On to Otorohanga

It was raining when we left the lake and started on the next stage of our trip, traveling along minor roads again till we reached our destination of Otorohanga. 

Nearly there

The plan was to stay at the NZMCA  camp for three nights so we could attend a family birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The camp was about half full when we arrived, several campers had dogs, all on leads we were happy to see.  And our next door neighbour had a tabby cat who spent most of the day snoozing under the awning tucked up on a picnic chair.

Staying at Otorohanga NZMCA Park

I think the heat was getting to Gemma as she lay stretched out on the bed for the rest of the day, too tired to do anything.

Flat out on the bed

Otorohanga is a nice little town and the following day we went exploring. 

We found an intriguing sign saying “Historic Tree”, wonder what that is all about?  And there it is.

Historic tree, Huiputea

This 300 year old Kahikatea tree was the site of a skirmish in 1822 between Ngati Maniapoto and Ngapuhi.  The war party captured some women and made camp under the tree.  The women were carrying baskets when they were captured and were told to place them under the tree, which became known as Huiputea, heap of baskets.  Other Waikato warriors tracked then and the Ngapuhi were defeated. 

Our explorations took us north, and we stopped at Kihikihi, home to Viands Bakery – we just can’t pass a good pie shop by.  Originally the plan was to enjoy one of their pies for lunch, but it was only mid morning.  Instead we purchased two cold pies, and popped them in the freezer when we returned back to the caravan,  to enjoy at a later date. 

Viands Pies at Kihikihi

Driving on to Hamilton we refilled the gas bottle, and topped up the diesel in the car.  Next on our list was to find the Whatawhata Berry Farm we had read about.  Seems every man and his kids where here too, the car park was full to bursting.  Pick your own berries was  in full swing and seemed to be a family favourite thing to do in the Christmas break, we saw lots of family groups carrying their cardboard baskets into the strawberry fields.

Whatawhata Berry Farm

That idea sounded like too much hard work for this pair of oldies, so we purchased some berries from the farm shop instead, blue berries, raspberries and blackberries, yummy.  And ordered a mixed berry ice-cream each too.  With such a crowd, it took a while, but certainly worth the wait, they were delicious.

Robin collecting our icecreams

We found a seat under a sun shade and got to work on those ice-creams.  The weather was so hot that the ice-cream was melting as we did our best to consume them before it all ran down our fingers!  Luckily we won the melting race, with just a few drips here and there.

Busy eating ice-creams

There was a pair of giant jandals out in the car park, that needed a photo too.  I've got no idea about the story behind this sculpture, Mr Google was no help at all.  Perhaps someone else knows?

Giant jandals at the berry farm

Then it was a peaceful drive back to camp, where we spent most of the afternoon cooling off while  sitting under the shade of the awning.  Gemma was happy to be outside too, and a couple of neighbours popped over to see her and say hello.  “Is she friendly?”  a lady asked me, hoping to pat her.  I had to say that she wasn’t really the most friendly of cats, she just wanted to sit outside without being bothered. 

Moving On

After a lazy morning, we packed up, said goodbye to our Kiwitea family, and got on our way.  We had a lovely four days staying on their rural homestead, nice and relaxed indeed.  We took quite a scenic drive north, up through Kimbolton, Apiti, and Rangiwhahia – we had stayed at Rangiwhahia a couple of times in the past.  Not much there at all, except a nice peaceful Domain to park at.  Then on through the papa rock cliffs, over the new to us bridge, with the old historic bridge beside us, into Mangaweka.  It was a slow trip, but it’s always nice to take the slower route when on holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papa Cliffs over the Rangitikei River, new bridge and old bridge

Then it was straight up SH1 passing through Waiouru.  It was clear that the school holidays were in full force as the carpark in the Waiouru Army Museum was full to bursting.  Kids were everywhere, climbing over the tanks in front of the museum to their hearts content.  A little further along the Desert Road we got a reasonable photo of Mt Ruapehu.

Mt Ruapehu

And to the right of Ruapehu was Mt Ngauruhoe, which featured as Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings films.

Mt Ngauruhoe

Our stop for the night was the NZMCA camp at Turangi.  What a crowd there was, I counted 50 vans on site.  Previously we had shared this large roomy camp with approximately 10 vans, so it seems that plenty of vans are on the road at this time of year.

Overnighting at Turangi

We took another “road less travelled” the following day,100km journey SH32 along the western side of Lake Taupo.  Interesting little roads were branching off down to the lake, and we remarked that next time at Turangi, we really must stay for a few days and do some exploring in this area.  We passed a sign saying “Steaming Cliffs” and there they were, thermal steam coming out of the hills in front of us.

Steaming Cliffs

We were heading for Lake Maraetai, at Mangakino, a freedom camping spot for a change, we don't often stay at these.  The first area we checked out was full of campers and day trippers, no room for our long caravan here.  Before we moved on to another area I stopped to take a photo of this interesting set up.  How about is cute little caravan!

Cute little tear drop caravan

We found another area not to far away with plenty of room for us to get set up.  But…….. on arrival when I was moving Gemma from the car to the caravan we were set upon by the  neighbour’s off lead little dog!  That's one of the reasons we don't do freedom camping, people don't care that their dogs run free into other peoples camp sites.  And the reply when I mentioned that we had a cat and could they please keep their dog under control?  “Oh”, she said, “Our dog is trained not to chase cats, and we cant find the lead”. 

 

Lake Maraetai

Christmas in the Country

It was a family Christmas this year, spent with my daughter Nicky and her family in rural Kiwitea.  But first, time to pack the caravan, moving the van from it’s parking area to the car park outside out home.  Here we can plug into power to get the fridge cold, and make the necessary trips from the house to the van, carrying food and clothes.  And most importantly, don't forget the family Christmas presents.

Caravan in front of our home

We left home on Saturday, an easy drive through the back roads to Kiwitea .Son-in-law Robert helped guide Robin back the caravan into place, but there was an oopsie when he backed over Nicky’s favourite avocado tree.  There was a loud “snap”, but luckily it was the wooden stake which broke, the tree trunk bent and survived to keep on growing.

Here for Christmas

You know you are in the country when you see plenty of hay bales.  And someone on this farm arranged a few bales with happy faces on the road side.  Just the thing to make a couple of townies happy.

Happy hay bales

We called into the local honey shop, Down Under Honey, hoping to find some comb honey.  Yes, they had some in the shop, and we happily purchased some.  We drove down the drive past a group of ostriches on this property, always interesting to see these regal looking birds.

Ostriches at Down Under Honey

Christmas morning was wet and showery, as the weatherman promised.  The traditional family Christmas breakfast here is always warm croissants with ham and cheese, very tasty indeed.  Then it was time to open the presents.  Granddaughter Emma was the Christmas Elf in charge of giving out the gifts.

Emma loves Christmas

After all that activity it was time to get the barbeques out and get cooking for Christmas lunch.  We had brought up a rolled pork loin and Robin soon had it cooking nicely – our Weber BBQ is great for cooking roasts and it certainly smelt delicious.

Rolled pork loin for Christmas lunch

Nicky had prepared another old favourite, chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese and apricots, and wrapped in bacon.  Robert fired his BBQ up and got cooking too, these needed turning often to make sure all the chicken was properly cooked through.  Delicious!

Robert cooking the chicken bacon roll-ups

The weather cleared up late morning so we could eat outside on the deck.  Neighbours arrived, and we settled down to lunch.  With pork, chicken, various salads and the neighbour’s home made rye bread, we were very well fed indeed.  Glasses of bubbly were raised in a toast, and everyone was quiet as we enjoyed our delicious meal.  After a respite it was time for desserts.  Granddaughter Megan had made a layered berry meringue dessert, simple but so delicious, plus a chocolate cheesecake.  And the neighbor had brought along a chocolate mousse.  We  were certainly well fed.

It was a lovely afternoon indeed, and I have to admit that we both sneaked away from the festivities for a quiet nana nap in the caravan.  Merry Christmas to all our friends and readers, thanks for reading and wishing you all a lovely day.  Take care on the roads if you are traveling this holiday season.

Another Busy Week

Its been another very busy pre-Christmas week.  Everything happens this time of year with Christmas break-ups from various clubs and groups we are involved with.  First was our Super Leisure Group final get-together of the year.  Each month we meet up with our SLG friends, with each of us taking a turn to organise a day out for us all.  Trish was in charge of planning something for December, but sadly she had a health emergency and  was not well enough to attend.  Four of us decided to go to Trish’s choice of café and we drove down to the Hutt Valley, along the Transmission Gully Road. Oh look, there’s the Rainbow Bridge, it’s always nice to catch a glimpse of this as we drive along the motorway..

The Rainbow Bridge, at the side of Transmission Gully motorway

We were meeting at Boulcott Golf Club Cafe in Lower Hutt.  The large car park was very full indeed, and we drove slowly around looking for an empty car park.  As well as people coming out for lunch, there were obviously plenty of golfers out enjoying their time on the golf course.

Boulcott Golf Club

Calvin and Helen arrived soon after us, and we pursued the menu and checked out the cabinet food.  There were several large tables full of other pre Christmas diners too, so the service was a little slow as the staff worked hard to serve the meals.  What to have – I chose Bubble and Squeak (don’t often see that on a menu) with a side of sliced salmon, and Robin had fish and chips.  With so many people dining, I decided not to ask the busy staff to take a photo, so we did it ourselves instead.

Helen and Calvin, and us two

As always, there was plenty to chat about, our plans for Christmas, family, and our absent friend Trish. Through the window I noticed  club members out on the greens having a hit around the course. After a long two hour lunch, and a coffee, we said our goodbyes, and headed home.

Boulcott Golf Club

The golf club is off Military Road and there is a large stone memorial on the corner of the road marking the site of Boulcott’s Farm Stockade.  This tells the story of the attack on the stockade during the Maori Wars.  On 16th May 1846 over 200 Maori warriors from Wanganui attacked the stockade and were fought off by a garrison of 50 men of the 58th Regiment.  The bodies of six Imperial soldiers who fell were buried nearby.

Memorial stone

We took the alternate  drive home around Pauatahanui and along the coast road, a much more scenic route.  The Pauatahanui Inlet is always a pretty place to stop and admire the scenery, looks like the tide was out when we were there.  Free camping in self contained vans is permitted here so it would be a nice peaceful place to stay for a night or two.

At the Inlet

And what would a drive along the coast road be without a photo stop of Kapiti Island?  We stopped at the lookout on Pukerua Bay Hill to get this rather hazy view.

Kapiti Island

There was one more stop before we made it home, we decided to call in at RJ’s for some licorice.  It’s been ages since we had called in here to make a purchase.

On entering the shop we were rather alarmed to see a whole bunch of police inside, and wondered what the emergency was.  Seems the only emergency was that they had ran out of licorice, and often call into the shop to replenish their supplies.  The police personnel left with their arms full of goodies, and we looked around to see what we wanted to buy and take home.

RJ’s Licorice

The next day we had our final Christmas occasion for the year, a BBQ lunch put on by Age Concern for the members.  There was quite a turn out with 110 people attending.  We sat ourselves down at the long tables, chatted away while the volunteers were busy cooking up the BBQ sausages and meat patties.  This was served with buttered bread and butter to wrap around our sausages, cole slaw, potato and pasta salads.  All washed down with soft drinks to quench the thirst.

Age Concern BBQ lunch

Large platters of Christmas cake were served to the crowd, then Father Christmas made an appearance with a sack full of gifts – everyone had bought along a $5 gift to put in the sack.  It was a fun time indeed.

Next week, the final week before Christmas, will be much quieter with no more social commitments.  That will make a nice change of pace.

Christmas Rally at Woodville

It was an 80im trip to Woodville on Friday, and we went up and over the Saddle Road.  It was cloudy at the top of the hill and the wind turbines were slowly rotating, putting electricity into the national grid.

At the top of the Saddle Road

Our venue for the weekend  was the Woodville and Pahiatua Racing club.  We parked on the hard standing, and had the  use of the kitchen, dining room/hall and toilets during our stay.  It’s always great to have somewhere to meet inside in the evening or because of inclement weather.  We drove up the tree lined drive, found ourselves a site, and settled in to enjoy the weekend.

The weather was warm enough to enjoy 4zees outside on Friday afternoon, and then we gathered in the hall on Friday evening.  Dave related the upcoming changes to the regulations about toilet cassettes, seems the new idea will impact us all and at a cost.  We will await developments.

The following morning I climbed the grandstand steps to get an elevated view of our vans parked up.  Nine vans were in attendance this weekend

Here we all are

The tantalising smell of bacon cooking led me over to John’s van where he and Flo were cooking up a hearty breakfast on the BBQ.  It did look tasty, bacon, eggs, hash browns, mushrooms and tomatoes.  That will be a good start to the day.

John and Flo with their BBQ breakfast

We settled into our chairs outside for morning tea.  Dot had brought along a cake to share to celebrate her recent birthday.  Our club members never say no to free goodies.

Dot sharing her birthday cake

Later in the morning the members pooled cars and set of to Dannevirke, to go and visit the Fantasy Cave.  Our club had visited this many years ago, but the building being used was not up to earthquake standards and the Cave had been in recess for some years.  This Christmas it was a “pop up” show in another venue – that sounded like fun and most of us were keen to go and check it out.  Handing over our gold coin entry fee, we stepped into a Christmas wonderland full of trees, ornaments and sparkly lights.

Christmas Fantasy Cave

Oh look, there’s Santa in the corner.  At only $5 for a photo with the big man in red, how could I resist!  Put your arm around his shoulder, I was told, and hold onto his hand.

Hello Santa

Then we spotted the toy train and Dot and I remembered having our photo taken sitting in this on our previous long ago visit.  It took a wee bit of body contortion to slip in to the tiny carriages, but we made it. 

All aboard.  Helen, Owen, Sue, Jenny, Deb, Dot, Murray and Dave

That was certainly a fun visit, we all had lots of laughs.  With lunch next on the agenda we all walked down the main road to the Black Stump and enjoyed a light lunch.  Luckily tables were rearranged to fit our group in comfortably.  The café was very busy indeed with pre Christmas shoppers out and about in force.

Back to camp again for another round of 4zees, then it was time for the highlight of our weekend, a  shared Christmas meal.  Sue and her helpers had done a wonderful job setting the tables and decorating the room.  She had also produced some table place names for us all, that was a lovely touch, just like attending a rather posh dinner!  Sue pointed out that the caravan and motorhome owners both had an appropriate  picture of their rigs on their cards. 

Everyone prepared their own main meal, and the club provided strawberries and ice-cream.  Flo had kindly prepared a couple of pavlovas for us, for the second year in a row.  We reminded her that she had done such a great job we would now expect her to keep this donation up in the future.  Everyone was asked to feel under the table for a ribbon, depicting a prize.  After much hilarity with us all patting underneath the table, Pamela was the lucky winner.

And the winner is……Pamela

My camera decided to go into fuzzy mode that evening for some reason, so the photos of the dinner were not at all good.

Fuzzy wuzzy people

The weather turned bad overnight and on Sunday morning, rain and strong gusts of wind had us concerned about the drive home.  We enjoyed our final morning tea of the weekend, complete with fruit mince pies courtesy of the club.  Deb had brought along a Christmas tree strewn with chocolates, and some tasty apricot coconut balls, thanks very much Deb.  Luckily the wind did drop a little in the late morning so we said our farewells, wished each other a Merry Christmas and made our way home.  Thanks to the committee for running such a splendid Christmas Rally.