Spring has sprung at home and the tree in our front yard is bursting with tender new leaves. Although a little cloudy, we were looking forward to a nice weekend away.
Gemma decided to make life difficult for us, with all the hustle and bustle of packing the caravan going on. Why not give my people a hard time and hide for a while, she thought. We were all ready to go and searched here, searched there, to no avail, then searched again. Robin finally found her curled up and keeping low in a place I had already checked twice! I don't know why she acts like this, after all she goes away in the caravan once a month at least so should be well used to the routine by now. Finally she was secured in the car and we got on our way.
Here she is, in the car at last
We were heading off to the Pohangina Domain, formerly the village school. As we had a lunch date with my daughter, we were the first to arrive, put our van on site, and left before anyone else arrived. The ground was very soft and our caravan unfortunately made a few ruts while we backed the van where we wanted it. The old school grounds are surrounded by lovely mature trees, and there are plenty of native birds everywhere. And because it is a rural area, lambs were bleating, cattle were mooing, and the roosters were crowing!
The name Pohangina translates to "ulcerated night", suggesting that the valley had been a place of bloodshed between the local Rangitane people and their enemies.
First to arrive
By the time we arrived back from lunch, most of the others had arrived, settled themselves, and were out enjoying the sunshine.
Some of the vans on site
We had a visitor join us for the weekend, and I'm sure he was a little upset when his car and van got stuck in the soft ground. No worries, there was plenty of help to unhook his car from the caravan, and with the help of a couple of mats under the wheels, the car was driven away to firmer ground.
Plenty of advice here
Then it was Owen to the rescue with his shiny black Toyota HiLux, his strop hooked up to Graham's van, pulled it out of the mud, and parked it neatly. Thanks Owen, for your help.
Owen to the rescue
On Saturday afternoon the Rally Family, Stuart and Helen, took us on a tiki tour to the Totara Reserve camping area. The reserve was not yet open for campers, the gate was locked, but we were able to walk through and check it out.
While some enjoyed a long walk, others sat in the sun and chatted away. This is a nice camp, and extremely popular over the summer months. Then it was afternoon tea time. We walked back to the cars, took out our folding chairs, thermoses and bikkies, sat in a circle on a grassy knoll, and sat enjoying our cuppas in the lovely sunshine.
Maureen, Helen, Owen, Don, Jenny and Robin
The school room was available for the evenings to our group for a small fee, and we gathered there on Saturday night. But the power wasn't working! several hundred homes in the area. We tried various switches, but to no avail. Eventually someone went on the internet and discovered it was a local fault affecting several hundred homes in the area. Whew, it wasn't something we had done, luckily. The power eventually came on, and Helen and Stuart got underway with our evening activity. They had secured the driving tests for new and renewing drivers, so we answered the 35 questions to the best of our ability, and memories. I think most of us would have got our licenses renewed. In a real test, people are allowed only three incorrect answers to get a pass.
Sunday morning was warm and sunny and Helen and Stuart were busy for quite some time cooking on their BBQ. What were they doing, we wondered. Cooking up pikelets for everyone for morning tea, that's what! Served with jam and cream, they certainly went down well, and were most appreciated. Thanks so much Helen and Stuart, it's been a great rally indeed.
Cooking up pikelets for morning tea
No comments:
Post a Comment