A Little Adventure

Our adventure started with a caravan stay in NZMCA park in Plimmerton. The caravan was parked here for several days while I had my spinal op in Wellington Hospital.  This made for a much shorter drive for Robin when he came visiting each day.

Staying at Plimmerton

The six hour operation went well, the surgeon told us.  Must say that the neurosurgical team were so professional and certainly inspired confidence. I was hooked up to all sorts of equipment,  and the nursing care was excellent.  Although it was difficult to lay prone on my tummy for some time each day.

 

After several days Robin moved the caravan to Lower Hutt to stay at our friends Owen and Helen.  This cut down the travel time a bit more for him.   After seven days in Wellington Hospital there was another adventure ahead – an ambulance ride up to Palmerston North Hospital.  I was taken down to the Transit Lounge – think of a small, rather busy railway station.  Wheelchairs and beds were wheeled in, and those who could walk were seated around, waiting to be collected by family and friends.  Patients who were moving on to another hospital facility, as I was, waited patiently for the ambulances to arrive.  It was a two hour drive in the ambulance, bounce, bounce, and I could keep up with the journey peeping through the glass paneled rear door.

On day three the physios, OT staff and doctors were happy for me to return home, with a walker to help out while I got my mobility back.    Gemma decided that since I had left her for a while, she would greet me on her terms!  On the first night back I tottered outside to get a glimpse at the blood moon, what a sight that was.  Home is the best place to recover.

Trip to Carterton

The Wairarapa towns are not too far away over the Ranges as the crow flies, but where we live it’s quite a different story going by road.  We have a choice of heading north then crossing over the Tararua Ranges or traveling south and driving over the Rimutaka Hill – a two hour trip whatever choice we make.  Driving over on Friday we opted to go north, up and over the Pahiatua Track.

New sign at the top of the hill

It was a little misty at the top of the hill and we spotted some of the new wind turbines through the mist.  This project has been in the news lately as things have not been going to plan.  Power generator Mercury has run into problems to get its turbine blades up the hill to the Turitea Wind Farm.  The 99 12-tonne, 55-metre-long blades stored in Palmerston North were due to start being transported to the top of the Tararua Range in September.  But a new track being built to bypass a steep, tight S-bend on the Pahīatua Track has slipped and failed, forcing turbine suppliers Vestas to look for another way up.

The schedule for completing the 60-turbine, $465 million wind farm had already been challenged by the Covid-19 lockdown, when work on turbine tower foundations and transmission line preparations stalled.  The current goal is to have the 33-turbine first stage of what will be New Zealand’s largest wind farm completed in April to July 2021 and the second, southern stage by Christmas 2021.  Part of the challenge of getting the turbine blades up the hill was that they were 10m longer than envisaged 10 years ago.  We saw on the TV news that the blades are being transported at night, standing up at quite an angle, what a job that must be.

Goodness, that’s a long load

Once over the ranges, we have to travel south into the Wairarapa, and our first stop was at Eketahuna at the rather royally decorated public loos.  What is the Beefeater doing with those corgis in tow?  Maybe the Queen had a comfort stop here some time ago and this is the royal acknowledgement of her visit.

Seen at Eketahuna

Our next stop was at Pukaha National Wildlife Centre at Mt Bruce for lunch.  We admired a lovely carving of the now extinct Huia in the café.  Their beautiful tail feathers were much prized by the Maori people who wore them in their hair.  It is interesting to note that the female huia has a much longer beak than the male.

Pukaha National Wildlife

Just a week ago there was a ceremony here when  the 942 hectares of  Pūkaha Forest, home to native birds and conservation work  in northern Wairarapa has been gifted to the nation by Rangitane “for everyone to enjoy”. The Rangitane people had received the Pukaha Forest in its Treaty Settlement in 2017 but has now officially gifted it to New Zealand.  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has described it as an "extraordinary act of generosity" by the iwi, and she said  it was a privilege to accept the gift.

Gifting of Pukaha Forest

Henley Lake at Masterton was our next stop, such a lovely peaceful place.  Many species of water fowl make their home here, including both black and white swans.  We whiled away a little time soaking up the atmosphere.  The drive into the park was through a a line of beautiful trees sporting their Autumn colours.

Henley Lake

Our trip to Carterton was touched with sadness, we had travelled here to attend the funeral of of SLG friend Les.  Les and his late wife Anne had been much loved members of our Super Leisure Group and we had enjoyed their company at many of our monthly outings.  RIP Les, you and Anne are now together again.

Day Out in the Hutt Valley

During the week we met up with out Super Leisure Group friends for our monthly outing.  We live the furthest away so had to start our trip bright and early, to allow for the many road works we encountered along the way.  It was stop and start as we drove over the Haywards Hill, which seems to be a never ending project.  Parts of this road are dug up and repaired, widened here and there, and when that bit is done the workmen start on another area.  We followed a truck up the hill, which drove into an off road area with a large pile of shingle.  The truck driver jumped out of his vehicle, climbed into the front end  loader which was parked up, and proceeded to load up his truck with shingle.  Back in the truck again, he then slowly edged into the line of traffic. Who says men can’t multi-task!

At the top of Haywards Hill

We met at Yvonne’s home for morning tea and to do the draw, where we each selected a folded piece of paper telling us the month we have to arrange an outing for.  Then it was down to my old home town Lower Hutt for lunch.  This was a new to us place, a café inside the new Events Centre.  This building replaced the old Lower Hutt Town Hall which held fond memories for us both, as we used to attend Saturday night dances back in the day.

Lower Hutt Events Centre

There was the eternal question, what to order for lunch?  I chose salmon fillet, and Robin along with several others decided on fish and chips, all very tasty.  As usual, there was plenty to chat about during our time together, and the obliging staff member took some photos for us.

Lunch time

After lingering over the table for a while, and noticing that most of the other diners had departed, we said our goodbyes and headed for home.  Work was busy as usual at the Transmission Gully Road site.  Over budget and running late, we wonder when this road will be finished. 

Working on the Transmission Gully Road

We drove slowly past a huge machine looking rather like a mechanical dragon, as it noisily belched steam.  It was mixing hot asphalt, and pouring loads into the waiting trucks, to be poured onto the road surface.  This was certainly a sight to see.

Mixing asphalt

The trip up Kapiti Coast is often a little slow, depending on the time of day and the amount of traffic.  Kapiti Island as looking wonderful, as usual.

Kapiti Island

The truck ahead of us was loaded with squashed cars – wonder where they were headed to?  There was sure to be someone’s former much loved pride and joy amongst these flattened vehicles.

It was an enjoyable day, always good to catch up with our SLG friends.   Gemma was happy to welcome us back after being home alone all day.  We just needed something light for tea after our delicious and filling cooked lunch.