Off to Carterton

 It seems that we have only been home for 5 minutes or so, and then it's time to head off again.  It was a wet and drizzly Friday morning when we put the last few things in the caravan, hooked up, and got on our way.

It was a wet Friday morning

We were heading to Carterton, a two hour drive, so off we went, up and over the Pahiatua Track which took us to the Wairarapa.  Henley Park in Masterton is always a good spot to stop for lunch, with plenty of parking available.  This is also a Freedom Camping area and there were about half a dozen caravans and campervans staying there.  We stopped for about an hour, enjoyed a leisurely lunch, and then I took a stroll down to the lake edge.  The ducks and geese saw me and thought I was coming to feed them, no such luck, ducks and geese, bread is bad for you.

Lunch stop at Henley Lake

From here, it was only a short drive to Carterton Holiday Park.  We were joining the Wairarapa Caravan Club who were running a combined rally, with members from our club Heretaunga CC and Wainuiomata CC attending.  There were 17 vans in attendance.

We're in here somewhere

The traditional 4zees was held in the camp dining room, and it was great to catch up with everyone.  Friday night fish and chips are also tradition at a rally, and they were very tasty indeed, with nice crisp batter, just how I like it.  We returned to the hall at 7.00pm for "Back in the Day", this one was all about old sayings.  Such as "sweet as a ?"  I never knew the term was sweet as a nut, here in Kiwiland this has evolved  to "Sweet As"  which I always found wondering sweet as what?  Mr Google tells me it means "no worries, or that's cool".  The beginnings of all sorts of old sayings were offered to the audience, some we knew, others not.  Such as Poets Day, which means "push off early, tomorrow is Saturday", Robin remembered that one.  It was certainly interesting hearing these long forgotten sayings again.

An outing had been arranged on Saturday morning to visit a local attraction, featuring old cars and model trains.  The property was a beautiful old villa, with lovely gardens.

Stoneway property

The man of the house has several interests, with car restoration top of the list.  He talked about finding old cars, and working around the difficulties of obtaining parts.

This one might be past saving perhaps

The current work in progress

Not many enthusiasts could lay claim to a separate building for model train layouts,  but he had one.  His interest in layouts was bush railways, milling and moving the native timber in years gone by.  As well as designing the several large layouts, he also 3D models items to use.  His saying was, "if I can draw it, I can model it".  Amazing stuff indeed.

Just some of the layouts

We all enjoyed dinner at the Carterton Club on Saturday night, two large tables full of us all.  There was a large group being served ahead of us, we had been warned so we just sat and chatted till it was our turn to order.  The meals were very nice, Robin ordered Bangers and Mash and I had Corn Fritters.

Don, Robin and Jenny and Rae waiting for our meals

There was a whole lot of happy campers

Sunday morning tea was the conclusion of the Combined Rally.  We provided savouries to commemorate Robin's recent birthday.  Thanks were made to the Wairarapa Caravan Club for a great rally and we all packed up and went our separate ways.

Happy Birthday Robin

Not us though, we are not going home yet.  We are both running a Safari Trip for a group of Heretaunga CC members, and our starting point was the Masterton NZMCA camp, starting on Sunday.  Here's hoping for good Wairarapa weather for the coming week.