Club Rally at Foxton

Our Caravan Club Rally for the weekend was held at the Manawatu Caravan Club grounds, at Foxton Beach.  Let’s go a day early, we decided, so we did, arriving at late morning on Thursday.  We weren't the only ones with that idea, there were three early bird caravans on site.  “No Dogs” allowed, luckily that doesn’t apply to visitors like us who have a cat in the van.

Manawatu Caravan Club grounds

The six of us had 4zees together, then enjoyed a Fish’n’Chip meal from Mr Grumpy’s Fish and Chip shop together in our van in the evening.

Owen, Helen, Don, Pamela and Robin

The rain came down and huge puddles appeared overnight, making it difficult when the other club members arrived on Friday.  In fact, we had a lot more rain than dry spells over the whole weekend.  Friday night was games night in the hall, with people playing various board games together.  We had a treat at Morning Tea on Saturday, with two chocolate cakes passed around the table to celebrate Don’s upcoming birthday.

Happy Birthday, Don

Our Rally Family Sue and Murray had arranged an outing to Mavtech.  The local museum showcases  the history and development of cinema and recorded sound in New Zealand, and is housed in Foxton’s historic Coronation Hall. 

The theatre upstairs showcases vintage films, and the film chosen for our group was “This is New Zealand”, a film made in 1969 for the Tokyo World Expo, showing scenes of our country and highlights of life in New Zealand.  This was followed by a trio of cartoons featuring Daffy Duck and friends, a real blast from the past.

This is New Zealand

A look over the balcony at the display cases below

There was plenty to see in the museum, a great variety of old fashioned radios that most of us could relate to, many in wonderful wooden cabinets.  All sorts of vintage items, including this gorgeous cylinder phonograph made by Thomas Edison in 1915.

Cylinder phonograph from 1915

Look Mum, no hands!  We were treated to a tune from this lovely old pianola

There is a good selection of early New Zealand records on display.  Blue Smoke, sung by Pixie Williams,  is recognized as the first record to be produced locally - from recording to pressing. It was released under the New Zealand owned label - TANZA - To Assist New Zealand Artists. Nine years earlier, Ruru Karaitiana wrote the song while aboard a war ship off the coast of Africa in World War II. 

Blue smoke goes drifting by……

At the conclusion of our visit, the staff kindly took our photo of the staircase.

What a great bunch

We had a Movie and Popcorn night on Saturday night.  The film was Ram starring our very own Kiwi actor Sam Neil.  Set is Australia, it told the story of two warring brothers who had half of the family farm each, and each bred prize winning merino sheep.  A devastating virus caused all the sheep in the area to be slaughtered, or so they should have been – the plot certainly thickened.  Many thanks for the tasty popcorn, Sue. 

Movie and popcorn

Sunday rolled around and it was Morning Tea again.  Flo had brought along a Banana Cake to share, thanks so much Flo.  She enjoys baking, she told us.

Thanks, Flo

Many thanks also to Sue and Murray for a great weekend.  Luckily no one needed Robin’s help to be towed out of the sodden grounds, after all that rain.