ICA Rally, Naki to Kapiti, last days

Before we knew it, the last two days of the rally were here, and we drove down to Nga Manu Reserve to stay at the sanctuary. As we were traveling with our cat, we had to stay outside the sanctuary grounds because of the precious native birds inside – we were happy to follow the rules.  The other motor homes parked up inside the gates in the large car park.

It was great to welcome Bill and Val to Nga Manu when they came to visit.  They had put so much work into planning  this three week rally, but sadly Bill broke his ankle just prior to the start, so they could not attend.  But they made it for the last couple of days, nice and handy as they live close by. As it was Valentine's Day, Val handed around delicious chocolate hearts for us all to enjoy. 

The sunshine had returned, and we spent the last day enjoying Morning Tea and Happy Hour in the sunshine.  Most of us walked through the sanctuary to see what we could see, some of the birds were rather shy and elusive.  But I managed to spot a tuatara sunning himself, this is our country’s own living fossil, and this species was around in the time of the dinosaurs.  They can live up to 120 years.

Can you spot the tuatara?

Walking around the easy flat paths we met up with a couple of bee keepers.  Yes, they have several hives here, they told me, although they are well away from the public paths.  In these Covid times, they looked rather medical in their white hazard suits.  And talking of Covid, these signs were everywhere.

Bee Keepers

I was keen to walk up to the lookout, and I’m pleased I managed to climb the stairs without too much trouble, just taking things slowly.   The view from the top of the lookout was amazing, all that wonderful preserved  forest in the sanctuary grounds, with suburbia not too far away.

From the lookout

We were all looking forward to the Farewell Dinner, catered by Relish of Waikanae.  As there were minimal kitchen facilities available in the hall, the caterers brought in all the prepared food from their restaurant.  And what a feast it was, hot ham, roast veggies, cold cuts and salads, followed by a selection of lovely desserts, no one went hungry, I’m sure.

Bill and Val selecting their mains, and dessert trays

After our meal it was time for a few speeches, starting with a few bloopers – and yes, people did get a small award for these.  Such as the two couples who were a day late joining the rally, blissfully unaware of the date, and enjoying themselves camping somewhere completely different to the rest of us.  And Buddy, who lost his drone while fishing off the beach at Opunake, not the first time this had happened either.  Then it was time for thanks, and award chocolates to all those who had happily  taking over the parking duties at each site, that was a big job with so many vans.  Several people helped out when a couple of our members took sick, looking after them.  And Buddy (he who lost the drone) got a special mention for all the repairs he happily did during out trip, fixing awnings, fridges, checking pipes, and these are only the jobs I happened to take note of, there were several more repairs done, as it turned out.  A Buddy said, he was only too happy to help, and enjoys a challenge.

The following morning most got on their way quite smartly, we took our time as we were the closest to home.  It certainly was a great three week rally, many thanks to Bill and Val for all their hard work and planning. We were happy to take over running the rally for them as they couldn't attend, although they were hard at work at the end of the telephone, sorting out the occasional problem which cropped up.

We received these coasters in our goody bags commemorating the Naki to Kapiti Rally.  Showcasing Mt Taranaki (Egmont) on one, and Kapiti Island on the other.  Beautifully done and such a nice memento of our trip.

ICA Rally, Naki to Kapiti, moving on to Feilding

Rain, rain, go away – but it didn’t, we caught part of Cyclone Dovi as it was passing by.  It poured all the way down to our next stop, at the Coach House, Feilding.  Scotty did a great job of sorting the parking out in the rain, and we all fitted in the car park nicely.  Luckily we had use of the small hall for Happy Hour on both days while we stayed there, so we could all gather together for a catch up.

Parked up at Feilding Coach House Museum

Our overnight fees gave us free entry into the museum.  Even though we had been there recently, it certainly was worth another visit.  As we entered the museum, we experienced New Zealand as it used to be, when the settlers arrived.  Dense forests full of birdlife, which had to be cleared for the settlers to make a living.  It was a had hard physical life indeed back in those days.

Living in the bush

The museum has a wonderful collection of carts, huge things no doubt pulled by teams of oxen.

I loved the look of the smaller dainty gigs, and could imagine the well-to-do going out to church on a Sunday.  Once all the weekday chores were done, of course.  Or maybe it was the early version of the gentry who had these small carriages, perhaps the workers had to make do with their lumbering carts.

Gigs for the well to do

This museum has a huge collection of John Deere machinery down at the far end of the building.  Large green workhorses as far as the eye could see, this was just part of them.

John Deere’s everywhere

And what's this huge thing. I wondered?  It was a 1922 Fitch Four Drive Tractor, renown for it’s traction and pulling power.  Purchased from America by the Pohongina Council for 750 pounds, it served the council well, then was sold to private owners.  Following his death in 2011 it was the wish of Jim Spall for this rare example of 1920s engineering to be donated to the Coach House Museum.

Fitch Four Drive Tractor

ICA Rally–Wanganui/the Mystery Bus Trip

Our last look at Hawera was a glimpse at the Water Tower.  Helen and Jim from our group had climbed this the previous day.   It is designated as a category one structure by the Historic Places Trust, and celebrated its 100th year in 2014.  The tower  take about 10 minutes to climb the 215 steps of the best known heritage building in Hawera for a bird’s eye view of the region and coast, a bargain at only $2.50.

Hawera Water Tower

We moved on to Wanganui Race Course, a 92km drive.  One by one the other motor homes arrived, making sure we parked a reasonable distance away from the fence-line.  This was so we didn't spook the race horses during the early morning training. 

Parked up at Wanganui Race Course

We were pleased to welcome Martin and Cathie who joined the rally here here at Wanganui.  At Happy Hour Martin presented Bill M with his 15 year membership decal, congratulation Bill on this achievement.

Congratulations, Bill

And because Martin and Cathie had a few challenges before finally arriving here at Wanganui to join in the ICA Rally, we presented Cathie with a box of chocolates to show we had been thinking of them.

The next morning we all excitedly waited for Neville and his big red double decker bus to arrive.  This was taking us on a mystery trip – how exciting is that!  First in, best seated, as the early birds climbed up the narrow stairs to the top deck.  Robin was tasked with ringing the bell at the rear of the bus, ding, ding, I’m sure he felt just like one of those characters on the long running series “On the Buses”.  But his most important job was to make sure no one from upstairs tripped and fell down the stairs and out the back entrance!  I kid you not, this bus did not have a back door so was open to the elements.

Double Decker bus, imported all the way from London

Our first stop of the day was to the beautiful Putiki Anglican Church.  Although sporting a relatively plain and modest exterior, stepping inside is full of Maori carvings, woven panels, and painted kowhiwhai panels.  No photos were to be taken inside.  Please google this church to see all the beautiful workmanship inside.

Putiki Church, Wanganui

This is the 5th church built in this area, and the lovely interior was overseen by Apirana Ngata, who led the Maori Art and Crafts School in Rotorua.  He agreed to bring his team of tutors and student carvers to Wanganui over a two year period.  Four local women were sent to Wellington to learn how to weave the tukutuku panels, and shared their knowledge with other local weavers.  All the timber has been richly carved with only the pews left plain.  The people were told “We will carve you the most beautiful church you have ever seen”, and they certainly did.  This lovely church was opened and consecrated on 5th December 1937.

Back in the bus again and it slowly ground it’s way up Durie Hill.  The imposing Durie Hill Memorial Tower was opened in 1925 to commemorate  the 513 young people from Wanganui and district who died in WWI. The tower is built of local shell-rock.  Some of our group were keen to climb up but this was not permitted because of Covid and the narrow winding staircase.

Memorial Tower

Many took the opportunity to  climb up the smaller tower on the top of the Durie Hill Elevator.  This gave an amazing view over Wanganui River and suburbs.  The local Maori people have a very strong connection to the Wanganui River and there is a saying here, “I am the river, the river is me”.

Elevator tower and entrance and view from the top of Durie Hill

Some of us took the opportunity to ride the  Durie Hill Elevator,  built in 1919.  This is the only public transport elevator in the country and is still used daily by locals and visitors.  At $2.00  a ride it seemed a bargain and I followed a little later with Scotty.  The other passenger on board kindly took our photo, Scotty, me, and the young elevator operator.  After our ride down we walked through the long, rather ghostly tunnel to finally reach the street.

Going down – and the long tunnel at the bottom

We waited on the footpath at the bottom for the bus to drive back down the hill and collect us.  But……. it drove straight past, with the others on board waving out the windows.  Seems Neville had forgotten all about us, drove over the river, then had to do a U turn and make his way back to collect  the missing passengers!

Our next stop was to the St John’s Club for lunch.  And what a tasty lunch it was, we had pre-ordered our meals and they were speedily  cooked for us when we settled in to the dining room.  Battered scallops, steak and fish seemed to be the most popular, and we had ice-cream sundaes to finish our meals.

Then Neville took us on a tiki-tour around town and out to Castle cliff Beach for a look-see.  I had climbed up the steep narrow stairs of the bus for the ride back to camp, and can attest that every little bump in the road is definitely magnified ten-fold upstairs!  What a great day, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

ICA Rally–Visit to K D’s Elvis Museum

It promised to be a nice day, no rain, just a little cloud, and look at the view.  Mt Taranaki (Egmont) was looking wonderful.  Peeping through the clouds at us, dark and brooding, without a spot of snow on the slopes.  There’s certainly something majestic about a mountain, isn't there.

Mt Taranaki

We had a free morning, so took a trip out to Manaia, home of Yarrows Bakery, and the bread capitol of the world, so they say.  The shop at Yarrows is always busy, and we came away with meat pies for our evening meal, and some goodies, just because they were there looking at us.  On the way out of town, we just had to stop and take of photo of this collection of animal sculptures outside someone’s property. 

Manaia

In the afternoon our group had a visit to K D’s Elvis Presley Museum.  K D Wasley has been an avid collector of Elvis Presley records and memorabilia since the 1950s.  This was a real treat, and something I had been looking forward to with great anticipation.  I’ve been an Elvis fan ever since I heard him sing Love me Tender, way back then.

Welcome to my world

We were warmly welcomed as we stepped inside, Elvis was singing on the TV and there were items to look at everywhere.  Such as a gold lame jacket, records, ornaments, toy pink Cadillac's, everywhere you looked there was something or other which screamed Elvis.  The three small jukeboxes were not just for show, I was told, but actually play music.  And who wouldn't want an Elvis number plate?

The Music Room was crammed full of records, pictures, and all sorts of memorabilia,  and we were intrigued by the replica gold records on display.  Much too precious to put on the turntable, I imagine.  David, Buddy and Robin seemed to be bathed in golden light as they checked things out.

David, Buddy and Robin taking it all in

It was interesting seeing the difference between the birthplace of Elvis, and the grandeur of Graceland's. I would have so loved to have a visit there, but I guess with Covid and the way of the world that’s not likely to happen now.

Birth place and Graceland's

I was in seventh heaven, taking it all in, watching my hero on TV as he performed his songs.  What a great afternoon we had.

ICA Rally – When will the rain stop?

We can’t say we weren't warned.  The weather forecast promised us rain and colder temperatures, and it wasn’t wrong.  Just a bit of a shock after all that really hot weather we had been enjoying.  Sunday morning was time to move on, and I must admit that some of our group were rather worried, as we were parked up on rather sodden ground.  The rain kept falling, and one by one the motor-homes drove carefully out of the old Stanley Street School grounds.  Only one vehicle needed help in the end.  Robin and his 4WD, together with the blue recovery strop  were called into action to pull David and Pamela’s motorhome off the grass – he rather enjoyed helping out, I’m sure.  We waited around to check that Scotty’s big bus was off the grass and onto the hard, then left to do the very  necessary visit to the dump station.

Last two at Wharehuia in the never ending rain

We arrived at Hawera Egmont A&P Showgrounds soaked to the skin, happy to have arrived without any mishaps as there had been local flooding, the radio told us.  Everyone decided to park up, divest ourselves of wet clothes and shoes, change into nice dry clothes, and hunker down for the rest of the afternoon.  And the rain kept pouring down.

The rain had eased off the next morning and we all went to the Tawhiti Museum. This is the  creation of artist Nigel Ogle, and the attention to detail is simply stunning.  Widely acclaimed as the best private museum in the country, the museum uses life size exhibits and scale models to present our heritage in a series of realistic and engaging displays.  All these displays are designed and built on the premises in the 'Body Shop' and accompanying studios, which can be viewed as part of a museum visit.  The museum is in several parts and we started off looking through the Traders and Whalers exhibition.  We stepped into a boat which took us gently around, showing tableaus of  traders selling muskets for food and flax, life in Maori villages, and flash, bang, watch out!  We were caught up between warring parties as muskets nearly blew our heads off.  No photos were allowed to be taken on our boat ride.

Trading goods

The Farm Power Hall was chock full of vintage machinery, tractors galore, and everything to make a farming man’s heart beat faster.

Tractors, tools, and machinery

After lunch at Mr Badgers Café, we went through the original part of museum, housed in an old dairy factory.

There was so much to see, from small dioramas made with intricate detail, to life sized models showing everyday early life of New Zealand, and the Maori Wars.

Soldiers in camp

Early farming days

“Have a look in that door”,  I told Nola, knowing full well what she would find.  Ooops, its a man sitting on the long drop toilet, by the look on his face he seemed to get as much as a surprise as Nola did!

Sorry to disturb you!

We were at the museum for several hours, but really, there was no way we could do it justice in that time.  But weary backs and knees were telling us it was time to head back to camp.  If you are ever up this way, take our word for it, this is a marvelous place to spend the day.

By late afternoon we all gathered for Happy Hour.  The rain had gone, the ground underfoot was quite dry, so with a jacket to keep the breeze off, we gathered between the vans for a get-together and a chin-wag.  It was a nice finish to the day.

Happy Hour