Scotts Ferry and the Bess Memorial

 After our lunch at Mint, we took a little Tiki Tour.  Starting off at Scott's Ferry, which transported horses, cattle, sheep, produce and people across the Rangitikei River from 1850 to 1908.  The ferry (barge) was then purchased and  worked on the Whanganui River from 1908 to 1975, and after laying derelict for some years, was salvaged, restored and returned to the area where it first started operating all those years ago, to honour all the early pioneers.   In the early  days the coastline and rivers were the roads of the day.  

Scott's Ferry  transported goods across the river

Scott's Ferry Weather Station raised a smile

From here we went in search of the Bess Memorial.  Thousands of horses were purchased and sent overseas in WW1.  Bess was bred in the Wairarapa and was selected by Col Charles Guy Powles, an officer in the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade.  Bess served in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, France and Germany, before heading to England and finally returning home in 1920.  She was one of only four horses who returned home after war service.

Bess enjoyed 14 peaceful years on the farm, and she was buried where she collapsed and died in 1934.  Col Powles had a memorial constructed in white marble to honour the life of his special horse.  This spot was one of the many Anzac Services held around the region on Anzac Day.

The Bess Memorial

Along the fenceline are two special young trees, Gallipoli Pines grown from seeds brought back as pine cones after WW1.  The trees were felled and used for reinforcing the trenches.  There are two pines, either side of the gate to the Bess Memorial.

Gallipoli Pines

Anzac Day 2024

 Our Caravan Club club is attending our Anzac Weekend Rally at Mt Lees Reserve.  Four of us went to take part in the Anzac Day Civic Service Service held at Sanson School.  The band assembled and marched towards the War Memorial.

The Ode was spoken, and then an elderly gentleman played the Last Post.  Wreaths were laid at the foot of the War Memorial.  It was all very moving, as we sat outside in the cold wind.

The second part of the service was held indoors, in the school hall, we were pleased to get away from the fierce wind. We all stood and sung along to God Defend New Zealand, several more speeches were made, including an interesting recollection of a recent trip to Gallipoli. There was a wonderful painting by local artist David Mawson hanging on the wall, representing various "eras in aviation" that would have flown from Ohakea Airforce Base.

Mural by David Mawson

 Lest We Forget

Ted’s Bottle and Waimate

I was looking forward to our next stop after Dunedin -  Waimate, which was 159km up SH1. The first glimpse that we were getting closer was the yellow shed on the main road featuring a wallaby and  encouraging us to “Hop in for a Visit".   Wallabies? You may well ask, this is New Zealand, not Australia. Wallabies were released for hunting purposes near Waimate in 1874. Fifty years later, they were recognised as a pest, responsible for destroying pasture, native regeneration, damaging fences and displacing stock. Although tens of thousands have been shot, unfortunately it has  made little dent in the population.  They may be cute and furry, but they are an introduced species and are not welcome.

Hop in for a Visit

We stayed overnight at the Waimate NZMCA Park, a lovely camp which we had visited before.  It was nice to park up on grass, and water and rubbish facilities were available.

Waimate NZMCA Park

The reason I was so keen to stop at Waimate was to visit one of the pubs in my “Great Kiwi Pub Crawl” book, and check out the sad story of Ted’s Bottle at the Waihao Forks Hotel. 

Ted d’Auvergne was having a farewell drink or two with his mates at the pub, waiting for the train to take him to Burnham Military Camp for training before heading off to war.  Ted heard the train coming, and left an unopened bottle of beer on the bar, calling to the publican to “save it until I get back”.  Ted served for two years in the Middle East, was transferred to Greece, and was killed in May 1941 in the Battle of Crete.  The publican saved Ted’s bottle of Ballins XXXX beer, and it is now stored in a case above the bar, engraved with Ted’s battalion insignia.  Each April on Anzac Day, another poppy is placed inside the case, and the locals drink to Ted and all his fallen comrades.  There is a statue of Ted outside the pub, showing him waiting with his kit bag at the station.

At the Waihao Forks Hotel

We stopped to admire the Silo Art back in town.  Waimate artist Bill Scott painted murals on grain silos at Transport Waimate’s Queen Street yard.  The silos were built by hand in 1920 nd were the first of their kind in the country.  Hometown hero  WW11 soldier Eric Batchelor was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous bravery when he served in Italy.  Beside him is Margaret Cruikshank, the first registered woman doctor in New Zealand.  She practiced in Waimate from 1897 until she fell victim to the 1918 influenza pandemic while treating patients. The artist then recreated a scene between New Zealand's 29th Prime Minister, Waimate born  Norman Kirk together with a child at Waitangi.

Silo art in Waimate

There is yet another thing Waimate is well known for and that is the White Horse monument high up on the hill at Centrewood Park overlooking the town and farmlands.  Retired farmer Norman Hayman returned home from an European holiday inspired by a Friesian Cow statue in Holland and decided the hard working Clydesdale horse deserved a tribute too.  It took Norman and his wife Betty three months to prepare the ground and lay 1220 concrete slabs, with a huge 2.5 ton precast head.  For a small town, Waimate certainly has a lot to offer visitors. 

Seen high on the hill from the camp

Carterton Holiday Park

Our caravan club was staying at Carterton Holiday Park for Anzac Weekend, and I must say that this would have to be one of my favourite motor camps.  There have been several improvements made since our last visit here, including adding some drop down heavy plastic curtains around the verandah area of the kitchen/dining room.  There is new outdoor furniture in place and it all looks rather smart, and allows the area to be used as the weather gets cooler.

Enclosed veranda now

With so many lovely big trees around it does make finding the satellite TV reception a bit of trial and error.  Robin backed the van onto our site, tried the TV, no reception there.  So back it went another foot or so, and after going round and round, the dish finally locked onto the satellite.  Then the van was finally unhooked from the car, legs down, power plugged in and we were set for the weekend.  This camp also has drains on each site for grey water which is a real bonus, one less tank to empty when it is time to go home.

All set for a great weekend

We had quite a big group for this rally.  Nine of our club vans, three vans from the Hawkes Bay Club, and two prospective members vans.  It was a bit of a squeeze in the dining room in the evenings, but we all made it.

View from the top of the camp

Some decided to settle in a day earlier on Thursday but most of us arrived of Friday.  It was great to see Selwyn and Kath again, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a photo of Selwyn with his very special “Fisk” named coffee mug. 

Good morning Selwyn

Also at morning tea on Saturday, Helen and Stuart were inducted into our club, after completing three rallies, and deciding that yes, we weren't such a bad bunch after all and they would like to join us in our caravan rallies. 

Helen, Stuart and our President Owen

Paul and Wendy were visiting for the first time and what a surprise, they are now the owners of Dot and Derek's former Autotrail Savannah Gypsy Rover. 

We haven't seen this van for a while

The weather has been so nice we were able to enjoy Morning Teas out in the sunshine, and gather in the dining room for 4zees and later in the evenings.  Although the autumnal daytime temperatures have been nice and sunny as it usually is in the Wairarapa, once the sun goes down the temps certainly drop.

Robin cooked our usual Sunday breakfast on the Weber BBQ on Sunday morning.  Delicious as usual with bacon, tomatoes, and eggs cooked in a slice of bread.  Known as “Benton Eggs” we have been told, but we can’t claim this idea, we copied this method from another camper years ago.

Sunday breakfast on the BBQ

Visitors came to call at Morning Tea on Sunday, Pam and Terry from the Wairarapa Club, who live nearby.  It was lovely to catch up with them again, and Pam looked very elegant sporting her pretty flower sun umbrella.

Pam and her sun shade

We all had dinner on Sunday evening at the nearby Buckhorn Restaurant, and our large group had a room to ourselves.  Plenty of good food choices, lamb shanks for those who enjoy this dish, steak, burgers and chicken.  Something for everyone, and I must say, that when the meals were brought out, all the chatter stopped while we concentrated on our dinner plates.   The Buckhorn, as the name suggests, was decorated in Wild West style.

Inside the Buckhorn Restaurant

Monday was Anzac Day and the Motor Camp Mother delivered some “just out of the oven “Anzac Biscuits and Fruit Loaf for us to enjoy with our morning tea.  That was very thoughtful, and we certainly made short work of the home baked goodies.

A few couples were staying on for another night, and most of us packed up and got on our way, hoping to beat the long weekend traffic.  For a change, we decided to go home via the Rimutaka Hill, joining up with the new Transmission Gully Road at Pauatahanui Interchange to continue northwards. 

Heading home

Solway Park and a Trip to the Coast

It was time to pack up and leave Timona Park, and move on to our next stop, Solway Park Showgrounds in Masterton, a distance of 121km.  We were a little late leaving as we had a family breakfast to attend at one of the local cafes.  Once back in camp, we hooked up, and made the obligatory visit to the dump station.  Then off we went, driving over the Saddle Road.  And there they were, those wind turbines up on the hill, working away to turn the power of the wind into electricity.

We hadn't travelled too far when we came to a grinding halt, stopped by a young women in high viz holding a stop/go pole, which we noticed was taller than she was!  After waiting in line for ages, a slow stream of cars and trucks trundled towards us.  Finally we got the go signal and off we went, driving past the problem on the road, a tree had come down in a land slip and was covering one of the lanes.  A team was working hard to clear the road and get traffic moving properly again.  

Hold up on the road

Once over the Saddle Road, it was easy driving from there on.  Oh look, there’s the “world famous in  Mangatainoka” Tui Brewery tower.  There is a freedom camping area across the road from the brewery down by the river, but we weren't stopping here, and continued on our way.

Tui Brewery at Mangatainoka

We soon arrived at our destination, found a site and Robin went to pay for our three night stay here.  This is a lovely place to stay, beautiful grounds surrounded by magnificent mature trees.

Solway Park

The historic grandstand peeking through the trees

With a brand new NZMCA park at Riversdale we packed a picnic lunch on Thursday and set off to check it out.  We drove through pine forests, meeting up with heavily loaded logging trucks on the road, finally arriving at Riversdale.  The newly opened  park is quite small and can accommodate 28 vans.  At this stage there is no water or rubbish facilities available, and we were surprised to see about a dozen vans on site.

Riversdale Beach NZMCA

The pretty little St Joseph’s Catholic Church is close to the camp

Riversdale Beach was a bit wild

Next stop was  at the tiny hamlet of Tinui at the cemetery and the start of the Tinui Walkway.  Tinui was the first place in the world to have a formal celebration of Anzac Day. Back in 1914 there were well over 1000 single men in the area, many volunteered to the services and some lost their lives.   In 1916 Rev Basil held an Anzac ceremony at Tinui on the hill top and erected a cross.  This cross was later replaced and is in the original position on top of the hill overlooking the village.  The popularity of this Anzac Day Service has grown enormously over the years, with visitors and locals alike making the early morning trek up the hill.  In the car park we saw the Memorial to Peace boulder, donated by a local family.  This huge rock is local sandstone/shale concretion and dates from 70-80 million years ago.

Memorial to Peace Boulder at Tinui Walkway

Back in the car again and we drove to Castle Point Beach to see the lighthouse.  Castle Point Lighthouse is the North Island's tallest lighthouse standing 52m above sea level and is one of only two left in New Zealand with a rotating beam. It is owned and operated by Maritime New Zealand.  There is a walkway up to the lighthouse which we had walked up previously.  Not this time though, not with my sore back and Robin’s sore knees, we decided to admire it from the car.

Castle Point Lighthouse

Some heavy duty boats parked up on their trailers

We had taken a picnic lunch with us, so sat in the car looking out over the beach while we enjoyed our sandwiches and coffee.  This beautiful sandy beach seems much more suitable for paddling and swimming than Riversdale Beach, and we noticed several family groups enjoying the water.  Not too bad for April, we thought.

Castle Point Beach

That was the end of our coastal adventures so we made our way back to Masterton, stopping off to buy some fresh strawberries from the Wee Red Barn cart.  They will be nice for dessert, and maybe some for breakfast as well.  Back at Solway Park we noticed that horse jumps had been erected in the show grounds.  There is going to be a 3 day horse jumping event taking place, so things will be very busy, and noisy too, we were told.  Just as well we are moving on tomorrow.

Ready for the horse crowd

Anzac Weekend on the farm

We spent the three day Anzac Weekend with our Caravan Club buddies at Lutz Farm,  a dairy farm  in rural Otaki.  On arrival, the first duty of the weekend was to erect the gazebo, to give us a little shelter from any wind or rain which was quite likely to occur over the weekend.  Wrestling with the gazebo certainly took some doing but the hardy bunch of volunteers soon had it under control.

Gazebo in place for the weekend

Circle the wagons

Watching through the caravan window, we saw the never ending stream of dairy cows walk along the race as they made their way to the milking sheds - about 400 or so.  The cows ambled along,  one after another, and there is a definite hierarchy in their position in the group, we were told.

The afternoon milking

There were plenty of newly weaned heifer calves

On Saturday morning we drove down to Te Horo to have lunch at The Blue Bus.  It’s been a while since we had been here, and the surroundings are just as gorgeous as we remembered.

Parking in the car park, we wandered up a winding path, beautifully planted on either side, and emerge into a clearing.  And there it is, a 1964 blue and white Bedford bus, converted into a kitchen, and surrounded by a collection of tables in the sunshine, some with umbrellas, or you could sit in one of several shelters, including the cut-off rear-end of a second vintage bus.  This establishment sells good honest food, such as hearty toasted sandwiches, Southland Cheese Rolls, and delicious coffee, all very reasonably priced, we thought.  And not only are pet dogs welcome too, but riders on horses as well.  We all enjoyed our various choices, and marveled at the steady stream of customers arriving, many of them with their canine companions.

The Blue Bus, Te Horo

This café is just a stone’s throw from the beach so we stopped off to have a look.  The beach was littered in driftwood, breakers were rolling in, and there’s Kapiti Island in the distance.

Te Horo Beach and Kapiti Island

Fully fed and watered, we drove back to the farm.  Robin spotted something out of the corner of his eye, stopped the car and backed up to have a look.  That’s certainly a big boy resting under the shelter!

A whole lot of bull!

Rally Captain Dennis had organised a milking competition, and it was just as well that a real cow was not used as some of the contestants certainly had rough hands indeed.  Poor old “Daisy” had four legs, a tail, and an udder made from a rubber glove – I’m sure she would be mooing in desperation from the treatment she received.

Bill and Dot competing in the milking competition

The winners – Murray and Val

Sunday was Anzac Day – 25th April marks the anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles and open a sea route to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea.  The Anzacs were courageous and although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign left us all a powerful legacy. With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders who died in that war. The meaning of Anzac Day today includes the remembrance of all from both countries killed in military operations.  Our group attended a 5.00pm Service at Otaki Cemetery.

Otaki Cemetery

The afternoon service was well attended , and many people wore their own or family medals, plus red poppies.  We watched as members of the Air Force Corps marched  to the flag pole, the flag was lowered, ceremonially folded then presented back to the Otaki RSA representative.  The haunting sounds of a single bagpipe, and a lone bugler playing The Last Post, together with the recitation of The Creed made it a very moving remembrance service indeed.

Anzac Day Service

Our day ended with a meal out together at Curry Town in Otaki.  Have to admit that we are not great Indian cuisine lovers so this was an experience for us.  We checked through the menu and professed to our dining companions that we didn’t really know the difference between a Rogan Josh, Korma or Tikka.  Eventually we made up our minds and placed our orders.  The food was nice, and the surroundings were very pleasant, and it goes without saying that the company was wonderful. 

Dining at Curry Town, Otaki

After morning tea on Monday we packed up at headed home, wondering just how heavy the traffic would be on a public holiday.  Although reasonably busy round Otaki, but we made it home it good time.  It was a great weekend rally, and many thanks to joint Rally Captains Dennis and Glenys, and Pat and Thelma.