Final Days on Safari

The last stop on our safari was two nights at Takapau.  It was nice to be on  power again, as we were still experiencing cool weather.  

 Takapau is a pleasant camp, with power, water, recycling, laundry, a dump station, showers and toilets, and most important for our group in the chilly weather, somewhere to meet and gather.  About half  of our members opted for power sites this time.  

Staying at Takapau

We ate together in the hall on Saturday night, enjoying our local fish and chips.  Then there was a safari wrap up, starting with the telling of embarrassing stories.  I started the ball rolling when I related my tale of woe as a young Mum driving a car with L plates, remember those, plus two kids and two dogs.  I was traveling up the Wairarapa side of the Remutaka  Hill when all the traffic came to a standstill.  When the cars started off again I found it impossible to do the dreaded hill start and kept sliding back, getting closer and closer to the car behind me.  Finally, the driver came to me and offered to start my car and drove it to a flat pull off area.  I was mortified, and stayed put till all the traffic had passed by, before slowly driving home to Lower Hutt.  Other embarrassing tales followed, most of them long forgotten and buried in the subconscious, as it turned out.

During our safari we had a competition to count the number of one way bridges (there were many) we drove over.  Turnbulls and Archers came very close to the number I carefully counted and noted down, so they were declared the winners.  Bouquets and Brickbracks over our trip followed, with Helen getting a special mention for her solo caravan towing over very demanding roads, certainly not a task I would be capable of.

Sunday was a free day with people out visiting friends and family, or in our case, a little shopping and attending to the laundry.  The grand finale was dinner that evening at Sawyers Arms in Tikokino.

Sawyers Arm for a country dinner

Muddy gumboots at the door

The pub was quite full with patrons  and our group was seated in the dining room on a long table, which suited us fine.  Menus were studied, our choices were made, and generously heaped plates  arrived at the table.

 

Final dinner at Sawyers Arms

Everyone departed on Monday morning, and the gusty wind made towing a little difficult.  We stopped at NZ Natural Clothing shop at Norsewood  to make a couple of purchases, then carried on till we found somewhere to stop for lunch.

Shopping at Norsewood

Our idea was to have a break at Mangatainoko freedom camping area across the road from Tui  Brewery.  But the heavy rain put paid to that idea, the grass was rutted,  very soft and water was lying everywhere.  So we carefully drove out again, and parked in front of Tui Brewery on the main road.

There's the famous Tui Brewery tower

Lunch was easy, we had planned ahead and made some bacon sandwhiches before we broke camp, and they were very tasty indeed.  Maureen and Russell pulled up in their campervan behind us, and popped in to say hello, then we were off, on the final journey home.  Up and over the Pahiatua Track, and we were on the home stretch.  As much as I always enjoy our trips away, it's always good to get back home, safe and sound again.