Howdy Partners

It was a Country and Western themed  Easter Weekend for us, at the 27th CCNZ National Rally at Masterton.  With no animals allowed at Solway College, we first dropped Gemma off at the local cattery for her second only visit to such a place.  Then it was up and over the Pahiatua Track, on our way to Masterton.

As entry to the college was not till 4.00pm, a group of four vans from our caravan club met at Henley Lake for lunch and to fill in an hour or two of waiting time.  If you love water birds, this is the place for you.  Ducks, geese and swans call Henley Lake home, paddling in the lake, grazing on the grass, and snoozing on the lake side.  Then we drove on to Solway College for our Easter Weekend Rally.

Henley Lake for lunch

With helpers guiding the vans into rows we were soon settled in.  Our row was Boothill, named for the place where gunslingers and outlaws were buried in Tombstone, Arizona who "died with their boots on."  The hall was decorated in a country and western theme, and the committee had done a great job. 

The Official Opening took place on Friday afternoon, and in came the banners holders marching to the swirl of pipes.  Although not staying on site, Bill and Val had paid their fees and  joined us for most of the weekend functions.

What a great bunch

On Friday evening a local historian came and regaled us about the history and settlement of the Wairarapa, and told some stories about the more colourful characters and their wheeling and dealings.  One such story was about a life insurance claim, and a spare  hand to add credence to the claim, with the supposed wedding ring – only the hand was female and the missing person was a male!  Whose body had the missing hand been removed from?

We had use of a new ablution block for the weekend, nice and close by, and a few power points were available to vans for medical reasons.  I carefully clambered up onto a balcony to get a good view of all the vans spread out on the school grounds.  It was nice to catch up with members of other clubs who we only tend to see every couple of years at these functions.

Bird’s eye view

Saturday was a busy day and 55 happy campers lined up tp board the big blue double decker bus for a mystery trip at 9.00am.  We had to take a packed lunch with us, and our folded camp chairs were whisked away to our lunch spot, wherever that would be, it was a mystery, after all.  First stop was to the local Farmers Market, where the only purchase I made was a nice hot coffee.  Back on the bus again, our next stop was a sculpture garden, developed by James Tyne.  This features a lot of Corten steel, which contains alloys which forms a protective rust coating which reduces the corrosion rate with time.  A rather expensive material, I was told.

Corten steel garden features and statues dotted about

The massive gate was interesting.  The owner was told that the designer had his own idea of what he wanted to  to make, and if the owner wasn't happy with the finished product he didn't have to buy it.  It opens by turning the very heavy wheel, so a couple of us took turns trying the mechanism for a photo op. 

Locked inside the garden

Lunch was at the farm belonging to Maureen and Mike Ashbee, who kindly offered their property. Our chairs were ready and waiting and we made use of their outdoor area,  not a sound was heard as we munched away at our picnic lunches. “Walk around and explore the gardens”, we were told.  This is a three generation family farm, now managed by Maureen and Mike’s daughter, and they are hoping to get away for trips in their motor home, now they are stepping back a bit from farm duties.

Lunch at the farm

Then for something completely different, we stopped at Ponataki Greek Church. This private church was the dream of George Pantelous who achieved his heart’s desire with the construction of this beautiful church.

The interior was beautifully painted by an 18 year old artist, Stephen Allwood, who took a year to finish his work, including the dome ceiling.  Such beautiful details, and many thanks to our guide who related the history of this building.  No church pews are inside, the faithful must remain standing for the 2 1/2 hour service.  

Greek Church

Our last stop was The Wee Red Barn, famous for their berries.  I was amused to see some goats clambering up high in their enclosure, looking down on our busload of happy campers.   We purchased fruit ice-cream, a large punnet of strawberries, and a jar of raspberry jam, all nice and tasty.  It was a long day out and about on the bus, especially climbing up and down those stairs to the top level.

Wee Red Barn

Our day wasn't over – after dinner we all met back in the hall for a Line Dancing demonstration.  The dancers all looked very smart indeed in their country style outfits as they “strutted their stuff” to the music.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was not all country music used, they danced to a little rock and roll, and other types of music  too.  After the demo, many of our group joined the dancers for some easy tuition and danced away too.

Line dancing demonstration

Sunday morning started bright and early with a cooked breakfast of French Toast, Bacon and Banana, with the BBQs going flat out.

Cooking our breakfasts

The food was served from the Baine Marie, there was Maple Syrup to add, and we settled down to enjoy our Sunday breakfast.  Oh my, it was delicious indeed.

Sunday breakfast

Included in our Goody Bag were two complimentary tickets for the Miniature Railway in nearby Queen Elizabeth Park.  It was a beautiful day, and the park was buzzing with family groups.  Toot, toot, here comes the train!  The passengers disgorged, and then we clambered in.  The track took us several times around the lake, through the tunnel, tooting as it went, such fun.

Trip on the miniature railway

The evening concluded with a catered dinner.  The caterers, Kiwi Kai Catering,  arrived towing their kitchen caravan all painted up advertising the Pink Floyd Experience.  The owner told me that they will be also going on the tour in June and will be feeding the band and crew.  Our meals were very tasty, chicken, pork, with a selection of salads and veggies, followed by individual  berry cheese cake.  We had taken along some bubbly for me and red wine for Robin to complete our meal, and were obviously having such a great evening that I forgot to take any photos!

The catering caravan

The official closing of the rally took place on  Monday morning, the final raffles prizes were drawn, and  thanks were made to the Wairarapa Caravan Club for putting on such a great National Rally.  Goodbyes were said and it was time to hook up the caravans, and we all went on our respective ways.  Such a fun weekend, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely, meeting up with old friends and chatting with new folks from other caravan clubs too. 

Big Day Out

Our  recent longer drives and one night stop-overs were because we were making our way to Te Anau to tick an item off our bucket list.  Arriving on Sunday, we are staying four nights at NZMCA Te Anau Alpine Park.

Staying at Te Anau

On Monday we booked a Southern Discoveries coach trip from Te Anau to Milford which included a cruise through Milford Sound plus a visit to the Underwater Observatory. 

There were several photo stops on the way up, the first being the Eglington Valley. 

Eglington Valley

The next photo stop was at the very pretty Mirror Lakes.  The lakes were just off the roadside, and it was a nice easy 5 minute  boardwalk there and back.  People everywhere, we certainly weren’t the only bus in the car park.

Mirror Lakes

Monkey Creek was the next photo stop, and the passengers were encouraged to fill up their water bottles with the cool, clear water from the creek.  It was so named by William Homer (of Homer tunnel fame) way back in the late 1880s when his dog Monkey splashed about in the creek.  The coach driver kindly took out photo for us.

Monkey Creek

There were roadworks on the way, and we passed workmen and a large machine slicing into the road as they were laying fibre cable for internet.  At the moment this is a black spot for internet coverage.

I was looking forward to going through Homer Tunnel.  It is 1.2 km (0.75 miles) long, and was  opened in 1953. State Highway 94 passes through the tunnel, linking Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown, by piercing the Darran Mountains at the Homer Saddle.  William Homer and George Barber discovered the Homer Saddle in 1889, and Homer suggested that a tunnel through the saddle would provide access to the Milford area.  Government workers began the tunnel in 1935  The tunnel and the associated Milford Road were built by relief workers during the Depression.  The men had to live in tents in a mountainous area where there might be no direct sunlight for half of the year.   Progress was slow, with difficult conditions, and work was also interrupted by World War II, and an avalanche in 1945 which destroyed the eastern tunnel portal. These problems delayed the tunnel's completion and it was finally opened in 1953.

So there we were, waiting at the red traffic  signal to start our trip through the single lane  tunnel.  And out the other side where we drove under an avalanche shelter, certainly a danger on parts of this road.

The Homer Tunnel

Milford wasn’t quite what I expected, I must say, not much there except a hotel, car parks, and a large Visitors Centre.  Several excursion boats were moored up, and we followed the crowd to board our one.  After a welcome and safely briefing we were on our way.

Lady Bowen

Most people had rushed upstairs to sit on the outside deck, but we secured a table downstairs under cover.  First things first, we redeemed the ticket for our picnic lunch.  Wonder what was in them?  We were pleasantly surprised – sandwiches, two pieces of fruit, cheese and crackers, small bag of chippies and a Whittakers chocolate Sante Bar.  There was plenty of help yourself tea and coffee available too.  We ate the sandwiches, cheese and crackers and a mandarin each, and took the rest back to the van for later.

Picnic lunch box

Nothing says Milford Sound more than the iconic Mitre Peak, named by Captain John Lort Stokes of HMS Acheron in 1851, who found it’s shape reminiscent of the mitre headwear of Christian bishops. The Māori name for the peak is Rahotu, and the mountain is 1683m high.  The Captain pointed out places of interest and wildlife  as we cruised along, as we gazed at awe at the shear granite cliffs, then taking us right out to the entrance of Tasman Sea.  

Mitre Peak and a view from the stern

A medium sized cruise ship passed by as we traveled along, and the Captain commented that much bigger ones make their way into the Sounds too. Waterfalls abound, and the Captain nosed into Stirling Falls, giving those on the bow quite a splashing.  Never mind, getting drenched is meant to make you look 10 years younger, we were told.

Stirling Falls

On the way back we stopped at Underwater Observatory, one of the highlights of the trip.  The Underwater Observatory was built in 1995. The construction project involved building the viewing chamber in 3 sections in Invercargill and assembling them in Bluff. This unique floating underwater observatory is the only one of it’s kind in New Zealand.   After an interesting talk about the facility and wildlife we descended the spiral staircase to 10m beneath the water – 50 steps down. 

There were lots of viewing windows, and we all moved around, checking out the marine life.  And to see the black coral, which is actually white.  The fish swimming nearby are not fed, they are just going about their business, and no doubt looking in the windows at all these strange creatures looking out.

Black coral and fish life 10m down

Cruising back to the dock, we all disembarked and made our way to our bus.  This was a non stop ride back to Te Anau and I’m sure several were nodding off as we drove along.  And why not, it had certainly been a big day out, from 10.30am to 6.30pm with lots of lovely sights along the way.  It was a great trip indeed, we would certainly recommend it.