It was a great gathering of the Leisureline Owners Club. 48 of these caravans met at Eskdale School at Napier. What a great sight to look out from the school hall balcony and see all those caravans lined up.
As far as the eye can see
Leisureline is a family run business by the Bates family, and they came along to support our weekend, and join in the fun too. They also brought down a couple a new vans for us to see.
Colin, Liz and Merilyn
Arrivals on Friday from 4.00pm as it was a school day, and after settling in, meeting and greeting our neighbours and old friends, we met in the school hall at 6.00pm. “Open Home” visiting took place on Saturday morning, and most took the opportunity to check out the new vans brought down from the factory. Owners of near new vans were quite happy to welcome people to look through their pride and joy so there was a lot of visiting taking place. It’s amazing how many tips and new ideas you pick up from other owners and their vans. Then in the afternoon those who had booked went on a winery or brewery tour. We saw some of them stagger back to site carrying their acquisitions with them after a happy afternoon of sampling.
Dinner that evening was at the Bay View Hotel for a Pig on a Spit meal. The pork was delicious, and there was a great selection of vegetables too, plus dessert.
Dinner at Bay View Hotel
Then it was back to the school hall where we were enjoyed a musical evening, got to love these sing-along songs which we all know. Some of the happy campers did a turn or two around the dance floor.
Musical entertainment in the hall
It seems to be a given at these Leisureline Get togethers we share a bacon and egg breakfast on Sunday morning, cooked by the Leisureline family and the organizing committee. The kitchen was a hive of activity with bacon, eggs and hash browns cooking away, a huge pot of baked beans simmering away, plus mountains of toast. Hungry campers were queuing up, plates and cutlery in hand waiting for their breakfasts, and sat down happily to enjoy their generous plates of food.
Sunday morning breakfast
This was followed by Colin’s Q & A session. He told us he was about to step back from his company with his son and daughter stepping up to the helm. The company will be introducing a few new ideas, and he spoke about tyre pressures, fridges, and other items which often cause a little bother to van owner. Colin then took questions from the floor and the conversations flew around the hall.
Sunday morning and the school grounds started to empty out as people headed off home
.
Sunday morning
We had also intended to pack up and get on our way on Sunday, but changed our minds with the opportunity to dine out again. Colin and his family had previously had lunch at the Linden Estate Winery and was so impressed he talked the restaurant into opening up especially for our group on Sunday evening. And because we were a large group of 68, we got a generous discount off the meal price. The food was delightful, with choices of steak, lamb or salmon, plus dessert.
Dinner at Linden Estate Winery
Finally, on Monday, our Leisureline weekend had come to an end, and we said goodbye to our fellow campers. It’s great to know that some members have put up their hand to arrange the Leisureline Owners Club get together for next year, and it will be in Mokau. No dilly dallying around in the morning, we had to leave the school grounds reasonably early as the playing field we were camped on was about to get dug over. And here’s the digger which arrived to do the job.
Many thanks to the organizing committee for a wonderful weekend, and to Leisureline for supporting the Leisureline Owners Club. It was a great weekend, and so nice to catch up with people we had met before at previous Leisureline get togethers.
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