SLG Lunch, and checking out a Camp Site

Mid week we drove down to meet up with our Super Leisure Group friends for lunch.  Although the weather was a little damp when we left home, it cleared up as we drove further south.  Ground Up Café in Pauatahanui was our lunch stop, and the gas brazier certainly kept us nice and cozy while we ate and chatted away.  What to eat?  Robin and I both chose French Toast served with banana, berries, maple syrup and whipped cream.  It was a while since I last had something like this, and it was delicious!

Mmmm, so nice

I got my camera out and we took a snap of the men and then Robin took one of us ladies.  The waiter saw us fiddling around with the camera and offered to take one of the whole group, that was nice of him.  The café had been so busy with customers I didn’t really want to disturb him.

Here we all are, Helen, Calvin, Robin, Ashley, Jenny and Trish

After our meal and coffee, it was time to say our goodbyes and all head off to our respective homes.  We had a job to do first, to check out a prospective camp site for the caravan club.  Battle Hill Forest Park was a 6km drive from Pauatahanui on the Paekakariki Hill Road.  We found the camping area, and although it was a little boggy at this time of year, I’m sure it will be great during the summer months.  Certainly could be well worth a visit in the future.

Battle Hill Forest Park

We took the more scenic coastal road back home, stopping along the way at a rest area to admire Kapiti Island, which was a little hazy that afternoon.

Kapiti Island in the distance

There was an information board telling of the building of this coastal road, Centennial Highway.  Opened in November 1939, the new highway was to replace the Paekakariki Hill Road as the main route between Wellington and Paekakariki. The Road largely followed the route of a military road built on the line of a Māori track in the 1840s and was not suitable for "modern" motorized traffic.  It offered many significant challenges for engineers and builders alike, constructed on a wide variety of land forms – sand dunes through Paremata, swamp land through Plimmerton, carved-out hillsides at Pukerua Bay and required extensive sea-walling along the coastal strip between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki.  Now overshadowed by the new Transmission Gully Highway, Centennial Highway offers a quieter scenic route with lovely coastal views,  in my view, still a road worth traveling if you are not in too much of a hurry.

Telling the story of Centennial Highway

Matariki Weekend Rally - Part 2

The rally continued on Saturday with afternoon tea at a local café with the delightful name “Two Fat Chefs”.  We all gathered inside, sat down at the long reserved table, then heard the dreaded words.  The coffee machine wasn't working.  Oh no – that’s a disaster.  But with a bit of perseverance the staff managed to get it going again and we sat back and enjoyed our choice of coffee, hot chocolate, or tea,  and Robin enjoyed a chocolate milkshake.

Back in the cars again and just around a corner or two and we arrived at “allenpaper”      Club member Stuart gave us a tour through the factory, explaining the processes and the various finished products he produces.  Many thanks to Stuart and Helen for the talk and also for arranging our afternoon tea venue.

Factory tour

Arriving back at Paekakariki we went to check out the new interpretation panels which tells the history of Queen Elizabeth Park.  In 1941 Japanese forces attacked Hawaii.  To keep our country safe the government agreed to New Zealand becoming an American staging base, and camps had to be built immediately for the expected troops.   Camp Paekakariki became an instant camp and housed over 5,000 Marines.  There were three main camps, all situated in or adjacent to present-day Queen Elizabeth Park. Camp Russell housed the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Camp Mackay housed the 6th Infantry Regiment, and camp Paekakariki housed the 8th Regiment. At one stage there were over 20,000 Americans stationed in the region.  The camps went up in a record six weeks, bringing monumental social change to the whole Wellington region. 

The camps were used for training purposes as well as rest and recreation for those returning from the Pacific combat zone. The steep surrounding hills proved suitable terrain for marching and mortar practice, and the beaches were used to stage amphibian invasions.

History of the American Military Camps

There was a rugby test being televised on Saturday evening, the All Blacks were playing the Spring Boks.  So the evening was spent in different vans, with the rugby mad men gathering in two vans who could screen the match on Sky TV.  A group of ladies brought their knitting to our van, and we girls had a very pleasant evening together. Several others who couldn't care less about rugby or knitting stayed in their own vans, enjoying their own company and no doubt having an early night.   And….. of course the All Blacks beat the Spring Boks very soundly!

We had our last morning tea together on Sunday morning, and the chocolate bars were handed around.    Russell and Maureen deserved an extra chocolate as they were celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary – many congratulations to them both.  Everyone then packed up and headed for home, except one van who decided to stay an extra night.  Many thanks to all for attending, and taking part in the weekend.

Matariki Weekend Rally – Part 1

With Friday being a public holiday to celebrate Matariki, we left for the Paekakariki Holiday Park late on Thursday morning with entry after 1.00pm.  Robin and I were the rally family, so had been working on a couple of ideas to keep our caravan buddies entertained for the weekend.  Calling into the office to pay our fees we were then directed onto the sites allocated for our caravan club.  A couple of early birds had arrived and were already set up.

By the end of the day we were all on site, except for one van who arrived the following day, a total of ten vans for the weekend.

Paekakariki Holiday Park

On Thursday night we met in the kitchen, all gathered around the long table.  We talked about Matariki which is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. It rises in midwinter and for many Māori, it heralds the start of a new year. Matariki is a time to reflect on the past and those who have passed on, to celebrate the present with our friends and family and kai (food), and to look ahead and plan for the future.  Everyone had been asked to bring along a can of soup wrapped in newspaper, and we asked our club members to share about any future trips they were planning, caravan or otherwise,  as they selected one of the mystery soup cans to take home. 

Choose your mystery can of soup

As far as the weather was concerned, Friday was by far the nicest day of the weekend.  We sat outside in the sunshine for a couple of hours, enjoying our al fresco lunches.  In fact it was so warm that several of us divested ourselves of our winter woolies, that’s rather unusual on a winter’s day. The weather stayed fine so we were still outside for afternoon tea.  Vice President Eileen presented Owen and Helen with their 100 rally bars, congratulations to them both.

 

There was a rather large cake to share, banana cake with chocolate icing, and layered with cream.  (In fact, this cake lasted us all for the next two days, mornings teas and suppers, till it was finally finished.)  Robin then presented the centurions with a big bobbing helium balloon, tying it onto the back of the chair so it didn't blow away. 

Congratulations to Owen and Helen

Friday night was a Talent Night – members had been asked to talk about their hobbies, what they make with their hands, and bring some examples to show.  I wasn't sure how this idea would be received, but we were thrilled with the enthusiastic response.  Maureen was first, and she showed us examples of her lovely hand work, cross stich, longstitch  and tapestries.  Unfortunately my photo of Maureen’s work seems to have disappeared.  Owen followed and related his passion and the work involved when  restoring his 1935 three window Chev Sports Coup.    There was difficulty in sourcing the parts required, but he completed the job in two years.  He has a real love of cars.

Restoration Maestro

Stuart related quite a different tale, telling us about his and Helen’s passion for biking on trails across New Zealand.  They started with mountain bikes and then later on joined the e-bike revolution.  They also went biking across the world, hiring bikes while on overseas holidays.  Biking in places like Shanghai, France, Alaska and San Francisco.  Helen had produced a slide show of pictures of their many biking adventures.

Stuart and Helen’s  biking adventures

Don then had the floor and talked about his enjoyable time as part of the Amateur Radio group.  He set up the  Amateur Emergency Radio Service, which provides dedicated communication coverage during emergencies when cell phone coverage could be compromised,  with the Esk Valley flooding being a recent example.  The small hand held radios he had on show have good coverage, and members can be in communication  high on a ridge with one, and down in a deep valley with another and able to communicate and guide other agencies as required.

Don and his radios

We all knew Sue was an artist and she spoke about how a friend got her started in painting ten years ago.  She prefers to paint in oils but sometimes uses acrylic on the base and oils for the subject.  Sue showed us several examples of her lovely paintings, still life, birds, and portraits.  She is very talented indeed, and two of our members have already commissioned her work.

Sue with her ballerina painting

Bread is the staff of life, and Geoff has enjoyed cooking up loaves in his bread maker for quite some time now.  He likes to experiment with different recipes and brought two loaves in for a taste test.  Geoff sliced the bread and I spread the butter on and passed the plates around.  We tried a rolled oats loaf, followed by mixed fruit and cinnamon, very tasty indeed.

Thanks Geoff for the taste test

Murray was up next and spoke about his interest in woodwork at the local Menz Shed.  Many of the members there make toys for under priviledged children, often such a toy is the only gift they receive, and had a young boy’s truck he had designed and made to show us.    Murray brought along a couple of bowls he had made on the woodturning lathe, these wooden  bowls had such a lovely tactile feel to them.  

Murray with his woodwork

Helen likes trying new things, she told us, as diverse as glass blowing, flax weaving, mosaics, painting bottles and cross stitch.  Knitting is very much part of her life and she enjoys baby knitting and making socks.

Helen and her socks

Dot was up next to talk about her hobby of card making.  It all started when she moved to Levin and attended card making classes with her new neighbours. She told us about embossing, and upcycling used cards to make interesting new creations.  She really enjoys her hobby and often donates a collection of cards to the Op Shop to sell for their funds.

Dot, card maker

Although Russell spend his working life as an engineer, in retirement he has been busy assembling wooden kit sets.  He brought along a wooden jeep, a tall house with built in  furniture and an impressive looking three mast ship.  Then he moved on to working with matchstick kits.  His American wagon made from so many tiny matchsticks was certainly a work of art.

Russell and his models

I was the lucky last one to speak, and took along a selection of children’s quilts to talk about.  Some had embroidery, one was a panel, others were pieced, and all had been made in anticipation of the arrival of great grand children in the future.  The horse panel quilt, made because my two granddaughters are keen horse women, was voted the favourite of them all. 

My horse panel quilt

We were so pleased that so many of our members took the challenge to show and share their hobbies with everyone.   Thanks so much to all who took part.

Movie Date

We don't go to the movies very often, but when there is a film we particularly want to see, we certainly make an effort.  Films don't seem to remain too long at out local cinema and we have missed some we really wanted to see by not acting quickly enough.  Yesterday we drove down to Focal Point Cinema to attend the 5.00pm session.

And look who we bumped in to.  My younger sister Karla and her partner Murray.  They were having a coffee and snack before going to visit some friends.  We had plenty of time before our session started, so joined them for a coffee and a good catch up while we were waiting.

Jenny, Murray and Karla

The film we were going to see was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.  “Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi who works for NASA”.  Indiana Jones is the first to admit that he is not as young as he used to be, with the passing years giving him aching joints and slight memory loss!  It was a rollickingly great yarn, with plenty of action scenes, and an unexpected story line.  Indie fans will love it!

Movie Date Night with Indie

Heading Home

Our ICA Rally had come to an end, and everyone headed off home.  But not before Robin pulled a very large, and rather expensive motor-home off the sodden grass.  With that job done and dusted, we headed south.  The weather report was a worry, with warnings of cold weather, snow, and high winds arriving over the next couple of days.  We stopped at Tokoroa to use the dump station and came across two trucks back to back in the large car park.  There was a lot of noise going on, and the stamping of hooves as they endeavored to transfer cattle from one truck to the other.  We had never seen that happen before.

Wrangling cattle

You know it’s winter when all the leaves have been blown of the trees.  What we didn't expect to see were all the birds nests up in the bare branches, that’s an awful lot of nests in one tree.

Seen in Tokoroa

It was decided to take the scenic route around the western side of Lake Taupo.  This took us over the Whakamaru Dam, that was certainly interesting.

Driving over the Whakamaru Dam

Friday night was spent at Turangi NZMCA Park.  Plenty of room here and we decided to park on the upper level.  The night was cold, wet, windy, and freezing cold – no wonder Gemma spent her time cuddled up to us on the bed.  What would the morning hold, we wondered, hoping it wouldn't be too windy for the final part of our drive home.

Not nice here at all

The weather conditions were checked the following morning – we should be fine to travel, we decided, although snow was expected on the Desert Road.  We’ll just take it easy.  We saw several groups of snow ploughs parked up on the Desert Road, ready and waiting for the snow to fall

Snow ploughs at the ready

The snow did fall as we drove along, falling  soft and sludgy on the windscreen.  And the temperature dropped lower and lower, right down to –1C.  Goodness me, that’s rather cold for us.  There was no chance of getting a glimpse of Mt Ruapehu in these conditions with the clouds so low.

Brr, it’s cold outside

Once past Waiouru the temps started to slowly rise and we left the low clouds, rain and sleet  behind us.  We decided to stop at Flat Hills for lunch, but a bus load of passengers beat us to the lunch counter, so we tagged onto the end of the queue.  This is just one of three buses which stop here each day for lunch, we were told, which must make such a difference to the turnover, I imagine.  As it was such a chilly day I was so pleased to see soup on the menu.  So it was pumpkin soup for me, a steak and cheese pie for him, a nice hot coffee each, and we shared a piece of carrot cake. 

Lunch break

The name Flat Hills is certainly a strange name.  The painting hanging in the café tells the story.

“Flat Hills is the dreamland of the high country shepherd and his dogs, exhausted from climbing the steep rocky mountains.  Flat Hills is a curiosity, it’s a geological impossibility, a pipe dream of simplicity brought to reality”.

Flat Hills

Driving through Bulls we were getting much closer to home.  Statues of black bulls are dotted throughout the town, and we wondered what strangers think when they see a large black bull standing on the street.  The unexpected glimpse must give people a bit of a start, I imagine.

I don’t know how Gemma always knows when she is almost home, but she does.  The caravan was unpacked and put away in its parking area, the first load of laundry was put on, and we sat and had a cuppa.  It was good to arrive home safe and sound, and luckily the expected bad weather did not arrive during our trip.