Rally at Carterton

You can’t say we weren’t warned!  The local campers told us that the overnight temperatures for Friday night would drop to minus 1 degrees – and it did!  Brr, it was certainly cold!  But a cold chilly night is generally followed by a nice sunny day.

There were 16 caravans in residence over the weekend for the Combined Rally at Carterton School, with Wairarapa being the host club.  Our orange club flag soon joined their green one, and they fluttered together in the breeze.

Camping at Carterton School

There was a strange cloud in the sky on Saturday night, so we just had to get a photo.  Long and thin, with a seemingly red line running  through the middle.  Wonder what that is all about?

Strange looking cloud in the sky

We all ate together in the hall on Saturday night, cooking and eating our own main courses.  This was followed by a shared dessert, with everyone bringing their contributions.  As always, there was a great selection on the table.

Plenty of choices here

After the tables were cleared and the dishes done, we played several games of “Card Bingo”,  with Harry doing a great  job as Caller.  Sadly, neither Robin or I had a win, so didn’t get rich with our gambling.  But never mind, it was quite a fun game with our “Eyes down and Looking”.

My cards for Card Bingo

Visitors called in on Sunday morning, well known to most of us.  It was Diane and Pete, who previously  ran the Carterton Holiday Park for 8 years or so.  They keep up with our adventures through our blog, they told us.

Pete, Robin with Gemma, and Diane

We packed up and headed for home about 11.30am on Sunday.  With two hours drive ahead of us, we wanted to get on our way.  On our return trip we traveled north, up and over the Pahiatua Track, passing by the Big Kiwi at Eketahuna.

Big Kiwi at Eketahuna

You know what it’s like when you get home from a weekend rally.  The caravan gets unpacked, the fridge cleaned and emptied, the bag of laundry taken inside, and the floors vacuumed.  Once all that was done, we sat down for a late lunch.  It had been a great weekend away, crisp sunny Autumn weather, and great company.

Over the Hill to Carterton

There is no shortcut to drive from our hometown of Levin to the Wairarapa.  We have two options – drive north and over the Pahiatua Track, or south, over the Rimutaka Hill, both reasonably long drives.   For our caravan club weekend away,  we chose the southern option, a trip of 150kms to our destination.  Driving through Pauatahanui we drove under the massive bridge, part of the Transmission Gully roadworks.  The Transmission Gully road is due to be completed in 2020.

Pauatahanui round-about

For a while we followed this car with it’s special number plate.  Such a well mannered car and driver, it seems, pardoning itself as it passes by!

Once through Upper Hutt, it was up and over the Rimutaka Hill.  There was a flurry of rain, and the temperature kept dropping lower and lower, reaching 6 degrees at the summit.  The temps slowly went up to 10 degrees as we arrived in Featherston, where we stopped to buy a hot pie for lunch.

It had been a while since we had been to Featherston and I noticed a new art installation.  The $600,000 Paul Dibble sculpture, designed to remember New Zealand's largest ever military camp, was dedicated late last year and is now on display in the town's centre.  Paul Dibble said the concept represents the soldiers' marching from the camp through Featherston and up and over the Rimutaka Ranges  through the Hutt Valley and into Wellington.  Here they boarded the troop ships which took them off to war.  This is a wonderfully evocative sculpture, showing all those young men proudly marching off to answer the call, with so many of them not returning.

Paul Dibble sculpture in Featherston

With our weekend rally being held in a school, caravans were not to arrive till 3.30pm or so, to give the pupils and parents time to clear the grounds.  There was time to spare, so we met up with Bill and Val in a lay- by off the road for a chat and a cuppa, before heading off to Carterton School.  Once we were on site, vans started arriving thick and fast.  This weekend is a Combined Rally organised by Wairarapa Club, with attendees also from Heretaunga, Wellington and Wainuiomata clubs.  It should be a great weekend.

All ready for the weekend festivities

Mother’s Day Sunday

It’s rather sobering to know that we are now the older generation, both my parents and Robin’s have been gone for some time.  We started our Sunday morning with our usual bacon and egg breakfast, Robin’s specialty.  I like tomatoes with mine, and Robin gets two eggs.

Sunday breakfast

Then I opened my Mother's Day gift from daughter Nicky.  Wonder what it is?  Oh look, chocolate!  Lindt chocolate with fruit centres, doesn’t it look yummy.  Guess I’ll be sharing these with you know who.

Lindt chocolate for Mother’s Day

And Gemma wants to say hello.  As she is getting older (she is all of one year old now) she is starting to do things differently.  Such as lying in the front of her play tunnel, to watch the world go by.  Not so long ago, the tunnel was just the thing to run through very fast, in one end and out the other at high speed, jumping  out at us as we walked into the kitchen.

Hello from Gemma

The caravan got a good wash yesterday, all ready for our trip away next weekend.  We will be traveling over to the Wairarapa, sadly can’t go a day or two early this time as existing appointments take priority. 

Wishing all a Happy Mother’s Day, have a great day.

Watch out for cats on beds!

It’s been a busy old week, things to do and places to go, there is always plenty happening here.  We visited the Health Centre for our flu jabs, no problem there.  But then the nurse noticed that Robin had a wound on his arm and wanted to know about it.  He related the tale of how it came about.  We were on our last day of the recent caravan trip and he was reaching under the lift up caravan bed to put something away underneath.  Gemma was on the bed and moved down towards him to see what was happening.  Her weight was enough to put pressure on the gas struts and the bed fell down trapping Robin’s arms underneath.  Luckily I leapt into action and freed him, but he had a big gouge taken out of his arm.  The upshot of all this was that he needed a tetanus injection too, just in case.  And as there was no record of me having one, I got one as well.  Caravanning can be dangerous!

Then on Saturday we drove down to Southward Car Museum.  Started by Len Southward, it houses a collection of over 400 vehicles, as well as three aircraft, and is located on Otaihanga Road, just north of Paraparaumu.  But we weren’t there to look at the cars, but for me to attend a quilt show.  After Robin ticked a few must do items off his shopping list, he joined me and my friend Shirley in the upstairs café for lunch.  There was a good view looking down into the museum at all the gleaming cars.

Never mind, we had been there before, some time ago now.  We checked the prices on the way out, and yes, they do give a senior discount, so we may well go again sometime in the future.  How about this Porsche in the foyer?  Don’t red cars go faster?

Shiny red Porsche