Foxton Rally

With a bare three hours sleep from our late night ferry trip, it was time to get up and going.  We crept into Plimmerton NZMCA Park at the ungodly hour of 4.00am, awake at 7.00am, time for breakfast and then hook up and await our turn at the onsite dump station. Driving up the coast road we saw Kapiti Island, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen my favourite island off the Kapiti Coast.

Kapiti Island

We were so pleased we had arrived back in time to attend the funeral of our friend and Caravan Club member Selwyn, and support Cath on this sad day.  The funeral was held at Our Lady of Kapiti Church and Robin received permission to park our car and caravan on the lawn in front of the adjacent school, out of the way from the car parking area.  Val gave an eulogy on behalf of HCC and our club members joined the Kapiti E Bike Club to form a Guard of Honour.

Farewell to Selwyn

After the funeral we traveled up to Foxton NZMCA Park, one day early for our caravan club rally.  This was our first time driving along the new Peka Peka to Otaki Expressway.

Early bird at the Foxton Rally

The next morning, Friday, we decided to move along to another area right down the end of the camp, which looked big enough to accommodate the club members attending.  One by one they rolled in and we had a good chat with everyone. Rally Fridays often means fish and chip for tea, and Pat drove Geoff and Robin to get take-away meals.  It was another early night for us, trying to catch up on our beauty sleep after a disrupted couple of days.

We heard race horses thundering around the track, bright and early on Saturday morning.  Morning Tea rolled around.  Club members Russell and Maureen celebrate birthdays a mere few days apart, so brought along a home made fruit cake to share with us all.  Thanks so much, it was delicious.

Happy Birthday to Russell and Maureen

The weather really didn’t know what to do, and the rain came and went during the day, not really pouring down, but enough to make it’s presence felt.  Luckily the grounds didn’t end up with puddles everywhere, the rain soaked away quite easily.  On Saturday night we were put into three teams, visited our host van, and battled with Murray’s quiz.  I always say a quiz is easy of you know the answers, and we did wonder where Murray had dredged these questions from.  Never mind, we did our best. 

Sadly, our best wasn’t good enough, as we found out the following day at morning tea when the answers were given.    The other two teams came first equal, meaning our team came last. But we all got a chocolate or two from Murray and Sue, the rally family for the weekend.

Sunday Morning Tea

After being on our South Island Odyssey for the last ten weeks or so, it was great to meet up with our caravan club buddies again.  There was plenty of catching up to do.

Koromiko and Ferry Concerns

Just a short 23km drive from Blenheim to Koromiko – this is where our South Island Odyssey started back in mid December, all those weeks ago.  This is a beautiful place, surrounded by totara trees, and the cicadas were having a fine old time, making plenty of noise in the trees while looking for mates.  We were to stay here for two nights while we waited to board the Inter Island Ferry on Thursday.

Koromiko POP

It’s no secret that both ferry companies have been having maintenance problems.  We received a text telling us our trip the following day had been cancelled, costs would be refunded, and clients had to get on to the web site and rebook themselves.  We had heard of campers waiting several weeks before they could get another booking and cross Cook Strait. What to do?  We decided to drive down to the ferry office and front up to a real person.    The staff confirmed that our booking for the next day was cancelled, perhaps we would like to go on the standby list for a sailing later in the day?  No guarantees that we would get on board of course, but better than waiting weeks. 

So back we went to Koromiko, hooked up the caravan and returned to the ferry terminal.  The sailing on the Kaiarahi was pushed back later and later, and we were in the queue for seven hours, waiting and waiting…… At least we had the comfort of our caravan to rest, have a light meal, and a toilet on board, not like the few cars behind us in the standby queue.  Eventually the queues of cars, caravans and motorhomes started moving forward and then it was the turn of the standby group.  Oh no, we were almost turned back at the last minute but that was overruled, and we were sent up a steep ramp and parked up.  We had made it!

On board the Kaiarahi

Because we were one of the last vehicles to board, we had a little trouble finding a couple of seats together, but a kind couple moved along and made two seats available for us.  We settled down in the lounge in rather comfy seats,  and our sailing got underway at 11.00pm.  The captain made an announcement apologising for all the delays, and assuring us he had four engines all working – a reference to earlier problems when engines failed and the ships were drifting towards rocks!  Everyone settled down in the lounge, some reading, some watching TV, others chatting quietly, and a few snores were heard around the room.  The crossing was relatively smooth, just a bit choppy in Cook Strait which left some feeing a little queasy.

Whiling away the hours

Finally, the announcement came to go to our cars, we had arrived in port.   We waited our turn, in this case last on certainly meant last off.  The rain was falling, the temperatures had dropped dramatically, welcome to Wellington.

Last to leave the ship

We had decided to spend the night at Plimmerton NZMCA Park, and off we went, up the Ngauranga Gorge in heavy rain in the dead of night.  At 4.00am we pulled into the park, left the car looked up to the van, opened the caravan door and collapsed into bed.  It had been a long day, but we were so relieved to be back in the North Island.

Back in Blenheim

Here we are, back in Blenheim again.  Before we left, our  Sunday morning started with a cooked breakfast, must admit that we haven't had one of these for a while.  Bacon, egg, tomato and a little black pudding, cooked by Robin, certainly was a great start to the day.

Nothing beats a Sunday Breakfast

It was a beautiful morning and promised to go on to be a rather hot day as we said goodbye to Kaikoura and set up along SH1.  The Seaward Kaikoura Range was looking crisp and clear in the morning sunshine, I must admit I rather like the South Island mountains.

Mountain range in the distance

Driving along the now repaired coastal highway, we reflected on how it was during our last trip to the South island when the road was still being repaired after the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake.  This tore through fault lines, demolishing houses, ripping up roads and railway lines and causing massive landslides.  Kaikoura was cut off and isolated.  1700 engineers and workers toiled for over a year before Kaikoura was finally reconnected.  Two years later on  our South Island trip in 2018 we remember how the road on the hill side was lined with long lines of containers to keep further rock fall at bay, so work was still ongoing then.  There was not a container in sight this time as we drove along. 

Blenheim is a prime wine growing area and 30km out from the town the first few vineyards started popping up beside the road, nothing major, just a few paddocks here and there.  The closer go to Blenheim, the more we saw.  Just across the road from where we were staying there were rows of grapevines everywhere.

Just across the road from our CAP

On this return trip to Blenheim we decided to stay somewhere different, and booked in at Reta Tuckerman’s CAP (charges apply parking).  We had heard of this place, but had never stayed here before.  We parked up in a nice grassy area, very reasonable at $5 a night per van, and very close to town.  Power sites ($15) are along the fence line, but we decided we didn't need power in such glorious weather, so parked on the other side.  It was not too crowded so there was plenty of room.

Our site at Blenheim

Gemma wasn’t the only cat in camp, there were two others.  A white cat with black markings was nicely behaved on his harness and lead.  And the van next to us had a “catio”, I had only ever seen this before on an American blog, so went to check it out.  The older tabby cat enjoying the fresh air in safely has only recently been caravanning and hated the harness and lead.  So the owners decided that the catio was a great idea for their cat, and made one themselves which hooks on to the side of their motorhome.  The cat is free to hop in and out of the motorhome through the window, and really enjoys his room with a view, I was told.

Puss in the catio

Last time we were in Blenheim, goodness me, that was back in mid December, we discovered Burleigh Gourmet Pies.  Gourmet means expensive, Robin always says.  So we popped back to stock up on frozen pies, two creamy chicken and leek, and two steak and bacon.  They will be handy for future meals.  Plus two fresh pork belly pies for lunch, one of their top sellers.

Getting a pie fix

After two very hot days in Blenheim it was time to move on again, this time back to Koromiko just out of Picton for our ferry trip on Thursday, all going well.  Both ferry companies are having problems, so we have our fingers and toes crossed our sailing goes ahead as planned.

Moving on to Kaikoura

After a quick trip to Hellers Factory Shop, we stowed our bargains away in the fridge and freezer and hooked up the caravan, stopping at the dump station and we were finally on our way heading up SH1.  Our first stop was at Amberley to see the statue of  Charles Upham VC and Bar.   Born in  Christchurch in 1908, he gained  a Diploma in Agriculture and his working life began in the high country and hills of the Hurunui District where he was a shepherd.  Charles Hazlitt Upham is probably New Zealand's most famous soldier. He became one of only three people ever to win the Victoria Cross twice for his actions in Crete in 1941 and Egypt in 1942. He is the only person to have achieved this as a combat soldier.  In 1953, Upham was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. In 1992, he was presented with the Order of Honour by the Government of Greece, in recognition of his service in the Battles of Greece and Crete.

Charles Upham VC and Bar

We stopped for lunch at the Parnassus  NZMCA Park – only one other van was in residence.  It’s always good to stop, stretch your back and legs and have a little walk around after traveling a while.  Parnassus must have had quite a lot of rainfall, as a sign stated “Park on the grass at your own risk”.  We stayed on the hard while we had our lunch break.

Lunch at Parnassus

Well fed and rested we were on our way again, driving along as the road hugged the coast.  Oh look – tunnels.  There are two sets of these tunnels, carved through the rock.  They may look tiny but plenty of large heavy trucks pass through them on a daily basis, so there was no problem that we would fit.

Driving through the tunnels

This looked interesting, obviously erected as protection from rock fall onto the road and passing vehicles.

Protection from rock fall

We have arrived

170km later we rolled into Kaikoura NZMCA Park, the second one in this area.  This park has been open for three years and just like the Kaiapoi Park, has been developed on red zoned earthquake land.  Quite large, it is made up of five separate “blocks” with one set aside for those campers who want to use generators, and caters for about 100 vans.  We soon found a space and settled in.

Parked up in Kaikoura for the next two nights

The next day we went out exploring.  Kaikoura township was buzzing with cars and campervans, the tourists had certainly come calling.  The car park at the Whale Watch encounter was packed with vehicles as the customers had climbed onboard the boats for a thrilling trip.  Down at the coastline the bleached white uplifted rocks from the big earthquake were ghostly white in the sunshine – all this coastline was originally under water.  There were several seals basking in the sun – some people walked over the rocks and got alarmingly close to them. 

Uplifted costal rocks by the earthquake

The lookout high on the hill was calling to us, so up and up we drove.  Lovely views, but it was a matter of “hang onto your hats” while we were up there.

Views from the lookout

We were wondering how many campers were staying at the original NZMCA Park by the Trotting Club so drove around to check it out.  There were a few there, about a dozen we thought.  Guess the new camp is more popular these days.  We finished off our outing with an ice-cream.  Not a real ice-cream, the vendor was selling either Gelato or Sorbet.  We chose a gelato each and sat down in the sunshine trying to consume them before they melted in the sunshine and dripped all over our fingers.  It was a nice finish to our afternoon.

Gelatos for two please

Our South Island Trip is being cut back a couple of weeks as Robin is having issues with his leg.  After two lots of antibiotics it is still not right so we decided to cut short our trip and the earliest return sailing we could get is next week, 23rd February.  Sadly, we had to miss out on several places we wanted to visit, including Hanmer Springs, not possible with Robin’s leg problem.  Never mind, we can always come back to the South Island again, and I’m sure we will.

Kaiapoi – brand new NZMCA Park

With Cyclone Gabrielle wrecking havoc in the North Island, and not being sure if she would travel down south, we decided to stay in the Christchurch area for a few more days.  This seemed more sensible than our earlier plan to travel up the coast to Kaikoura.  Staying at Sunley House Pop with all those tall trees surrounding the property had me worrying if they would blow down on us in the strong winds.  So we moved 10km or so up the road to Kaiapoi.  The brand new  Kaiapoi NZMCA Park had just opened the previous day, so we were delighted to be one of the very early customers.

This new park is built on the substantial red zoned area, (previously a large subdivision)  from the massive 2011 Christchurch earthquake.  When the Sunday evening earthquake rocked the caravan, you can imagine that we were a little nervous, until we read that the quake was situated in the North Island, and not down here in Christchurch.

This new camp has a one way circular road, with gravel parking around the edge, or parking on the grass in the middle.  Being a former housing area there are many trees dotted around.  Fresh water and rubbish facilities are available, and there is a dump station in the next street, just a short distance away.  We arrived on the second day it was opened, and there were 12 vans on site that evening, with 20 parked up on the following night.  Not too bad for the first few days, we reckon.

Kaiapoi NZMCA Park

No more housing can be built on this red zoned land, so it is good that other low impact activities like sports fields and a large enclosed dog park are making use of the land.  Another great idea in this area  is the Food Forest, quite a large area built around many fruit trees.  Other items are planted in the gardens, I noticed many pumpkin plants spreading about and just starting to flower, and plenty of thorny berry bushes with not a single fruit on them.  I collected some apples and pears plus a few peaches from old mature trees to take back to the caravan.  All these trees would have been part of neighbouring home gardens before all the houses were destroyed in the earthquake.

Food Forest

Arriving back in camp after yet another visit to the laundromat, we were approached by a reporter who wanted to get our views about the new NZMCA park.  He was interested about our SI trip, and how many of these parks we had visited on our travels.  We told him we very impressed with this brand new one, he took our photo for the article and promised to send us a copy of his picture.  He works for a weekly newspaper, so we would have left for home before the next issue is published, I expect.  

The friendly reporter

Kaiapoi was an important trading hub with the Maori people and the Kaiapoi River and surrounding waterways were used to transport pounamu (greenstone) from the Arahura River, and mutton-birds from Stewart Island.  These days the river is used by pleasure boats and cruise boats, including the Kaiapoi River Queen.  There was a trip scheduled in the weekend after we had departed.  So we will certainly have to return to this town and have a lunch or dinner cruise of the wonderful looking boat. 

I really fancy a trip on this!

We came cross this lovely old footbridge, the Mandeville Bridge.  This was constructed in 1874 to allow school children to walk to the nearby Kaiapoi School, and has  Historic Place Category 2.

The Mandeville Footbridge

Robin had been chatting to the custodian who told him about the Hellers factory Shop, quite a drawcard to the locals it seems.  We had passed the factory in our travels but were not aware that they sold to the public as well.  So before we hooked the caravan up on the morning we departed, we took a quick trip to the Hellers Shop.  My goodness, such a lot of bargains, no wonder the locals go there in droves.  We came away with bacon, sausages, meatballs and hamburger patties, so that refilled our caravan freezer.  Then it was time to move on again, goodbye to Kaiapoi and hello to Kaikoura.

Hellers Factory Shop

Sunley House - Christchurch

Here we are in Christchurch again on our way north, and we are staying at a new to us Pop, Sunley House and Old Orchard in Belfast, Christchurch.  This is a pretty place, surrounded by tall trees, and the sound of cicadas is deafening!

Staying at Sunley House

Staying at Christchurch for a couple of days gave us the opportunity to catch up with son Michael again.  And I had so enjoyed our visit to Sign of the Kiwi Café on the Port Hills last time we were here, that we collected him from his home and went there for lunch on Monday.  It certainly was a long and winding drive up the road.  There were plenty of people there already there enjoying their lunches in the fresh air, and we ordered whatever took our fancy and found ourselves a table too. 

Lunch at Sign of the Kiwi

Outside in the gardens seemed an ideal place for a few photos – “Oh, Mum, not again” said Michael, rolling his eyes.  But that’s what mothers do, don't they, take family photos when they can.

Michael and his Mum

Jenny and Robin

While out and about we came across a large hollow metal ball – wonder what this is?  So we stopped to find out.  “Fanfare” was designed by sculpture Neil Dawson and was suspended from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark New Year in 2005.  Then it was gifted by the City of Sydney to Christchurch City in 2007.  Fanfare is 20m in diameter, 24m high and weighs 25 tonnes, and is covered in 360 steel fans, each 1.5m in diameter and each one rotated by the wind.  It certainly is a mesmerizing sight.

Fanfare, by Neil Dawson

We have decided to stay an extra night in Christchurch because of Cyclone Gabrielle wrecking havoc over the top of the North Island and Auckland.  Overnight conditions got very bad as the cyclone moved south to Taranaki, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay, with many areas declaring a state of emergency.  Then earlier this morning a National State of Emergency has been declared for the whole country  – this is only the third time this has happened in the country.  With bridges washed away, roads damaged, landslips, houses flooded, people evacuated, it is a very serious situation.  Down here in the South Island, where we are currently on holiday there are heavy rain and strong wind warnings as far down as Kaikoura.  We will have to see what tomorrow brings but so far this area is not affected.

Ted’s Bottle and Waimate

I was looking forward to our next stop after Dunedin -  Waimate, which was 159km up SH1. The first glimpse that we were getting closer was the yellow shed on the main road featuring a wallaby and  encouraging us to “Hop in for a Visit".   Wallabies? You may well ask, this is New Zealand, not Australia. Wallabies were released for hunting purposes near Waimate in 1874. Fifty years later, they were recognised as a pest, responsible for destroying pasture, native regeneration, damaging fences and displacing stock. Although tens of thousands have been shot, unfortunately it has  made little dent in the population.  They may be cute and furry, but they are an introduced species and are not welcome.

Hop in for a Visit

We stayed overnight at the Waimate NZMCA Park, a lovely camp which we had visited before.  It was nice to park up on grass, and water and rubbish facilities were available.

Waimate NZMCA Park

The reason I was so keen to stop at Waimate was to visit one of the pubs in my “Great Kiwi Pub Crawl” book, and check out the sad story of Ted’s Bottle at the Waihao Forks Hotel. 

Ted d’Auvergne was having a farewell drink or two with his mates at the pub, waiting for the train to take him to Burnham Military Camp for training before heading off to war.  Ted heard the train coming, and left an unopened bottle of beer on the bar, calling to the publican to “save it until I get back”.  Ted served for two years in the Middle East, was transferred to Greece, and was killed in May 1941 in the Battle of Crete.  The publican saved Ted’s bottle of Ballins XXXX beer, and it is now stored in a case above the bar, engraved with Ted’s battalion insignia.  Each April on Anzac Day, another poppy is placed inside the case, and the locals drink to Ted and all his fallen comrades.  There is a statue of Ted outside the pub, showing him waiting with his kit bag at the station.

At the Waihao Forks Hotel

We stopped to admire the Silo Art back in town.  Waimate artist Bill Scott painted murals on grain silos at Transport Waimate’s Queen Street yard.  The silos were built by hand in 1920 nd were the first of their kind in the country.  Hometown hero  WW11 soldier Eric Batchelor was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous bravery when he served in Italy.  Beside him is Margaret Cruikshank, the first registered woman doctor in New Zealand.  She practiced in Waimate from 1897 until she fell victim to the 1918 influenza pandemic while treating patients. The artist then recreated a scene between New Zealand's 29th Prime Minister, Waimate born  Norman Kirk together with a child at Waitangi.

Silo art in Waimate

There is yet another thing Waimate is well known for and that is the White Horse monument high up on the hill at Centrewood Park overlooking the town and farmlands.  Retired farmer Norman Hayman returned home from an European holiday inspired by a Friesian Cow statue in Holland and decided the hard working Clydesdale horse deserved a tribute too.  It took Norman and his wife Betty three months to prepare the ground and lay 1220 concrete slabs, with a huge 2.5 ton precast head.  For a small town, Waimate certainly has a lot to offer visitors. 

Seen high on the hill from the camp