ICA Rally - Time to Test those Brains

It was fun and games in the hall at Wharehuia the other night when we presented a couple of challenges to the ICA members to test their brain power.  First up was “Quotable Quotes”, a quiz to see who could remember who said what.  Quotes and one-liners from famous people and film and TV characters as well.  The quiz provided the name of the person making the quote, and the answer was the quote itself.  Such as “Rhett Butler”, the answer was “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”.  President Trump’s quotes were a case of take your pick, with any answer from Fake News/Stop the Steal/Fight like Hell, and many more.  All good fun, and as expected, some couples could recall more than others.  The winners were Ashley and Merice with 22 correct, closely followed by the three person team of Buddy, Jeanette, and David M who got 20 correct.  Well done all.

Then everyone was given a sheet of newspaper and the challenge was to rip out the shape of an elephant, but to do this with your hands behind your back!  Not at all easy, and the expressions on everyone’s face as they did this task was priceless.  Some shapes didn’t end up looking like an elephant at all, in fact, Glenys produced something which looked rather like the shape of Australia.  David M was declared  the eventual winner.  Many thanks for everyone for taking part so good naturedly. 

Busy concentrating and counting 4 legs, 1 trunk, 1 tail, head, tummy

The following night we had a very entertaining talk from Ashley who regaled us with tales of his work of 40 years as an ambulance officer.  Joining Wellington Free Ambulance in 1964 as a volunteer, he became a permanent staff member in 1967. The Lower Hutt Ambulance  Service brought the first  defibrillators into the country, what a game changer that must have been.  Ashley went on to do cardiac arrest training, then did medical training up to intern level, which required recertification every three years.

All ambulances, together with police, army, small boat owners, and civilian volunteers  all helped in the rescue efforts on that dreadful day, 10th April 1968, when the  Lyttleton–Wellington ferry Wahine floundered on Barret’s Reef.  This was  New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster, and fifty-one people lost their lives that day.  Ashley related his memories of working in the atrocious weather during that dreadful day and into the evening, dealing with the injured, and helping to pull the dead from the water, first at Seatoun then around the coast at Eastbourne.  The storm had left devastation everywhere, the coast road in particular was in ruins, trees and debris making access so very difficult, together with the lack of equipment and manpower.  A day never forgotten, but a few kindness remembered.  Ashley gratefully accepted hot soup while chilled to the bone, and petrol stations eagerly refilled the ambulance fuel tanks without looking for payment so they could continue collecting the injured and ferrying them to hospital.

Thank you Ashley

The weather has turned wet and cold, just right to keep warm inside the van and read “Pick and Shovel to Caravans” by Claude Hurst.  This was loaned to us by member Val, she and her sister Desma were daughters of Claude, who with his brother Reg were instrumental in caravan production in New Zealand.  The brothers started their working lives as roading contractors, and then decided to make a few caravans as a hobby.  Then moving on to full time production, becoming NZ’s leading caravan manufacturers at the time, Classic Caravans of Levin.

An interesting read

Happy Birthday Robin and remembering 9/11

It was Robin’s birthday on Sunday, but he still did his family duty and cooked Sunday breakfast for us both.  Mmmm, very tasty it was too.

Sunday breakfast

The weather was atrocious, freezing cold and wet, so we were pleased that we could hibernate at home for the day and didn’t need to venture out into the bad weather.  Dinner, at his request, was Satay Pork and veggies served on rice, followed with a slice of birthday fruit cake, and a glass or two of bubbly.  It was an occasion, after all.

Cheers for the Birthday Boy

Special request for his birthday dinner

We can certainly remember the terrible time 20 years ago.    Not that we knew of the events unfounding at the time, when we were out for the evening with a group of friends enjoying a meal at a Malaysian restaurant.  It was a great night out, celebrating with three of our group who were having September birthdays. On leaving, we were told that the Efpos machine was playing up, so we had to pay manually, the old fashioned way.  Then we drove around to the petrol station to top the car up with fuel, and the same thing happened – the machine wasn’t working, strange, but we didn’t really dwell on it at all.   It wasn't till some time later that we were told that all credit card transactions were routed from New Zealand via the Trade Centre in the Twin Towers.  Who would have known that, we certainly didn’t.  We all said our goodbyes and returned to our respective homes to get to bed, unaware of what was happening half a world away.

What a shock early the next morning to hear the dreadful news on the radio as we were preparing to leave for work.  We snatched a little time in front of the TV and watched in horror as the terrible scenes were replayed over and over again, then had to travel to our places of work.  Back home in the evening, we were glued to the TV as the story unfounded, trying to make sense of what we were watching.  It wasn’t just the Twin Towers which had been attacked, but the Pentagon as well, and a fourth hijacked plane which was brought down by brave passengers who had found out what was happening and decided to fight back.  It was all so unbelievable.

Fast forward to 2008 and we were on an overseas trip, spending a week in New York after a couple of months tripping around England.  We wanted to see what had happened to Ground Zero.  Construction had started and we were lucky to be guided to a building overlooking the site where we had very good views through a large glass window.  It was certainly quite sobering to be looking out over the busy building site and reflect back on that terrible time when terrorists attacked the USA.  Even living half a world away, down here in New Zealand, we felt the pain and horror of that day.  Of course, it all went on for months, as the recovery missions and clearing up went on and on. 

We watched the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 on TV and the brave relatives as they read out the names of those lost.  Our thoughts are with you America, on this anniversary.  

Further Fun at Pohangina

Our long Waitangi Weekend has come to a close, and what a great weekend we had.   We were kept amused as Don used his “ever so clever” caravan mover to direct his caravan into the correct spot, no trouble at all, this device works effortlessly.

“Come this way, little caravan”

Two rather special awards were presented at 4zees, while we sheltered under the large shady trees.  First was for Geoff and Eileen, who were presented with their 300 rally badges by President Barry.  Then Barry presented Dot with her 200 rally badge.   Many congratulations to you all, that’s an awful lot of rally weekends away with the club.

Rally Awards to Geoff and Eileen, and Dot

Later in the evening we played the Hat Game, rather like Musical Chairs for oldies, but instead of racing around we stayed seated in a circle.  Everyone except one person was given a hat to wear, and as the music played the idea was to remove the hat from the head in front and place it on your head, over and over again.  Once the music stopped the person without a hat left the circle, until it was a fight to the death with the last two players, who were now facing each other.  The ladies went first, with Cath being the eventual winner.

Reaching for those hats

The final, between myself and Cath

Then it was the men’s turn.  Helen had collected all these hats but there were not enough manly hats to go around.  Never mind, the blokes looked rather fetching wearing ladies hats.  Pat was the winner of the men’s section.

Waiting for the music to start

The next morning kicked off with a Champagne Breakfast.  Everyone was up bright and early to fire up the BBQs for bacon, eggs, sausages, whatever took their fancy.  Barry and Dianne arrived with pancakes, blueberries, and cream, which looked  rather tasty alternative.

Barry and Dianne with pancakes

Most of us had bacon and eggs

Then we jumped in the cars and drove to check out Totara Reserve – two motor camps here to see.  One is rather rustic in the style of earlier years with campers parked up wherever – no sites marked out here.  We stopped here for a cuppa and I had a quick look at the Pohangina River, a tributary of the Manawatu River.   Quite a dangerous place with the cliff face being unstable.  Several years ago a large chunk of the cliff fell down onto a group of children resulting in a couple of fatalities.  The river was blocked and the motor camp flooded and closed for quite some time.

Pohangina River

Driving to the adjacent camp we stopped for a photo opportunity, with the cars all lined up in a row.  It was nice to see a large group of picnickers out for the day enjoying themselves, a family or church group perhaps, all having fun in the sunshine.

Here we all are

We weren’t back at camp very long before we had to lave for another social occasion, Devonshire Tea at the local café, Country Fayre,  just a short walk from where we were camped.  The building was the former Pohangina County Council, and we were seated at the rather impressive boardroom table.

Devonshire Tea at Country Fayre Café

There was a quiz and games on our final night of the rally.  Many thanks to Owen and Helen for organising a great weekend.

Three days in Nelson

After saying goodbye to our friendly neighbours camping with us behind the historic Trout Hotel in Canvastown on Saturday morning, we got on our way.  Nelson was our next stop, a drive of 81km.  And we wanted to get there relatively early, as we had heard that the Richmond Motorhome and Caravan Park CAP (charges apply parking) had been full up lately, and we didn’t want to miss out on a site.  We passed by the pretty DOC Camp at Pelorous Bridge, drove through the Rai Valley, then tackled the Richmond Range.  This was rather steep in places, so it was a slow trip up and over the range.   Once we saw the Welcome to Nelson sign, we knew we were almost there.

Of course, there was room for us at the Richmond Motorhome and Caravan Park, so we didn’t have to think about Plan B.  We had stayed here previously, and it is a good park with power, water, rubbish disposal, toilets and laundry available, at a very reasonable $15 a night on power.  Here we are parked up between two other Leisureline vans – our stay was to be for three nights.

Three Leisurelines in a row

Not sure what this vintage van is, it could well be home-made

There has been a new addition since our last visit – a chain from the Wahine Ferry which capsized in Wellington Harbour in April 1968 with the loss of 53 lives, had been placed in front of one of the gardens on the adjacent race-course.  The white writing on the chain links relates the story of the tragedy.

“Wahine anchor chain

Wahine built (in) Scotland 1965-66

Lyttleton – Wellington roll-on, roll-of ferry

Wahine foundered in severe storm 10th April 1968

With 123 crew and 612 passengers

At entrance to Wellington Harbour, 53 perished”

Read more about the Wahine Disaster here

Wahine anchor chain

Then on Sunday the heavens opened up and the rain came down in sheets.  After weeks of dealing with hot temperatures in the 30s and hiding from the sun (not that we were really complaining about the hot weather) it was now wet, wet, wet.  Large puddles formed outside, and the heavy rain was keeping all the campers inside their vans.  Except for the neighbour on the right of us, we watched him out in the pouring rain, wearing his togs (swimming trunks) as he vigorously wiped down his van.  It didn’t seem right to take a photo of him,  but it did look so  funny.

And the rain came down

It may have been a wet, miserable day, but we had been invited to join the rellies in a Sunday roast dinner.  Robin’s sister Kaye and hubby Jan live in Richmond and kindly took pity on a couple of campers – and to be honest, we don’t cook roasts while we are traveling around.  It was so nice to catch up with all their family news,  and the roast lamb meal was divine!  Can you see that crayfish shell on the wall?  Jan and his mates are keen fishermen, and often bring home crayfish and blue cod to feed family and friends.

Jan and Kaye

By Monday morning the rain had long gone, and it promised to be a scorcher.  With a load of washing done and hanging out in the sunshine to dry, we decided to do some sight seeing.  Just up the road is the remains of a huge Tasmanian Blue Gum tree, known as the Otterson Gum.  Following a branch falling down, it was discovered that there were major structural problems and this notable tree was felled in 2005 at the age of 158 years.

All that remains of the Otterson Gum

Then it was on to Mapua Wharf to enjoy eating fish and chips from The Smokehouse, seated outside in the sunshine – a “must do” Mapua experience.  This was followed by an ice-cream for him and a coffee for her.

Lunching at Mapua Wharf

Once a busy coastal freight wharf during the orchard heyday, Mapua Wharf is now a trendy restaurant, bar, café and arts and crafts precinct.   But the remnants of it’s early history still remain in the buildings. 

The former Mapua Cool Stores

After all the heavy rain which fell the previous day the water was a very dirty, muddy colour.  It wasn’t usually like that, we were told by a couple of locals.  It was great to be out in the sun shine after all the rain on Sunday, enjoying exploring the wharf.  And by the number of people wandering around, it seemed that a very popular destination.

View from Mapua Wharf

Marton to Ohakune

We awoke to another beautiful sunny morning, so our intrepid group of enjoyed morning tea in the sunshine, plus a short drivers briefing of the drive ahead.  Friendly NZMCA members arrived bearing gifts of garden produce for all campers to enjoy – there were carrots and feijoas, following on from the grapes of yesterday.  Then off we went on our day’s travel, agreeing to meet at the Tangiwai Disaster Memorial for lunch.  We passed a road marking truck, spurting out just enough white paint to renew the white line on the side of the road – the first time we had seen one of these in action.

Road marking

It was all happening at the Memorial site when we arrived, where work was being done to tidy up the surrounding area.  We all pulled up one behind the other and ate our lunch out in the sunshine.

Lunch at Tangiwai

There were new memorials (under wraps) which were due to be officially opened shortly, and we had a chat to this young man from Stone Creations NZ who had a lot to do with them.  His Dad was only 15 when he was on the ill fated train in 1953, when a rupture in the wall of the crater lake on Mt Ruapehu sent a torrent of water down the Whangaehu River damaging the rail bridge.  The bridge collapsed as the Wellington to Auckland Express crossed shortly after, sending 11 carriages into the raging waters below, with a loss of 151 lives.

The names of all who perished have now been added to the original memorial

We took a walk up the track to the lookout and passed a section of chassis from car number 3 on the train, which was ripped away and washed 80m down stream.  This was recovered in 2014, and the second photo shows how the metal has been twisted with the force of the accident. 

Recovered piece of chassis

View from the lookout

Looking at the peaceful Whangaehu River today it is hard to image a torrent of water so fierce that it could damage a rail bridge so severely and the carnage which happened when the train started it’s journey across.  Tangiwai remains the worst rail accident to happen in New Zealand.

Whangaehu River

A family visiting the memorial arrived in their Cadillac Eldorado.  Such a magnificent car, and not many of them here in this country, we were told.  Our blokes were happy to admire it and talk cars to the proud owner.

Every man’s dream, a grunty American gas guzzler

It wasn’t too far from here for our stop for the night, the Ohakune Club, passing the Big Carrot on the way.

Welcome to Ohakune

We were soon on site at the club, five cans all arranged neatly down the side of the car park.

Five Leisurelines in a row at Ohakune

Bill went off on a 12km bike ride

And Sandra cooked up whitebait fritters for 4zees

The temperatures soon dropped, the skies darkened, and everyone went inside to start cooking their evening meals.  It was a very interesting day.

Sunset at Ohakune

Scotts Ferry

Scotts Ferry is a small sleepy place these days.  We took a drive up there to check out the Motor Camp – we are always looking for different places to stay at for future Caravan Club rallies.  The camp is reasonably small, with very basic facilities, but will be fine for a summer rally.

Scotts Ferry was a place in big trouble just over ten years ago with the February 2004 floods.  The Rangitikei River breached badly at Scotts Ferry.  Police officer and Fire Chief Bruce Symons led the evacuation, but by early afternoon the flooding was too severe to return to Bulls by the main road. Mr Symons and his team had to cut a road over farmland, linking up with the gravel Forest Rd. But high winds brought trees down which had to be cut away as the population of Scotts Ferry wormed its way to safety in convoy.  In the end, the water at Scotts Ferry reached the eves of houses.  The water took weeks, and in some streets, months, to pump out.  Eventually homes were repaired, and built with higher foundations for protection in case of further flooding.  The residents call themselves the “Inn Village” these days, with a lot of homes sporting signs such as Amble Inn, Breeze Inn, and Cocktail Inn, even Les Be Inn, (I had to explain that one to Robin!) 

Winter has brought yet another flood recently, and although there was still some water lying around, it was nowhere like the previous “Big One”.  The amount of mud still  around the bridge into the village shows just how high the water reached.

Still covered in mud

Having fun driving out to the beach

The road to the beach ended here, the sea is away in the distance but there was no way we could get any closer.  “If we had the 4WD we could”, muttered Robin.

Glimpse of the beach through the sand-hills

And in case you were wondering, there was in fact a ferry operating in this area. Thomas Scott, his wife  Annie and young child emigrated from Scotland as assisted immigrants in 1841 aboard the Olympus.  The child died on the voyage but seven more children were born in New Zealand. Thomas operated Scott's Ferry from 1850 to 1908, near the mouth of the Rangitikei River, transporting horses, cattle, sheep, coaches, produce and passengers.  He and his wife Anne also managed the general store and hotel associated with the ferry. Until the opening of inland coach and rail routes, Scott's Ferry was situated on the only route between Wellington and Wanganui. The hospitality and food at Scott's Ferry was renowned, thanks to Annie Scott's efforts.

The ferry was purchased by the Featherston family in 1908 and was moved to the Wanganui River where it carried stock and produce until 1975.  After laying derelict on the river bank for the next 12 years, the ferry was salvaged and returned to the area where it first operated 140 years ago, in honour of all the early pioneers.

Historic Scotts Ferry

We stopped at another historic site on the way back to SH1.   This was previously the main settlement of the Ngati Apa people of Parewanui.  There were twelve homes here, a meeting house and a great dining room with a large steam cooker and a bakers oven.  In the 1920s many people moved to Ratana, taking the meeting house and some of the other communal buildings, where they are still in use today.   By the 1930s few people remained, and the last derelict house was pulled down in the 1960s.   Only the bakers oven remains on this site. 

Bakers oven from Ngati Apa settlement

Our tummies were telling us it was time for lunch, so we called in to Woolshed Cafe for lunch.  Come inside, the sign implored, the fire is on, and so is the soup!  The cafe was warm and inviting, and we both had a tasty lunch, fish pie for her, and pizza for him, with coffees to follow.  What could be nicer on a cold wintry day.  The interior was in fact decorated like a wool shed, with a timber wool press tucked away in a corner, and saddles and bridles hanging from the rafters.

Wool press at the Woolshed Cafe

We saw a moa in the garden

Traffic came to a standstill on our way home, as a herd of cows crossed the main road.  This was a common sight in earlier years but such happenings are managed quite differently these days, with several cars sporting signs warning of stock on the road, and plenty of staff involved to get the cows safely across the busy highway. 

  

There they go, happy to be away from the traffic

We had a good day out exploring the region, a nice lunch on the way home, what could be better.  But there was a mystery involved – more about that next time.