Norsewood and Surrounds

Leaving sunny Napier behind, we are making our way slowly home.  First stop was Anzac Park at Norsewood, set in a remnant of 500 year old native bush, New Zealand as it used to be.  In 1912, the surrounding land was ballotted for settement, and the Norsewood Town Board lobbied to preserve this last remaining 16 acres as a Recreation Reserve.  There were about a dozen caravan and campers staying here, enjpoying the peace and serenity of this lovely place.  All this for the grand price of $2 per night.

Staying at Anzac Park

We went to check out the bush walk through the forest, not all the way, sadly as this pair of oldies couldn't manage a long walk.  The trees were glorious, and nothing bets the smell of New Zealand bush, does it.  Sunshine dappling through the trees made such a pretty picture.

A forest full of giants

One of the campers told us of an old corrugated iron changing shed, in the bush, not far from the river.  And sure enough, there it was.  I didn't want to venture inside, who knew what might be lurking there?

The old changing shed

As it turned out, there were photo boards inside telling of the history of the area.  The idea is to make a permanent story board to be displayed in the hut.

Photo board concepts

We decided to take a little tiki-tour the following morning, stopping off at Ormondville Station, the only surviving Vogel Class 5 station left on the operating system, and is a Rail Heritage Trust classified building.  Ormondville is a very sleepy place, and we noticed that the pub across the road is now all boarded up.

Historic Ormondville Station

Then we drove on to Norsewood township, originally part of the 70 mile bush.  The first thing we noticed was a carved tree, very cleverly done.

Craved tree stump

In their eagerness to attract the prospective immigrants the government officials were less than honest in describing the conditions the immigrants would meet. There was no explanation of the difference between the dense NZ bush with its heavy undergrowth and numerous hardwood trees and the more open coniferous softwood forests of their homelands.​  An agreement was made  which would allow for 3,000 emigrants to New Zealand. In the years 1870-76 nearly 1,000 Norwegians moved to the Norsewood area.

Norsewood seems to have a thing for trolls, Father Norvirke, Mother Margit, and Son Ormvah.  Norsewood has chosen to celebrate its Scandinavian heritage via trolls – mythological creatures which are said to populate the northern-hemisphere homeland.  They are considered good luck and stand guard over Norsewood, their beloved town.

The trolls nd me

We were planning on getting a coffee at the local café but it was closed, so had to settle for an ice-cream from the local dairy.  So we sat on a seat outside in the hot sun, trying to finish our ice-creams before the sun melted them, sadly, I didn't win that game.  But it gave me a chance to check out the shop’s history.  There has been a store on this site since 1877, trading over the years as a grocer, draper, general importer and post office.The original building has been burnt down, replaced, and burnt again.  The current building was constructed in 1917.

On our drive we checked the campsites at Norsewood, one campervan staying there, and at Makotuku Domain, only two vans there.  We have previously stayed at both these rural camps some time go and were interested to see how busy they were over the New Year period.