Stay Over at Petone

After our Caravan Club weekend rally we drove down to stay at Petone for several days.  With a couple of appointments during the week at Wellington Hospital it seemed sensible to stay here, then we wouldn't have the long commute from Levin to Wellington and back.  There is plenty of caravan/motorhome parking behind the Petone Working Men’s Club and we were lucky to secure one of the four available power sites for our stay.  Now Autumn has arrived, the nights and morning are definitely much cooler so it is a real bonus to have power available,  and my elderly laptop’s battery needs daily power top ups.  Although we are well served with our diesel heater, it is nice to be able to run the dehumidifier in the cooler temperatures, it really makes such a difference and warms the van up very nicely.

The Petone Working Men’s Club and Literary Institute was formed in 1887, and has a long standing history in Petone. Starting life in leased premises, it wasn’t too long till the  Combers Property was purchased in 1896 and the club had built an impressive membership and had been granted a prestigious Queens Charter.  On the 6th of August 1977 the doors were opened at Udy Street, the current location of the club. After extensive additions including a new restaurant and games room the Petone Working Men’s Club and Literary Institute now boasts a membership of close to 10,000 and high quality facilities.

Like most sites, the vans and motor homes roll in mid to late afternoon,and into the evening, the spaces soon get filled up.  Petone is a good place for those travelling on the Interisland Ferry, it’s a reasonably short drive from here.  Just a basic shingle covered car park with rubbish bins available, but its all about “location, location”.  And there are toilet facilities in the club, as well as a bar and a busy restaurant.

Staying at Petone Club

Our time at Petone was rather social, which made things very pleasant.  Rae and Bruce from Foxton were also staying here, they had a family 21st here at the Club, so it was sensible to stay on site for a couple of nights. They  travel around with a Birman cat too, a large blue 10 year old boy who is very laid back indeed..  Robin and Bruce worked in the same company some years ago, and we have met them both at caravan get-togethers over the years.  The four of us enjoyed a meal in the club bistro on Sunday evening.

The alarm clock was set bright and early on Monday morning and we drove through peak hour traffic for my early morning hospital appointment.  Now that we are retired, I must admit that I found the busy traffic a bit of a trial.  But we arrived in good time, and were seen promptly.  There were lots of forms to fill out, I was weighed, height measured, blood tests done, had things explained, and I was good to go.

Early morning commute

Back by late morning, and we arranged to meet up with caravan club members Don and Pamela for lunch.  They kindly collected us in their car and we lunched at one of the cafes in Petone.  It was such a busy place, and I thought we would have to find somewhere else as there were no spare tables available.  But a young mum sitting at a large table kindly offered to move to a smaller one - no doubt she could see this bunch of oldies hovering around looking helpless, we really appreciated her thoughtfulness.   We had a lovely lunch together, and its always nice to catch up “one on one”, or should that be “two on two”. 

The following morning we had a trip to Burnsco in Seaview, this shop caters mainly for fisherfolk, but they have all sorts of interesting camping type things on offer.  We were after a new dinner set for the caravan, selling at half price so it must have been a bargain, we thought.  While Robin was dealing with the purchase and wandered outside – such a lovely peaceful view looking out over the marina.

Down at Seaview

Another social outing took place on Tuesday evening, when we were joined for dinner at the club restaurant by caravan club members Helen and Owen.  With a country and western night 0n, the place was heaving with people, all set to enjoy a meal at the restaurant before moving on to listen to the music.  Luckily we found a table for the four of us, pondered the menus and made our choices. As always, there was plenty to talk about, caravanning and future trips, and putting the world to rights.

The diagnostic procedure took place on Thursday on the spine to check out my back problem.  Very treatable, I was told, and hopefully I will return shortly for the problem to be rectified.  So it was quite a busy week, traveling in and out to the big city, returning to the caravan on Friday, then driving back home.

View out the hospital window looking over Newtown