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.