The Weekend that Was

We were suffering Caravan Club withdrawal symptoms with no rallies on the horizon and spent the weekend at home.  However, we seemed to fill the weekend up with good food, so we didn’t go hungry.  On Saturday Robin fired up the Weber BBQ and we cooked a tasty leg of lamb with roast veggies, so nice.  And the smell…..out of this world!  Even better, we purchased the lamb on special!

Roast lamb on the BBQ, so tasty

Sunday mornings usually start with bacon and eggs for breakfast, our Sunday morning tradition.   Once again, the food didn’t disappoint.  It’s always a lovely leisurely start to the day.

Sunday morning breakfast

I spent the afternoon making a few masks, as they seem to be required more and more.  A nice manly one – black with silver ferns for Robin, didn’t think he would appreciate pretty flowers, like my one.

All masked up

So that’s what we have been up to.  The country is still in Level 2, so we can go out and about as long as we take precautions.  Such as sign in to shops, or scan the QR codes, practice social distancing, hand hygiene, and now masks must be worn on public transport, which seems a very sensible idea.  This is our “new normal” these days. 

Trip to Johnsonville

It’s been a long time since we have last been to Johnsonville, near Wellington – we were going there to meet up with our SLG friends for lunch.  The weather wasn't at all nice, we could hardly see the hills through the rain.  Just as well we packed our raincoats in the car, just in case we needed them at our destination. 

Not a nice morning at all

But the weather cleared as we drove down the Kapiti Coast.  By the time we reached Paramata, for a short stop, it had turned into a lovely day.  The boat sheds on the edge of Pauatahanui Esplanade made rather a pretty picture.

We made it to Johnsonville with time to spare.  These days you never know if the never ending road works will delay the journey.  Johnsonville is  seven kilometres north of the Wellington city centre, at the top of the Ngauranga Gorge, on the main route to Porirua.  Johnsonville was originally the site of a Maori track from Wellington to Porirua and the area was covered in dense native forest.  In 1841 settler Frank Johnson had purchased a certificate of selection for 100 acres and called his land  'Johnson's clearing', He built a house by the Johnsonville stream and a timber mill, quickly denuded the entire Johnsonville area of virgin native forest, with timber sold to help build the nearby town of Wellington. In the 1960s, the first shopping mall in the Wellington region was built in Johnsonville.  These days Johnsonville is a busy residential and shopping town, close to the CBD.

The café was full to bursting so it was just as well Trish had booked a table for us.  I have never seen so many young Mums and babies all in one place, guess it was their regular coffee morning to come out for a mother and baby outing.  The food was delicious, but there was too much chatting going on for me to remember to take a photo or two.  Never mind, it was great to catch up with everyone again, and enjoy out leisurely lunch together.

After saying our goodbyes it was time to head home, and we decided to drive along the “old” main road rather than go on the motorway.  Narrow and windy, it was a pretty drive along the bush clad hills.  Eventually we reached Tawa, another suburban town not too far from the big city of Wellington.

Taking the slow road

Then it was back on the motorway heading north, and up the Kapiti Coast.  Oh look, there’s Kapiti Island, nice and clear, free of the rain and mist which kept it from view on our trip down in the morning.

Kapiti Island

Takapau, Napier and Home Again

Our time in Takapau was rather like being in a holding pattern.  We waited to hear whether the family 21st Birthday Lunch would go ahead on Saturday, dependent on an announcement from the Prime Minister on Friday evening.  Not that she was the least concerned about our social life of course, but with cases of Covid rampaging through Auckland, she was making the decision whether the bulk of New Zealand would go from Level 2 to Level 3, as Auckland was.

Sitting tight in Takapau

While we were waiting, we did some more sightseeing around the area. The sleepy little town of Takapua is a bit like a ghost town these days, but must have been rather prosperous in it’s time.  In fact, the caravan park where we are staying used to be quite a busy sock manufacturing business some years ago.  The local hotel is now closed, but is still rather a handsome building.  It doesn’t look derelict, so I do hope someone is living in it, and taking care of this building.

The old Takapau Hotel

We went for a drive on a chilly, drizzly morning and called into the sleepy little village of Ormondville.  For those train lovers amongst you, Ormondville Station is “a modified Vogel Class 5 station building, the only surviving Class 5 station left on the operating system”.  The station, built in 1880, has a Category Two listing with the New Zealand Historical Places Trust.  There are old vintage wagons dotted about.  The station building is also available for self-catering homestay accommodation, “offering a complete railway nostalgia experience in a rural setting”.

Ormondville Station

And how about this “crossing sign” found in Norsewood?

Next stop was Norsewood, one of several southern towns hacked from the bush that covered most of southern Hawke’s Bay. This was burned and felled by Scandinavian immigrants who were brought to New Zealand in 1872 to clear and farm the land.  We called onto New Zealand Natural Clothing, formerly Norsewear Factory Shop, famous for a wide range of woolen clothing.   It was lovely and warm inside, with the wood burner giving out plenty of heat.  Lots of knitwear to check out, but interestingly enough, Robin was the one who came out with parcels, not me! 

The official announcement was delivered on Friday evening, our part of the country was staying in Level 2, so we were free to travel to Napier and join in with the family celebrations on Saturday.  Leaving Gemma in charge of the caravan at Takapau, we drove up to Napier to meet up for the family lunch.  I remember when Kate was a little girl, how did she get to be 21 so fast?  It was so nice to meet up again, and share in this special day.  Sadly Kate’s grandparents (my sister and BIL Kathleen and Dennis) could not attend the birthday lunch.  As they reside in a Rest Home and because of the Covid cases at the moment, all Rest Homes have gone into Lockdown, with no one except staff and essential provisions allowed to enter, or the residents permitted to leave.  It was sad they couldn’t be with us, but so much better to be safe than sorry.

Kate’s 21st Birthday Lunch

Lunch over, we said our goodbyes and drove to Hastings to the lucky Lotto Shop, which has sold more than it’s share of winning tickets.  With a huge jackpot of $50 million which had to go on Saturday night, we couldn't pass up the chance.  But really, what would we do with all that money?  As it turned out, there were 10 winning tickets which spread the money around, but we weren't one of the major ticket holders.  Perhaps we have won a smaller prize instead, we will have to get the ticket checked.

The Lucky Lotto Shop

We packed up on Sunday morning, after doing the chores, fresh water in, grey and black water out.  Mind you, that’s Robin’s job, I had inside things to do.  We decided to stop at Mangatainoka Reserve for our lunch break.

Mangatainoka Reserve

Oops, we found out that I had forgotten to turn the water pump off while we traveled, and somehow, not sure how, water from the tap had sprayed all over the place.  I’ll have to do better, next time.  Just across the road we could see the tower of the nationally famous Tui Brewery, Robin’s beer of choice.

That’s the world famous Tui Brewery over the road

It was mid afternoon when we arrived home, unpacked the van, cleaned the fridge and bathroom, and put a load of washing in the machine.  That’s it till we go away on the next trip.  We were lucky with the weather while we were away, it was mostly clear and fine, but rather chilly overnight, with several good frosts.  Just as well we have our diesel heater to keep us warm.

Staying at Takapau

Leaving home on Wednesday we made our way up and over the Saddle Road.  We drove past the massive Te Apiti Wind Farm which is situated within 1,150 hectares of farmland owned by several landowners, including Meridian Energy.  The wind resource near the Manawatu Gorge is exceptional, as the Manawatu Gorge acts as a wind funnel, creating consistently high wind speeds.  Then it was down the other side, where we drove through Woodville to the Central Hawkes Bay.

Driving over the Saddle Road

Our stop for the night was the Takapau Caravan Park.  We were last here in March while we were taking part in the ICA Safari.  The Caretaker remembered us from our previous stay, he said.

As the only guests in residence, we had the pick of where to park.  This is a very reasonably priced camp, only $15 a night for a powered site.  The camp is surrounded by large mature trees, and the birdsong is delightful to hear.

Just the caretaker’s van and us

The next morning we did a bit of a tiki tour to check out the local sights.  We had a little while to wait  in a queue while the tree fellers were busy with their chainsaws as they toppled a large tree on the road side.  While waiting for it to topple over into the adjacent paddock, I had time to snap picture of this tree beside the car.  A majestic tree indeed, with  bare branches framed against the bright blue winter sky.

Such a lovely tree

And no wonder the temperatures are a little cool here.  The last remaining vestiges of snow were clinging to the tops of the Ruahine Ranges.

The Ruahine Ranges

I wanted to have another look at Ongaonga, founded in 1872 by runholder H. H. Bridge. Like other runholders who founded towns, Bridge built a school and church and provided land for a recreation ground. Large pastoral runs in the district were subdivided into smaller farms between 1899 and 1905, which provided more business for the township and maintained its prosperity.  These days the small village draws admirers to view the wonderful historic buildings dotted along the main street. 

The Coles Brothers building is the jewel in the crown.  The category 1 listed building was built in 1878 and housed the Coles Brothers’ various businesses including carpentry, surveying, interior decorating and even coffin building and the local undertaker business.  Fund raising is taking place to help with the restoration of this wonderful old building. 

Cols Bros Building

The historic village comes alive on Sundays when the historic buildings are opened up to visitors, including the Old Jail.    There are plenty more interesting historic  buildings dotted around as well.

Historic Village buildings in Ongaonga

Our trip to Hawkes Bay was to attend a family 21st Birthday on Saturday, but things are a bit “up in the air” at the moment.   Unfortunately, after 100 plus days of nil cases of Covid 19, there have been a cluster  of cases detected in Auckland.  The Auckland area is now at Alert Level 3 in the meantime, many workplaces closing and only those returning to their homes can enter or leave this area.  The rest of the country is at Alert Level 2, and we are all waiting to see if we go up a level as well.  Further plans will be announced on Friday, then we will know  if the family party can go ahead, or will have to be cancelled.

So it is “will we, won’t we?” at the moment.  Just as well we have a nice pleasant place to stay here at Takapau – there is no point heading into the Napier NZMCA Park just yet, till we know for sure what will be happening.  We are thankful that the Health Department and the Prime Minister are acting decisively to nip this outbreak in the bud.

Out and About

There’s always things to do and places to go, isn’t there.  And we are lucky here in New Zealand that we can get out about, especially as many places around the world have gone into a second round of lockdown.  Hopefully with border security in place we can keep this virus out – or at least restrict it to incoming citizens who are placed in quarantine.

Spotted this sign on the back of of a Mainfreight truck the other day.  Guess there is a message in that statement!

How far can you go?

Planning ahead, I went to make a booking for a reasonably Big Birthday coming up, (more about that later) just as well I did get in early it seems with already a few bookings made on the date I wanted.  And look what I spotted in the car park, a trio of rather nice looking sports cars.  I’m sure the mechanically minded would know exactly what breed they are, but not me.  Talking to the owners, they are a group of enthusiasts called the “Topless Six”  who get together for an outing each month.  Seems they can just about manage to climb in and out of their low slung sportscars OK as they are getting older, and while they can, they will keep on enjoying their road trips together.

Three sporty sportscars

Gemma also had an outing recently.  It was time for her annual WOF and she was not a happy cat at all.  First she got manhandled  into her carry cage – oh no, she didn't want to go in there at all.  Then in the car and down to see the vet.

A visit to the vet

The vet gave her the once over, then the indignity of a thermometer you know where, a cat flu vaccination, and a worm tablet.  She didn’t like all this medical attention one little bit  Everything was fine, Gemma is a beautiful cat we were told, keep doing what you are doing with her, she is in excellent condition.  Once we returned home she took herself into time out for a while, and by evening was back to her normal self.

Caravan Capers

Although we have not been away in our caravan the last couple of weeks, we took a car trip back to Manawatu Caravan Club grounds on Saturday to catch up with our friends from the Wairarapa Caravan Club.  Just as well we could remember the code number so we could drive through the barrier arm.  Our arrival was planned for morning tea and we met in the hall.  Originally, I had plans to get up early in the morning and do some home baking to take up with us.  But that didn’t happen, sorry about that, Wairarapa friends.  They had the pleasure of our company instead of home baked goodies.

Wairarapa Caravan Club members

We caught up with all the news, and then were invited to check out Debbie's new motorhome.  She had recently downsized from a much larger one, and this little beauty suits her very well.

Debbie nd her new motorhome

“While you are here”, Robin was asked, “could you have a look at the water filling point?”  Debbie couldn't get it unlocked, and neither could any of the men from the club, so she had to resort with carrying extra water with her.  Believe it or not, Robin’s magic touch had it opened in a jiffy.  Seemed everyone was trying to turn the lock the wrong way!

Finally opened

On Sunday Robin attended our caravan club committee meeting to set the Rally Schedule for the new season.  Not quite finalised yet, but good progress was made.  Seems we will be returning to some old favourite camps, plus a couple of different places thrown into the mix.

And not to forget the help we received a week or so ago when Bill and Val came calling.  After lunch, Bill helped Robin replace the sliding mechanism on our Cvana awning.  The original plastic fittings which can break – ask Bill how he knows, have now been replaced with metal ones.  The first side went on easily, and the other needed a little more encouragement, it seemed.  Val and I were keeping well out of the way while all this drama was taking place.  Thanks so much for your help Bill.

 

Replacement fittings

The builder and the apprentice

So what’s next on our caravanning agenda?  A trip to Hastings in a couple of weeks for Kate’s 21st birthday celebrations.  Goodness me, I’m Kate’s Great Aunt, doesn’t that make me seem old!