from MacKay's Crossing in Paekakariki to Linden, through Transmission Gully. Four interchanges and two new link roads will connect the route to MacKay's, SH58, eastern Porirua and Kenepuru. The Transmission Gully motorway is scheduled to be open for traffic in 2020.

Work on Transmission Gully, Paekakariki end

Work continues on the walkway around the Pauatahanui Inlet, and is being constructed in stages, it appears. 

Working on the Pauatahanui Inlet Walkway

There is another major job under way,  from Peka Peka to Otaki.  There is plenty happening just north of  Otaki, including moving part of the railway line.  We always watch with interest as we pass to and fro to see how things are progressing on this ongoing project.

Work at Otaki

Roadworks not withstanding, we made it safely back home.  What to have for dinner, was the next question?  Just something light,  we decided, we were still full from our pre-Christmas Lunch.