Farewell to Robin

 Farewell to my darling Robin, who passed away suddenly on Thursday.  He was doing what he loved best, away on a caravan trip, this time with our ICA group, up  in Hastings.  The previous night we attended the Christmas Dinner with the group, this is our last photo together.  

After a very restless night, the following morning it was all over for us.  Many thanks to friends Bill and Val who got me, the cat  and the caravan home safely, that was a big ask, and they did it willingly.

Farewell to Robin, we shared 41 happy years together, and many, many holiday adventures.  Life will be so different now.

Weekend at Feilding

The weather didn't bode well for the caravan club weekend away at Whisnowsky's Pop (Park over Property) in Feilding.  It was raining when we packed the caravan, and raining while we got on our way.

Another rainy day

Owen had put the flag out on the roadside as not everyone had been to this place before.  Eventually nine vans arrived, and we all fitted in rather snuggly.

One behind the other on the gravel

On Saturday morning we were all invited into Owen and Helen's van at 10.00am for an important announcement.  Goodness knows how the poor caravan coped with 17 people squashed inside.  Our hosts were pleased to announce that the long running saga (4 years) of the deisel heater waiting to be fixed was finally over.  It had now been repaired and refitted, and was up working well.  After all this time, finally, a resolution.  And at morning tea there was a cake to celebrate Helen's 70th birthday.

Happy Birthday Helen

In the afternoon a group of us drove to the delightful Christmas Barn.  So many people had the same idea - the place was packed.

Christmas Barn

So many lovely Christmas objects inside, all beautifully displayed.  Elegant Christmas trees everywhere, all colour co-ordinated, shelves full of goodies, and the barn was full to overflowing with customers.  There was really so much to take in.  While the ladies in our group browsed, the men retired to the cafe, where we eventually joined them for a reviving cup of coffee.  Most of the ladies had a little parcel to take back to the camp, including me.

So many beautiful Christmas decorations

We ate our evening meals together in the evening, and all brought a contribution for the shared dessert.  There certainly was plenty of tasty desserts on offer.  And later, when our meals had settled, there were some spirited games of ping pong (table tennis) taking place.  Seems that Flo was the ping pong champion.

Shared desserts

Our hosts, Selwyn and Jan, joined us for the evening meal.

Look at all these cute teddy bears in the front window of prospective member Graham's van, collected over the years by Graham's late wife.  Graham saw me out and about with my camera and invited me to take a photo.

Teddy Bears sold each year to raise funds for the Cancer Society

It often happens, doesn't it, after a wet weekend, Sunday was fine and sunny.  It was a matter of waiting for the front vans to move out, before the ones at the back were free to go.  As people headed off home, we went north, our next stop was Napier.

50 Years of Probus

 It was a special celebration at our Probus club meeting this week, celebrating 50 years of Probus in New Zealand.  Probus had its beginnings in the UK in 1965 with retired members of Rotary forming a community based social club in Welwyn Garden City, north of London, named the Campus Club.  Then the following year the first actual Probus Club was established by the Rotary Club of Caterham.  Probus then found its way to New Zealand with the first club in the Southern Hemisphere being the Probus Club of Kapiti Coast.  Our own club, Levin Combined Probus Club was formed in 1995.

We had an interesting speaker, Cliff Rasmussen, Operations Team Manager of the newly opened St John Levin Ambulance Station, telling us of how the centre is run, and the different roles the staff have.  This talk was followed by a special morning tea to mark 50 years of Probus in New Zealand.

Dot, Jenny and Robin at Probus meeting

Rainy and Cold

 It rained off and on all night at Turangi, and didn't look much better in the morning.  Not entirely unexpected as the long Labour Weekend often has cold and wet conditions.  Our Spring weather can be very fickle indeed.

It's wet out there again

I'm always a little nervous driving along the Desert Road, especially on a holiday weekend.  The traffic was quite heavy, as expected, and Robin did his best to let the faster traffic go by.  The scenery changes dramatically, from sub alpine trees, to miles of tussock covered land which is used for military training, and then changes again to rolling farmland at the southern end. The rain and low clouds followed us, obscuring my view of Mt Ruapehu.

Very low clouds indeed

It was time to stop and catch our breath at Waiouru.  Robin attended to the fuel requirements while I went over to the coffee cart.  I had an interesting chat with the owner and another customer inside when I mentioned we were on our way home to Levin.  Both of these ladies had lived there in the past. 

Time for coffee at Waiouru

The bad weather cleared and our final stop on this trip was the Marton NZMCA Park.  Yes, we could have traveled all the way home, but a little while after settling in, the heavy rain came down again, and lasted overnight.  This is a handy little camp, one of the few with toilets available.  This harks back to the days when this property was a Council administered motor camp.  We can remember coming to the camp years ago with the caravan club.

Overnighting at Marton

Robin had decided to leave the car hooked up to the caravan overnight.  But the camp custodian came and advised us and the owners of the adjacent van to unhitch the car and park it across the way.  Although both the caravan and car fitted in the long sites, it seems that there had been instances of late arrivals damaging the cars as they drove in.  And that is also why bollards had been placed around the meeting room, to stop vehicles running into it, as had happened several times.  Unbelievable!

Bollards added to protect the building

Just for a change, we woke up to a fine and sunny morning.  A nice surprise, after all the rain we had encountered lately.  It was a short 70km trip home the next morning, always good to arrive home safe and sound and to unpack in fine weather.

Our trip north was necessary for caravan maintenance, the annual service.  And the awning needed repair too, although not ripped, a little of the stitching was coming undone.  That couldn't be left as it would have only got worse.   We were pleased with how this job was done too, and the very friendly and helpful workers at Cvana.  But...... the fridge in the caravan had been playing up all trip, so now that needs looking at.    All in all, it was a very sucessful trip, and we towed the van 1300km while we were away.