Long Weekend at Kaitoke

Last weekend was the three day Labour Weekend, always a busy one on the camping calendar as it signals summer is coming up fast.  Our caravan club held a rally at Kaitoke Regional Park, a lovely natural area full of camping areas tucked here and there amongst the trees and down by the river bank.

Most of our caravan club members arrived on Friday afternoon, and we soon settled in to our chosen area.  There were plenty of other groups enjoying this camp too, caravans motorhomes and plenty of tents were erected, we noticed.  Lots of kids on bikes and plenty of dogs too, sadly many of the owners were not obeying the rules and were letting their dogs run free.  Our cat Gemma was only allowed outside for short periods and under close control with her harness and lead, with me keeping a close watch out for any dogs sneaking around our caravan.

There was a fun filled weekend planned, which certainly kept us busy.  The weather was very good, good enough for several of us to get a touch of sunburn, the first of the season, with just a few light sprinkles later on.

Weekend plans

A first for us was a visit to Brewtown in Upper Hutt on Saturday afternoon.  There were crowds of people everywhere, all wearing their masks thank goodness, and we followed the crowds to where all the action was.  With six craft beer establishments as well as an ice skating rink, paintball and ten pin bowling, there is plenty to keep young and old busy.  Instead of beer, it was such a hot day that we opted to enjoy an ice-cream instead.  Helen and Owen arrived on Saturday afternoon, crossing over on the ferry after a couple of weeks away traveling “down south”.

All masked up at Brewtown

The Saturday evening bonfire on the river bank was the highlight of the weekend, I thought.  Pat had arranged for a fire pit to be built out of large river stones, and had brought along plenty of firewood to keep it burning.  And what would a camp fire be without marshmallows to toast?  So delicious!  And ours certainly wasn’t the only fire crackling away, there must have been a dozen or so right along the river bank.

Pat getting the fire going, and Robin toasting marshmallows

We were all up bright and early the next morning to drive to Aston Norwood for Sunday breakfaast.  Very tasty it was too, bacon, eggs – cooked as required, toast and the best hash brown I had ever encountered!

Sunday breakfast at Aston Norwood, Upper Hutt

It was so nice to welcome Kath and Selwyn to morning tea after we had returned from our breakfasts.  Selwyn was looking vey well indeed after his recent surgery, but he did need reminding to keep taking things easy, it’s early days after all.

Dave had prepared a quiz with a difference to keep us occupied on Sunday evening.  We were put into teams of six, and instead of finding an answer,  and had to come up with a question that others would have to answer.  This certainly took a bit of thinking about.  And……. our team was the declared the winner!

Monday dawned wet and drizzly but wasn't cold, time to pack up and head for home.  Most of us anyway, two couple were continuing with their long weekend and weren’t quite ready to go home just yet.  Many thanks to Pat, Thelma and Dave for organising our weekend rally.