Dannevirke and Takapau

We were lucky to be offered an extra night's free stay  at the Foxton Bowling Club, so we didn't start our journey northwards till Monday morning.  Waving goodbye to the few remaining caravanners, we headed towards Woodville as arranged, to meet up with Owen and Helen for lunch.  There they were, they had arrived before us.  We took our lunch into their van, and ate together.

Lunch at Woodville

Our stop for the night was at the Dannevirke Golf Club.  It had been some years since we had last stayed here, and was a first for Owen and Helen.  

Power points were available at a very reasonable charge, so we manoeuvred the vans into position and set ourselves up for the night.

At Dannevirke Golf Club

Going into the office to pay our fees, we got chatting to the man in charge, and Helen enquired if the freezer contained any ice-cream.  No, only frozen pies, was the reply.  Oh, and these sausage rolls.  With that he handed both Robin and Owen a large sausage roll, and didn't want any payment for them.  These are trucked away safely in our caravan freezers, and Robin and Owen have decided to heat and eat their sausage rolls together one lunchtime.  Which just goes to show that it doesn't take too much to keep these men happy, does it?

After one night at Dannevirke, the plan was to move on to Takapau Motor Home Caravan Park for the next two nights.  The name Takapau means Sleeping Mat.  Takapau was once the centre of a large flax milling industry and takes it's name from the flax which grew in the expansive Takapau Plains.

On Wednesday the four of us decided to go on a drive and visit OngaOnga, a historic town not too far away. 

 Full of interesting old buildings, but the wind was blowing a gale as we walked around.  There was an old bush settler's hut, a tiny jail, and the historic general store.

Bush settlers hut

Old jail

Historic General Store

But the most interesting building, in my view was the Coles Brothers building.  Not only did they work as builders, joiners, ironmongers, painters and plumbers, they were also undertakers as required.  Obviously the Coles Brothers were a  very talented family indeed.

Coles Bros building in Ongaonga

We then drove on to Waipukarau for a light lunch and to get a little shopping.  Back at camp, Geoff and Eileen arrived, so there were three of us again.

Staying at Takapau

This is a pleasant little camp, and we enjoyed Happy Hour in the hall with the friendly custodians and other campers.  The custodians have a lilac point Birman, who, they told us, thinks she is in charge of their household, the same as our Gemma thinks.  Robin was on BBQ duty, cooking up lamb chops for our dinner.

Lamb chops for dinner

From Takapau we move on to Napier for our caravan club Easter Rally.  I do hope the Easter Bunny knows where to find us.