Foxton Beach Drop In Rally and Museum Visit

The Drop In Rally at Foxton School is organized by the Manawhenua NZMCA between Christmas and New Year and is always popular.

This is a ‘laid back” type of rally and people are free to come and go as they please.  Some stay just a few days, while others stay right through.   Bill and Val parked beside us, our awnings are together to give us a good bit of shade and shelter.  It’s interesting to note that at this rally the number of campervans far exceed the caravans.

At the Drop In Rally

Did you know there is a working Dutch windmill in Foxton?

And right next door is the Te Awahou Museum, which was showing an exhibition about Anne Frank.  We had planned to come and see it sometime, so this was the ideal opportunity, while we were staying in Foxton.

We all probably know the story of Anne Frank and her family, hiding from the Nazis in an attic  for a couple of years, and she recorded her day to day life in a diary.  What we didn’t realize was that this happened in occupied Holland, and not in Germany, as we had presumed.

The storyboards told how this all unfolded, how the Jewish family and a few friends went into hiding, and the workmates who kept them supplied with provisions.  Anne received a diary on her 13th birthday, and she wrote in this and various notebooks brought in by the helpers.  When Anne hears on the radio that diaries will be collected after the war, she decides to rewrite her diary in the hope it will be published.

Sadly, they were betrayed, and sent away to different camps in Germany.  Anne and her sister were sent to Bergen-Belsen and die of typhoid fever, and their mother Edith dies of deprivation and illness in Auschwitz.  Father Otto Frank is the only survivor of this little family, and was released when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by Russian soldiers.  The diary and notebooks were kept safe by a friend and eventually returned to Otto Frank after the war ended.  This was a very moving exhibition.

After a coffee at the museum cafe to revive us, we drove down to the beach to check out the conditions.  The sky was grey and the sea was rough, but the Life Guards were on duty in case anyone ventured out.

Life Guards on duty

One little gull clinging on top of the pole in the wind

We will be here at Foxton for several more days, welcoming in the New Year.  That should be fun.  And then moving on to pastures new.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas to all our friends, fellow bloggers and readers alike.  We do hope your Christmas Day was very special to you, sharing time with family, friends, and doing what you like best.  Our day was spent quietly at home, and it wouldn’t be Christmas without a Christmas BBQ, would it.  You may be almost able to smell this leg of lamb cooking away through the picture – take our word for it, the smell was divine!

Christmas Lunch

The Weber BBQ does such a wonderful job of cooking roasts, with the probe thermometer taking all the guesswork out of cooking time.  With freshly podded peas, roast veggies and gravy, it certainly was an excellent meal.  Followed by homemade cheesecake and fresh summer raspberries, we certainly didn’t go hungry! 

“Pop” went the top off the bottle of bubbly, and we raised our glasses to each other.  After all that food, it was time for a little R&R in the afternoon, with phone calls and snap chats to family members to wish them all well.

A toast to your very good health

A big thank you to everyone who shares our adventures as we travel around, we appreciate you all.  And we have been lucky enough to meet up with some fellow bloggers and readers over the years, so that is always exciting.  Happy travels to those of you who will be on the road this summer season, and take care, there will be a lot of traffic on the roads.

Luck came knocking

It’s official!!  We went from “never winning a raffle” sort of people to “winning two raffles”.  How about that for Christmas luck.  Actually, we didn’t really win the first raffle, a beautifully decorated home made Christmas cake.  Robin’s brother Gary actually won it, and because no one in his household will be eating cake this Christmas, dropped it around to us.  We probably shouldn't be eating much cake either (is it on the Keto diet?).  But we reasoned that we could take it away in the caravan to share with our caravan club buddies for morning tea/supper on our three week trip away.

Its not fattening until you start cutting and eating it

Then we had a phone call to say we had won 4th prize in another raffle.  We bought tickets for this at the recent Menz Shed Christmas Dinner, it was raising funds for the Levin Club, where we were dining.  Another Menz Shedder won 1st prize, a wonderful gift basket full of all sorts of goodies,so the Menz Shed members did very well indeed to win two out of the six prizes. 

 

Wine and chocolates

With our recent run of good luck, maybe we should splash out on a Lotto ticket?

Plumbers in the House

With a small leak from the shower running down the skirting board, we had to get the plumbers in.  Not so easy as you might think, our chosen plumber was one man down on extended sick leave, so was understandably rather busy.  And it didn’t help that we kept going away for various short trips.  After several phone calls, the stars aligned, and we chose a week which suited both parties.

To see just how much damage the leak had caused, the shower liner walls had to be removed from the plaster board lining.  The plaster board was also removed, to check for water damage inside the wall cavity.  Surprisingly, everything was clean and dry.  What they did discover was that the silicone sealer at the bottom of the shower did not extend all the way along, hence the water was running out of the shower and along the skirting board.  The old plaster board was removed and replaced.

The new plaster board was put in place, and the plumbers went away while the plaster dried.  The next day came the task of sanding it down and fixing the shower skin to the new wall with copious amounts of adhesive, then that was left to adhere.

 

On day three the shower  return and door were fitted, together with a rather posh new shower caddy.  Our old plastic one had cracked and that type was no longer manufactured  so we purchased a chrome and glass one, which the workmen kindly fitted for us.

All back in place

This whole operation took three days, and we were were fortunate that we could use the shower in the caravan while ours was out of action. We were going caravanning in the weekend so that gave the shower box a couple of extra days for the adhesive to set.   Luckily the leak had not caused any damage to the internal wall, so we were very pleased about that. 

Christmas Rally at Shannon

The caravan club held the last rally of the year, our Christmas Rally, at Shannon School.  Not too far away, about an 18km trip from home.  As the school year had not quite finished, we had to wait till 4.00ish till all the children and parents had cleared the school.  We chose to drive up mid afternoon, found a shady spot several streets away, parked up, chatted amongst ourselves,  and waited till the time was right.  The rest of the gang soon ambled in, and we parked up on the hard.

Some of our vans at the school

We ate together on Friday night, providing our own main course, and the committee had bought strawberries and ice-cream for dessert.  The entertainment was a film evening and we sat in the library building and watched as the story unfolded.  Barry had brought up his Christmas Tree for a bit of festive ambiance, it twinkled nicely in the background.

There was quite a bit of interest on Saturday morning when Owen’s friends arrived with their lovingly restored cars, a Mark 1 and Mark 2 Zephyr.

Two Zephyrs

There was even more excitement when we were offered a ride.  Kath and I decided we would really love to have a ride in the Police car, and settled down in the back seat.  Robin came too as the front seat passenger.

Oh dear, in trouble with the police!

Robin really wanted to ride in the Mark 1 as well, he had his own version of this car as a young man and was very proud of it.  Riding in these older cars certainly reminded us of the difference in driving before power steering became a standard feature in cars.

Bring back memories

We pooled cars and drove to a local restaurant, Murrayfield, for dinner on Saturday evening.  With three choices for each course, there was something to appeal to everyone.  I chose salt and pepper squid, battered fish, and peach sponge pudding, all very nice.

Dinner at Murrayfield

While we were happily chatting away and enjoying our meal, a police chase was underway in the area, we found out later.  A helicopter and armed police were called in to help as two cars were pursued during a police chase.  The pursuit started about 4.30pm at Foxton Beach and ended in Shannon, where two people were taken into custody about 7pm.  A helicopter was used to find the offenders and police were armed as a precaution, the spokeswoman said.

More food for Sunday’s morning tea, with Christmas Mince Pies, and Val provided some yummy rum balls.  There was even some left over strawberries and ice-cream that needed to be finished up.  We seemed to have been eating all weekend! 

Festive morning tea

Then it was time to say our goodbyes and head for home.  Some of us will be meeting up after Christmas at the week long Drop In Rally at Foxton School.  Sounds good to us.

Udys on Anders

That’s an interesting name for a CAP (Charges Apply Parking) and we stayed there over the weekend. There was one permanent van  parked in the corner, and we had the rest of the area to ourselves.  Robin had a couple of back to back meetings to attend, so spending some R&R time in the caravan negated the need for those long drives to and fro over the weekend.  How about this for a lovely peaceful setting, and being on the outskirts of Palmy, not too far to drive to those meetings.

Plenty of room for us

We left the van and Gemma behind on Friday afternoon and drove to town to collect a few groceries, and on the way back to camp had a a minor accident while waiting for the lights to change.  No, it wasn’t our fault, thank goodness, the car behind us failed to stop and ran into our tow ball.  So you can imagine who came off worse.  The young man was most apologetic, but worried about how he could afford to get his car fixed – no insurance, it seems.  Our tow ball didn’t suffer any damage.

Robin left for his in the early evening “dinner meeting”  while I stayed behind with Gemma.  She enjoyed a walk across the paddock, excitedly flushing out a few bugs and moths, which were duly pounced on, and having a good look around.  All at the end of her long lead, to keep her safely tethered.  We had seen a large Rag Doll cat patrolling the hedge  line earlier  in the day, so didn’t want any trouble with the neighbouring live stock.

The meeting continued on to Saturday morning.  There was plenty of birdlife pecking about for insects to keep Gemma amused.  She would dearly love to become “a great white hunter” and quivers with excitement when she spots birds outside.  Sorry Gemma, in your case it is look, but don’t touch.  However, when the bunny came calling she was curled up asleep.  They may look cute and fluffy, but rabbits are considered vermin in New Zealand.  They were introduced around the 1830s and have since competed with livestock for the best grasses and pasture. With no natural predators, they have been causing great damage to farmland, so have been hunted and poisoned to try and keep their numbers down.  

Where there is one, there is sure to be more

The rabbit and the resident chooks soon disappeared when the property owner got his blue tractor out and started the long task of cutting the grass.  That certainly kept him busy for quite some time.

Lawn mowing duties

We awoke to incessant rain on Sunday morning, thunder and lightning, and extreme weather warnings.   On the news we heard that the South Island was faring much worse, roads flooded, bridges washed away, towns cut off, and hundreds of tourists stranded.  Just as well we weren't on a South Island caravan holiday.  

It’s a rough old day out ther

Before traveling home we called around to see Yvonne, Gemma’s breeder,  and show her how Gemma was now she is grown up.  Yvonne told us Gemma had developed beautifully, and said she was a lovely Birman indeed, and true to type.  Then we were taken out to the cattery to see the newest arrivals.  This cute little baby seal point boy is a half brother to our Gemma, (same father, different mother) and will have a great life when he grows up, as Yvonne will be keeping him to use for stud.

Beautiful baby Birman

It was a nice “close to home “ weekend away, and worked out well with Robin attending his two meetings in Palmerston North.  And the bonus was that we took Gemma around to meet up with Yvonne, her breeder, her first visit back now she is an adult cat.

Double Celebration

We enjoyed a SLG with a difference on Thursday, a double celebration.  Our December outing was both for a pre-Christmas meal with our Super Leisure friends, as well as sharing in a very important celebration, Calvin’s 80th Birthday.   We met at Calvin and Helen’s home for morning tea and a catch-up – always plenty of talk happening with this group.  This couple have a wonderful garden, and I stopped to admire some of their gorgeous roses.

Gorgeous roses in the garden

Lunch was at the rather glamorous Aston Norwood, formerly known as Kaitoke Country Gardens.  (In fact, we remember celebrating Robins 50th birthday at this venue with our SLG friends – goodness, how long ago was that?)

Aston Norwood, Upper Hutt

What to have for lunch?  Plenty of choices on the menu and we eventually all made up our minds.  The food arrived, several decided on a glass of wine as well, and we settled down to eat.  The friendly waitress kindly took our photos.  I’m always pleasantly surprised how willing the restaurant/café staff are to do this task when asked.

Lunch at Aston Norwood

Then it was back to our hosts home for coffee and birthday cake.  It was delicious, wonderfully chocolatey and beautifully decorated.

Happy 80th Birthday, Calvin

Then it was time for the long drive back home – it’s so busy in the pre-Christmas rush, and we had an evening function to attend when we got home.  Work is coming along well on this portion of the Transmission Gully motorway at Pauatahanui.  The Transmission Gully Motorway is a 27 km four-lane motorway under construction in Wellington.  Construction officially began on 8 September 2014 and completion is scheduled for 2020. 

Transmission Gully motorway at Pauatahanui

Our drive home up the Kapiti Coast was quicker than when we came down in the morning, no holdups and the traffic flowed nicely.  Kapiti Island was hidden on our drive down, and rather hazy on the return trip.

Kapiti Island

Arriving home there was plenty of time to feed the cat, sit for a while to get our breath back, and freshen up before our next social occasion.  It’s certainly busy this time of year.

Probus Christmas Meeting

It’s that time of year for the final meetings of the various groups we are involved in.  Yesterday it was the Christmas meeting at our Probus Club.  The raffle was drawn, and despite there being 10 extra prizes this month, we couldn’t manage a win at all.  Birthdays are celebrated each month, and two of our friends were called up to celebrate their special day.

The birthday bunch, friends Graham and Dot 4th and 5th from the left

Robin was the “club speaker” this month, and gave a short talk on his working life.  He worked for 30 or so years in New Zealand Post Headquarters doing supply and tenders, before being made redundant.  Five years in New Zealand Fire Service, and purchasing the new style fire fighter uniforms for the whole country was a very important part of his job.   Made redundant again, he then went on to drive City Line buses and then moved on to become a truck driver for Toops where he gleefully announced he was a “drug peddler”, selling cigarettes to small businesses.  It was a mixture of facts and funny stories.

 

Robin, telling stories about his working life

We were then entertained by an angel, or so it seemed, playing beautiful tunes on her harp.  This girl took up harp playing after suffering a brain injury and losing some of her short term memory, and despite being unable to read music.  The harp is a wonderful soothing instrument, and the members were in awe of her skill, and her story.  She takes her music to hospitals, rest homes and the Hospice, to bring comfort to those who are not well.

The beautiful harpist

At the end of the meeting the members drove to a local restaurant for a Christmas celebration lunch.   We pulled our Christmas Crackers, donned our silly hats, and read out the corny jokes.  The meal was lovely, hot ham, lamb and roast veggies, followed by my favourite, Christmas Pudding, custard and cream, all very tasty indeed.  The rain poured down while we were enjoying our lunch, and never stopped.  The downpour was so heavy that we had to wait for a break in the weather before running outside to the cars when it was time to go back home.  Someone tell the weather gods it is meant to be summer time now. 

Probus Christmas Lunch

Tomorrow we have two outings – a birthday/Christmas lunch out with one group of friends, then an evening dinner date with friends from our village.  It’s a busy time of year!

Time to Wander Home

It was time to say goodbye to our new friends at the ICA Rally and start heading home.  Passing by all sorts of road works on the way.  Being Sunday, these rollers were parked up on the road side while the workmen were no doubt having a well earned day off from their labours.

Not working on Sunday

We were taking two days to drive home, stopping the first night at Taupo Airport, always a handy spot to stay.  This NZCA Camp is always busy.

Overnighting at Taupo Airport

It was a lovely clear day, with little wind, so the parachutists were out in force.  Sitting outside under the shady awning, we heard the small plane take off innumerable times from the adjacent airport, and then the paying customers jumped out overhead.  Some strapped in tandem with an instructor, while the more experienced jumped solo. 

We are not trying this!

Is it Beer O’clock time yet?

There was a knock on the door in the early evening, and whose this come calling?  It was Robin’s former colleague from their time together in New Zealand Post Headquarters, Fred, and his lovely wife Avis.  They had seen our names in the sign in book and tracked us down.  We had a lovely evening together, reminiscing about old times, holidays taken and future plans, as you do.

It was another gorgeous day for the last leg of our trip home.  And here is Mt Ruapehu looking wonderful as we drove along the Desert Road.

Mt Ruapehu

Hard to spot, but we noticed an army vehicle blending into the tussock as we neared Waiouru Army Camp.  The  rugged terrain and challenging climate makes it an exceptional area for open country training and live firing.  There are signs along the way waning the public to keep to the road and not trespass into this area due to military exercises.

Army truck

AS we were making good time, we decided to head on to Hunterville, parking the van at Queen’s Park for our lunch stop.  The township was named for George Hunter, who was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council, and is located half way between Taupo and Wellington.  This small town honours the Huntaway sheep dog, a dog which barks as it gathers and moves sheep, invaluable when farming in hilly country.

At Hunterville

The last leg of our journey went quickly, and soon we were home, unpacking the van in the scorching weather.  It was good to finally sit down when the job was done.  We had a great time away – now, when’s the next trip?