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
No comments:
Post a Comment