A Bonus Day

 What's better than going away on a weekend rally?  Taking an extra day to get there - that's what.  Four of us decided to head away on Thursday, a day early, just because we could.   There was the lay by we were looking for, a little before Turakina.  But we had whizzed past almost before we realized we were there, had to go further and turn around, drive back along the busy road and turn around again, before finally reaching our goal.

Lunch stop

Our traveling companions Owen and Helen were just passing Himatangi, they told us, so we settled down to eat our bacon sandwhiches and await their arrival.  They had further to travel than us, and when they arrived, we had another cuppa and welcomed them.  

Our stop for the night was a new one for us all, Koitiata Camp Grounds, reached by turning off the main road at Turakina, and traveling about 8km down the road to the coast.  This camp is in two parts, an area with non powered sites across the road, and about eight power sites in the main area.  This is an older camp and getting longer modern caravans on site took a bit of an effort.  The fees are very reasonable, being $16 a night  for a powered site.

Here for the night

We were parked beside an older lady who lives full time in her motor home.  She was 94, she told us, and had just passed her drivers licence again, she proudly informed us.  How wonderful.  There was also a family camping in a couple of tents, who had been very noisy the previous night, a local lady warned us.

Two Leisurelines and an Auto Sleeper

The grand tour around this little village didn't take too long, but was still quite interesting.  driving around,  up and down the few streets, then we stopped at the beach.  Cell phone reception here is very weak, and there is a platform on the beach to climb up to and hopefully get a stronger signal.

\

Cell phone reception area

Kai Iwi Beach

There was an interesting sperm whale vertebrae in a case on display close by.  This sperm whale was found on the beach around 1950.  

Sperm Whale vertebrae in a display case

Back in our respective vans during the evening, the peace was shattered with loud voices shouting and swearing, a car alarm going off time and time again.  What on earth was happening?  Our traveling companions didn't seem to be involved, so we kept to ourselves, and the noise finally died down.  In the morning we discovered that the police had been called, and the family was moved on from the camp.  Apparently the demon drink was involved in the fracas, and we were told that the family had been evicted from a previous camp - my goodness, what a way for a family to live.

After a leisurely morning tea we moved on too, stopping at a very interesting local church on Turakina Beach Road.  This modest little church had a couple of beautiful etched glass windows, and an extensive old graveyard.

Can you see the etched windows?

Our next stop was on SH3, Turakina Antiques and Collectables.  After years of driving by, towing the caravan behind, Owen wanted to stop and check it out.  That was fine with us, so we stopped too.  The hardest part was crossing over the busy road as cars and trucks whizzed by at 100km, we waited for a break in the traffic and scurried across.

This place was huge inside, room after room choc full of crystal, silver, fine china, and some furniture.  Cabinets were packed full with crockery and china, there were several large dining tables with large place settings, and cabinets full of other collectables.  All quite beautiful, but nothing jumped out to say "buy me".  These beautiful items for sale needed a large colonial home with big rooms to show them off.  A lot of us have downsized to smaller homes these days.

A peek inside the antique shop

Back in the cars, and we headed for out stop for weekend, Kai Iwi Beach, where we will be joined by our caravan club buddies for a rally.

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. 

Beautiful Lake Tekapo

After buying our first ever Fairlie Pies, and stowing them safely away in the fridge to enjoy after,  it was time to say goodbye to Fairlie and head out on SH8 to our next stop, Lake Tekapo. The landscape was a mixture of rolling hills, and pine plantations, and the first stop on our journey was the quaint little settlement of  Burkes Pass.  Burkes Pass was named after Michael John Burke, a graduate of Dublin University, who discovered the passageway leading into the Mackenzie Country in 1855. This was an alternative route to the Mackenzie Pass which the notorious sheep stealer, James Mackenzie, had used to take his sheep into the Otago goldfields.

The historic village of Burkes Pass is home to Three Creeks Shop, an eclectic collection of old buildings, old cars, memorabilia everywhere, and a tiny coffee cart.  There was a large range of sturdy wooden outdoor furniture squeezed together.  Everyone seems to break their journey here, and its easy to seem why.  The place looks so fascinating, just like stepping back in time.  There were cars, caravans, and motorhomes parked up and down the road, we had to do a bit of maneuvering to park our rig.

So much to see here

We had a good look around at the interesting old buildings,  and inside the general store.  There were people everywhere.  And yes, we remembered these old rusty cars from our last visit back in 2012, they are certainly not on the list to get restored in a hurry.

In need of some TLC

Once down over the Burkes Pass the country opened up into high country farmland.  44km after starting out we arrived at Lake Tekapo NZMCA Park, another of the new parks opened up in the last few years.

 

And what a lovely place it was, down a long drive to the lake edge peeping through the pine trees.  This is a more casual camp, with metal sites laid out here and there.  We chose a site, and settled down for lunch, heating up the oven to finally try those famous Fairlie Pies.  And yes, we can see what all the hype was about, they were delicious, and packed full of filling, there was nothing skimpy about these pies. 

Lake Tekapo NZMCA Park

After lunch we drove the short distance into town.  First we stopped at the  famous dog statue on the lake edge, and is a tribute to the sheepdogs that helped develop the Mackenzie Country, who made working this rugged terrain so much easier for the shepherds.

Memorial to the sheep dogs

Right next door was the pretty little Church of the Good Shepherd, built of stone and oak in 1935.  Sadly the church is not now open to visitors, which is a shame, but the grounds are open.  There was a wedding taking place, such a picturesque place to get married. 

Wedding at the Church of the Good Shepherd

This is a lovely view from the lake shore by the church, looking out to Mt Cook.  When visitors were allowed inside the church, this is the view which would be framed by the church window, making such a pretty picture.

View from the church

Another view of the church

The town has grown dramatically since we were last here, including this new foot bridge.  No doubt good for the many cyclists around too.  People were relaxing on the lake edge, sunbathing, or going for a dip.  The shopping centre has increased in size, plenty of fancy accommodation, new hot pools and an ice rink too. As well as that, plenty of high end housing has appeared, with a new subdivision opening up.  Lake Tekapo is booming.  

New foot bridge

Back at camp, Gemma was very interested in the duck family waddling around outside.  Why oh why isn't she allowed outside to chase them, she is wondering?

Let me at them!

The following day we did some more exploring, driving up the east side of Lake Tekapo, soon leaving the seal and driving along a gravel road, kicking up clouds of dust behind us.  The day was perfect, and the scenery was glorious, yet another blue dome day.  A tiny bit of snow lingered on the mountains across the lake.

Beautiful scenery abounds here

Backtracking through town, we came across a sign pointing the way to Mt John Observatory and Café.  That sounded nice we thought, that would be a café with a view.  So up and up we drove, only to be disappointed.  The café was closed, and the gate was locked – never mind, the idea seemed too good to be true.

Then we had another idea, lets find the canal where we did a spot of freedom camping all those years ago on our 2012 South Island trip.  We don't do a lot of freedom camping, so this was something new for us.  Yes, there was the bridge we drove over, and several young men were fishing, hoping to get a rainbow trout or two, they said, but no luck so far.  Up the canal road we drove until we came to a locked gate, and just off to the side was the area our three vans parked up for the night.  The canal is part of the hydro scheme.

Tekapo Canal

Time to head back to town, we were after an ice-cream to finish off our afternoon explorations.  Different views to admire on the  drive back.

Driving back to town

The simple act of buying an ice-cream each was easier said than done.  You would think that with the multitude of cafes on the lake side some of them would have ice-creams on offer, but no.  In the end we went to the local supermarket and lo and behold, they had a whole freezer full of these tasty delights.  We chose caramel one for Robin, and a white chocolate and raspberry for me.  Delicious!  We sat eating the at the lake edge, watching the world go by.  It was a great finish to our afternoon of exploration.