Success is getting what you want; happiness is liking what you get

Thursday, 21 November 2019

Lake Ohakuri, ICA Christmas Rally

Traveling from Taupo along SH1, we turned off the highway, eventually arriving at a gravel road full of pot holes which took us to the lake.  Slow driving, watching where the holes were, but very scenic amongst the bush and trees.  Our site is a privately owned area on Lake Ohakuri, and the ICA group were fortunate indeed to have this site offered for part of the Christmas Rally.

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First view of Lake Ohakuri

As we were first timers, we were warmly welcomed by rally organisors, Cathie and Martin, and helped to find a site.  We were a bit like the “lonely petunia in the onion patch”, having the only caravan amongst 20 or so motorhomes.

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On site at the lake

We were formally introduced to the group at afternoon tea time, presented with our name badges, and the members were so nice and friendly.   Several members came and introduced themselves and declared, “you will really enjoy this group”, so that certainly was a great start.   The International Caravanning Association has recently celebrated 50 years in UK, so booklets, badges and stickers were handed out to all attendees. 

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Celebrating 50 years

As part of the 50th celebrations the BBQs were fired up and a team was busy cooking steak and sausages.  Birthday cakes, bread rolls and wine were also supplied, and it was a great feast.

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50th Birthday feast

Just look at this glorious view from the bedroom window the next morning, it really can’t get much better than this, can it?  There is good fishing here, we saw one of the members coming back from the lake side with a large trout.  It was going to be wrapped in bacon and cooked on his Weber BBQ for lunch, we were told, sounds delicious.  After breakfast we had several cat lovers call to come and visit Gemma. One couple had previously owned Birman cats so they were particularly keen to see Gemma.

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View from our bedroom window

After morning tea there was a fair bit of organisation needed to get everyone in the right place for a group photo.  When everyone was arranged just so, the photographer set the timer on his camera, and ran around to join in on the end of the row.  I wanted some more photos too, so climbed up the small hill behind the vans and got a great overview. 

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Such a gorgeous place

1 comment:

Janice said...

It sounds like you were made very welcome. Another great group to get you out and about. What a beautiful camping site.