Vinegar Hill and Ashhurst

It was another longish day towing today, we traveled 262km from the Equestrian Centre to our next stop for the night at Ashhurst Domain.  Down the side of Lake Taupo, through Turangi where we stopped on our trip northwards, along the Desert Road and Waiouru.   No chance of a photo of Mt Ruapehu this time, the mountain was covered in low clouds.  Shall we pull in behind the Army Museum for a lunch break, we wondered?  No, as we were a little later getting on the road than planned, we decided to carry on to Taihape.  Half an hour later, fed, watered and rested, we were on our way again.

Turning off SH1 we took the road over Vinegar Hill.  Vinegar Hill was named after an incident in early colonial times: a bullock cart carrying barrels of vinegar overturned after the bullocks slipped on the muddy track on the hillside, covering the hillside in vinegar from the broken barrels. Putai Ngahere Reserve is a very popular summer camping area at the bottom of the hill, situated on the banks of the Rangitikei River.

Rangitikei River

Before too long we arrived at our destination.  Ashhurst Domain has sports grounds, play areas, a pretty little camping area set amongst plenty of mature trees, and is extremely popular with families over the Christmas/New Year holiday season.  Some families return here year after year we have been told.  But plenty of room at this time of year, with only a few camping in winter.

Pretty spot for the night

And just across the way through the trees is a peaceful cemetery

We decided on a “no cooking” evening meal and took ourselves off to the local Ashhurst Inn.  Being a Wednesday, we reasoned, it wont be too busy, will it?  What we didn’t realise until we arrived that Wednesday night is “Kids eat Free” and most of the tables were booked for family groups taking advantage of this offer.  But the staff managed to find us a table and we perused the menu.  It was steak for him and bacon wrapped scallops for her, both delicious meals indeed. 

No cooking or dishes tonight

Tomorrow we are on the road again, moving on to Masterton for the weekend.