A Rural Rendezvous

It was certainly something to look forward to, a rally at Wishnosky’s Farm in rural Feilding.  We knew where to go, having been here before, but for those club members who didn't, the club flag was dancing in the breeze on the road side to show us the way up the driveway.  Running ahead of us up the driveway were several pea-hen mothers and their gangly legged  chicks.  The mums flew over the farm gate, while the chicks scrambled through the the metal bars.

This is the way

With the flag already up, obviously we weren't the first to arrive, and soon joined the other early birds to line up in the paddock.  It was time for a late lunch, then we spent the afternoon catching up with our caravan club buddies and waiting for the other two vans to arrive for the weekend.

First vans to arrive at the farm

In the evening we met in the cozy clubrooms and our hosts Selwyn and Jan gave us a talk about their life on the farm and his collection of vintage items in the museum.  We went to bed listening to the stags roaring in the neighbouring farm and were woken bright and early to the crowing of the resident roosters. 

Saturday was a busy day, starting with the obligatory morning tea.  After lunch the club went out for Afternoon Tea at a local café, while we traveled on to Kiwitea to meet up with the family, and had a cuppa and a good catch up on their newly built deck.  The granddaughters are very keen horsewomen and Emma took me to the paddock to meet her Dad’s new acquisition, a pretty roan pony.  And to say hello to Emma’s two horses, mother and daughter duo Sonata and Fire Dancer.

Family horses

Arriving back at camp we joined the others in a spirited game of Battle Blocks.  Not too hard for us oldies, fling a piece of wood at the numbered blocks and the first to reach 50 points wins.  The blocks knocked over are reset where they fall, so the target gets ever wider.  Helen was the eventual winner.  We met up again in the evening, were split into three teams and did our best answering a quiz.  Some answers we got right, such as the name of a group of crows, known as a murder of crows, and some we got completely wrong.  But my team, the Spring Chickens were the winners!

The game of Battle Blocks

Sunday morning started with Robin cooking up a big breakfast in the van, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and black pudding, always a great start to the day. We enjoyed morning tea in the sunshine again, and doesn't Russell look smart in his new sun hat.

Gidday Russell

And then Selwyn took those of us interested to see his pigs.  One of the sows had a brand new litter, they arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning.  He picked one of the babies up so we could get a close look, my goodness, what a racket that little piglet made!

Brand new piglets

After morning tea we all packed up and went on our way, with two vans traveling north for a few extra days, and the rest of us were homeward bound.   We had a wonderful few days away in the country, many thanks to the rally families for organizing our weekend, and to our friendly hosts for sharing their rural property with us all.

Last Dunny for 240kms, that’s good to know

Six vans for the weekend