Taking the Slow Road

Trips away in the caravan are always fun, and what is nice these days is that we can take our time, if we want,  getting to our destination.  Not at all like the trips when we had to work for a living.  Then we had to rush from here to there, often over long distances, trying to see as much as we could.  Taking the slow road is so much more relaxing.

After a couple of days at the Drop In Rally at Foxton School, just taking things easy and enjoying the lovely hot weather, it was time to move on.  As planned, we stayed at several “new to us” venues over our holiday.  Such as the car park behind the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club.  Lovely friendly staff, and we stayed here at no charge, so made sure they received some patronage from us at the bar.  Just a shame we were too early in the week to enjoy a meal in the restaurant, otherwise we would have dined there in the evening.

Our next new destination was Ashcott Park, Ongaonga, in a lovely rural setting.  No other campers came to stay, and we didn’t even see the property owner, so had to leave our fee in the letterbox for him.

And our third new venue was Mathews Park in Norsewood, another rural stop, with the Ruahine Ranges in the background.  Once again, we camped alone, but the Small Bore Club next door kept things lively when they started firing their rifles.

We stayed at a couple of old favourites as well.  Ashurst Camp with it’s lovely old shady trees is always a joy to stay at, as is the apple orchard POP in Hastings.  And we enjoyed some company from our caravan buddies too.  Dot and Derek were at the Drop In Rally, and stayed a couple more days than us before moving on, and Don and Pamela joined us at Hastings for several days.  The Hastings Rellies were visited several times, we were invited around to share a delicious roast lamb meal and we caught up with all the family news. We never go to Hastings without buying some fish and chips from Hawkes Bay Seafood, the best fish and chips ever!  Then we ticked a couple of things off our Bucket List, visiting the International Police Museum at Dannevirke, and the National Aquarium of NZ at Napier. 

On reflection, we are pleased we came home on Thursday, rather than Friday as originally planned.  There have been wind warnings today for high sided vehicles (that means us), so it is just as well we are safe at home today.  As well as the strong winds, torrential rain has been falling during the day.  I think it’s my fault, as I insisted that Robin water the garden last night after all that neglect with us being away. Or maybe Robin’s to blame after all, as he washed the 4WD before the rain arrived today.  Whatever……. as the grand-daughters say.  Luckily the garden survived while we were away – just look at those beans!  Our broccoli have tiny little heads, which just need to grow a little more, the lettuce and silver beet are ready to pick, and there are even some baby tomatoes coming along.

Silver beet, broccoli and beans

Some flower pots survived

International Police Museum, Dannevirke

It was a wrench to leave the camp at Ashhurst – it is such a lovely peaceful place we could have happily stayed there for much longer.  But the open road beckoned, and we continued on our travels.  We travelled safely through the Manawatu Gorge, (this stretch of road has always a bit of a worry for me, I’m sad to say) and continued up SH2.

The Manawatu Gorge

After a short 40kms drive we pulled into the car park behind the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club.  We were more than welcome to stay for a night or two, we were told, at no charge. We were the only van in residence at the time, but others could also have the same idea as us, no doubt.  But so far no other vans have turned up, so we will be alone in the car park all night, it seems.

Staying overnight at Dannevirke

We had a good reason for a stop-over in Dannevirke, the International Police Museum has been on our list of places to visit for some time.  Usually only open at weekends, we were so pleased to find that that the museum was open for extra days open over the holiday period.  And we qualified for pensioner rates too.

Owner Bruce Lyon was a law enforcement officer for 36 years before leaving the force to open his own museum.  On display were a wide range of vehicles, uniforms and memorabilia from around the world as well as items gathered from New Zealand.

Display inside the door

Police caps from around the world

There was plenty to see, uniforms from many police forces around the world, cabinets full of all sorts, including nasty looking items confiscated from criminals.  There was even a cabinet stuffed full of cuddly little toys all dressed in police uniforms.

Police bikes

And a selection of police cars

Tee shirt - sad reminder of the day which shocked the world

I was quite taken with this piece of prose, The Traffic Officer’s Lament.

If I check your license I’m intruding
If I take your word for having one, I’m inefficient
If I arrest a violator, I’m showing how rough I can get
If I give him another chance, I’m showing favouritism
If I labour night and day to protect people, I’m a tyrant
If I relax at all, I’m a shirker and a crook
If I don’t, I’m not interested in the job
If I accept suggestions or advice, I’m incompetent
If I work out my own problems, I’m a wise guy
If I act like a gentleman, I’m too soft and easy
If I act firm, I’m a tough guy and a brute
So, ashes to ashes, dust to dust
If the motorists won’t do it, the officer must!

Dannevirke – the Viking Town

Leaving Makotuku we drove along a rural back road, arriving at our next destination.  A large sign with a Viking welcomes visitors to Dannevirke, a town originally founded by Danish settlers in the past. 

Welcome to Dannevirke

We were staying a little way out of town at the Dannevirke Golf Club, another new stop on our travels.  The golf club has a number of caravan power points, toilets and showers are available, and a water supply.  What more could we want?  And it was another very reasonably priced overnight stop, at $10 a night.

Our next stop was at the golf club grounds

Geoff and Eileen were worried about  driving under a low slung telephone cable to get onto a site.  They have recently had a new automatic satellite dish fitted to the roof of the caravan, and there were concerns that it would get hooked up on the cable.  This problem was solved with a little bit of Kiwi ingenuity.  Robin held the offending cable out of harm’s way using Eileen’s crutch, and the caravan passed safely underneath.

Robin helping out

Before too long we were all set up on our respective sites and set off to check out the facilities.  It was ladies day at the golf course.  With the wind  blowing quite fiercely  we imagine the ladies may well have been having trouble getting their shots to go in the right direction.   It was too cold and windy to sit outside, so everyone gathered in our caravan for afternoon 4zees.

Parked at the golf club

We had a lovely outlook over the golf course grounds with the rolling greens.  An avenue of trees bordered the driveway.  By making a few caravan power sites available for the travelling public, the club is generating regular extra income for their coffers. 

Tree lined driveway into the golf club

Ormandville Railway Station

What’s a small village to do with an unused railway station? The answer was to turn it in to unique boutique holiday accommodation, of course! The station looked interesting while we were out driving in the rural countryside around Dannevirke so we stopped to take a look.

Full kitchen and shower facilities are on offer, and the rooms are furnished with railway artefacts and memorabilia. The local pub is just across the road if the guests don’t feel like slaving over the kitchen stove after a hard day’s sightseeing.

Ormondville Station

The vintage carriages on show in front of the adjacent goods shed give an nice authentic touch. Good on Ormondville for coming up with an interesting solution to the previously underutilised railway station. As well as adding a bit more local colour, it also brings a few more tourist dollars into the area.

In splendid isolation

Dannevirke was our next stop after leaving Hastings, and we are camped here in splendid isolation. Well, that was until tourists in a camper van arrived quite late, then it took off again bright and early the next morning to get on with their holiday. So once again we were on our own, with just the chickens and guinea fowl for company.

All alone in the Motor Camp

Dannevirke, and nearby Norsewood, were settled by Scandinavians. Two ships arrived in 1872, bringing Government sponsored families from Norway and Denmark to help develop the rugged southern Hawkes Bay. The Dannevirke Gallery of History tells the story of these early days and we spent an interesting morning there. The settlers had to wrestle a living out of land covered with dense native forest and it was a long hard slog, with many giving up the struggle.

Settlers clearing the bush of huge trees

We saw several cabinets holding endangered birds, the kiwi and kakapo. Of course, when these specimens were taken, the birds were quite plentiful. Also displayed was a pair of the now extinct huia birds. These beautiful birds were much prized for their plumage which was used by the Maori people in their hair and woven into cloaks.

The Dannevirke Gallery of History is a small museum housed in the former Court House and is well worth a visit if anyone is travelling through Dannevirke.