Pancakes for Breakfast

It seems to be a tradition to have a pancake breakfast one morning at the National Rallies.  As we joined the queue to collect our pancakes, the Easter Bunny came hopping along and presented us an Easter Egg each.

The Easter Bunny found us

The blokes from the Wairoa Caravan Club are old hands at pancake duty and took over this task to feed the masses.  The BBQs were fired up, bacon was sizzling, and a multitude of pancaked were flipped over on the hot plates.  Bananas and maple syrup completed our pancake breakfasts, and there was so much food that most of us went back for seconds.

Pancakes, bacon and banana for breakfast

The local Dog Agility Club brought their clever canines along to entertain us is the afternoon.  We all took our folding chairs up to the end of the playing field to sit in the sunshine and see what the dogs could do.  My goodness, those dogs are fast, and not easy to photograph as they are put through their paces.  Except for a trio of toy poodles, who daintily went up and over the jumps, through the tunnels and weaving poles – they did things very well but wouldn’t have won points on the time trials.  The border collies in particular put their heart and soul into the exhibition.

Look at those dogs go!

I wandered up to the other end of the park and got some snaps of the dogs who were waiting their turn.  They were all such well trained dogs.

More competitors

After the exhibition was over, the owners brought their dogs along for a meet and greet with the campers.  I got to cuddle one of those pretty little poodles.  Wonder what Gemma thought when I returned to the van smelling a bit doggy?

Holding one of the toy poodles

The rain came pouring down later in the afternoon and continued throughout the night and next morning.  But that didn’t dampen our spirits as we gathered in the hall on Sunday evening as we were entertained by a one man band.  The music was of our era and had many up and dancing the night away.  As we found out later, the entertainer was also the school caretaker.  This came in very happy during the evening when the hall alarm started ringing and no one knew how to turn it off!

Singing caretaker

The raffle numbers were drawn during the evening and we were delighted to win a gift basket filled with all sorts of goodies.

Our raffle prize

The National Rally was officially closed on Monday morning – yes it was still raining.  Some vans got away smartly while others, including us, will stay another night and join in the casual BBQ meal tonight.  Then we will depart on Tuesday morning.  The rally was most enjoyable, and it is always so nice to meet up with members from other clubs throughout the country who we only get to see at these sorts of get-togethers.

We were given a special memento to take home.  Street names were produced for each row of caravans on site, acknowledging the years which Past Presidents served on CCNZ.  Many of them have since passed away, so it is good to know that we are “Still Vanning”.