It certainly was a busy weekend. Our first ever King's Birthday 3 day Weekend, it seems so strange to say that after 70 years of Queen’s Birthday. We finished packing the caravan on Friday morning, and then sat and waited for the firemen to arrived. They were coming to do several smoke alarm assessments at our village, and we were on their list. Actually, we were booked to have this done the previous week, but the brigade were attending a fire call out, so we were rebooked to this Friday.
And here they come, the fire engine was parked a few doors away from us, and three burly firemen came calling. They checked and replaced our current smoke alarm as it was out of date, and installed an extra one as well. We chatted about an escape plan, and found out that these men were not from our local brigade, but had come from Wellington to help out. Such pleasant young men, and so helpful. This is a free service, and much appreciated.
There they go
No sooner had the firemen departed, than Owen and Helen arrived. Owen had kindly offered to clean the roof of our caravan which had lichen growing, so Robin had sprayed it with Wet and Forget cleaner the previous week. Owen was up the ladder with his soft broom, a container of hot water and car wash and wax at the ready, vigorously cleaning away. Helen was on hand to take the broom, and hand over the hose, while Robin was there steadying the ladder and offering encouragement. He was just so thankful that it wasn’t him and his wobbly legs trying to stand up on the ladder to do this job. All this took a while, much longer than I had anticipated, which gave me some time to whip up a batch of cheese muffins for us all. We are so grateful for Owen and Helen for doing this chore for us.
Owen hard at work up the ladder
After lunching together, it was time to get on our way to Himatangi for a caravan weekend, a 40km journey so not too far away at all.
New sign at Himatangi
We were staying at Himatangi Beach Camp, which has recently become a Top 10 camp. This camp is always well maintained, with lovely clean facilities.
Just a small turnout this time, with just three of our vans attending the weekend. The weather was fine, but that wind certainly had a bite to it, so we enjoyed the first 4zees of the weekend inside our van. Being a long weekend, there were plenty of arrivals during the afternoon, and beach buggies rolling in and out of camp visiting the nearby beach.
Our three on site, Dot’s VW motorhome, and two Leisurelines
With no rally family this weekend, we all had a say on what to do. How about a visit to Viv’s Kitchen at Sanson? That sounded great, but shall we do morning tea, lunch, or afternoon tea? We all agreed that lunch sounded a great idea so off we went. Several Cream Horns were devoured, and a couple of those big squishy chocolate eclairs came home with us for dessert that evening. Sue and Murray called to the camp and joined us for 4zees, so it was great to catch up with them later in the afternoon.
Robin, Jenny, Dot, Helen and Owen
Luckily that pesky wind dropped but there was a definite chill in the air, a bit too cold to sit around outside. We decided to have a little drive on Saturday afternoon to Foxton Beach, and directed Owen down Wylie Road, one he had never driven down before. This rural back road has several large free range chicken barns, and we saw plenty of chickens out enjoying the fresh air and scratching around in the grass, as they like to do.
This way to Foxton Beach
There were a whole swag of freedom campers parked up by Foxton Beach Surf Lifesaving club rooms, lots of big buses and vans, but freedom camping is not for us. The beach was busy, beach buggies were driving around, some people were paddling, and we noticed one brave family sitting on the sand having a picnic. Goodness me, the wind would have been rather cold down on the beach, I imagine. Vehicles are allowed to drive on this beach, but at their own risk, I imagine.
The beach is a road
The moody beach
What better way to finish off our afternoon out that an ice-cream back at Himatangi Beach.
Helen, Robin, Jenny and Dot
We all packed up and got away reasonably early on Monday morning, as bad weather was forecast and we also wanted to beat the holiday weekend traffic. It was a nice pleasant weekend, very relaxing, and enjoying each other’s company.
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