What's at Pongaroa?

 What's at Pongaroa?  For such a small place, there are quite a lot of interesting things there.  We left Alfredton and drove on to Pongaroa, a slowish drive with plenty of hills, up and down again, over and over again.  In the middle of the village is a sculpture to commemorate a famous son, Maurice Wilkins, who was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize together with his colleagues when they discovered the now familiar double helix of DNA.

Double Helix, discovered by Maurice Wilkins and colleagues

We arrived at the Pongaroa Domain, the name means many tree ferns, another pleasant camping area.

Russell and  Maureen couldn't decide the best place to park, so moved here, there and back again, getting their van stuck in the soft grass.  So it was Robin to the rescue with his handy strop to pull them out onto the hard again.

Getting ready

Robin to the rescue

Three of us opted for a power site and parked up the rise under some towering trees.  There were ewes and their little lambs just over the fence.  The others parked below us on the hard standing.

Three vans up the top

And the others parked on the edge of the road

We found out that Helen grew up in Pongaroa so knows the area well.  When having a coffee in the local cafe, she mentioned that she worked in the building as an after school job when it was a country store.  

Helen's first job here as a high school girl

The local pub, the Pongaroa Hotel,  has an interesting history, starting life as a BNZ bank.  The bank closed in 1936 and was used as a private house for 12 years.  It was then converted into a hotel, then a tavern, then back to a hotel again.  There are many interesting historic photos inside the building.

Pongaroa Hotel

We had Happy Hour in the pub, no doubt the locals wondered about us as we all walked in.  You know this is a rural area when you see the gum boots all lined up at the door.  We settled down in the dining room, checked out the menus and ordered our meals.    Generous country sized servings and very tasty indeed.

Helen, Russel and Maureen

John, Flo, Geoff, Eileen, Robin and Jenny

Robin, Jenny, Helen, Owen, John and Flo

The following day was clear but cold, and we packed a picnic lunch and the folding chairs, and headed off on an adventure.  Off we went to show our camping buddies the beautiful Waihi Falls, about a 45 minute drive from the camp.  The majority had not been there before.  Arriving at the car park we noticed a brand new toilet block, there was no sign of this when we did our reccie 6 weeks or so ago.

Brand new toilet block

The walk down to the falls was down a steep track, and I counted 105 steps.  Of course it was much easier going down than clambering back up.  We all walked at our own pace and the walking poles made us feel a little more secure.

Down the track

Waihi Falls were a sight to behold, roaring with sound as the water thundered 25m over the edge, sending light spray around to land on our faces.  Such a magnificent sight, so doubt the recent rain fall had made the flow even stronger than usual.

At beautiful Waihi Falls

Cameras were clicking as everyone posed for their selfies in front of the falls.  Then we all arranged ourselves for a group photo.

Geoff, two Helens in a row, Owen, Maureen, Jenny, Robin, Flo and John

Puffing and panting we made it back up the steps, and it was time for lunch.  There was a wooden shelter available with two large picnic tables and seats, but the wind was whistling right through.  Luckily there was a nice sheltered spot at the top of the walkway so we settled down there with our folding chairs and picnic lunches.  It was a lovely spot, sheltered by native trees, and we could hear the sounds of frogs croaking in the pond down the hill a little way.  So peaceful as we sat and chatted, eating our sandwhiches and making a hot drinks from our handy thermoses.

We took a different road heading back to camp, in fact it wasn't the road Robin intended to take at all, but we got there in the end.  We commented on the huge amount of pine trees all over the hills, new plantings, some half grown and pine forests maturing.  I'm always interested in rock formations as we drive along too, these looked interesting.

Rocks protruding from the hills

Finally back in Pongaroa, we stopped at the cafe/store for an ice-cream.  After our mammoth drive up and down all those hills, we felt we deserved an ice-cream to finish off our outing.

We can go every which way from Pongaroa