Railcar Trip to Pahiatua

What a great way to spend a few hours on Sunday - taking a vintage railcar trip from Palmerston North to Pahiatua through the Manawatu Gorge.  This fun trip (one of many ran over the weekend) was full of our Probus Club members and we pooled cars and drove up to Palmerston North Railway Station.   And there it is, all ready and waiting for us.

Waiting at Palmerston North Station

We soon boarded RM31, and sat down to enjoy the journey in the nice comfy seats.  Robin went up the front to check out the controls.  Before too long the carriage was full and we were on our way.

The refurbished interior

Robin was wearing his “Savannahlander” cap and tee shirt and a couple of volunteers came to talk about this Aussie iconic railcar trip.  The railcar took us past farmland dotted with stock.  Horses, sheep, cattle, even some alpacas looked up from their grazing to watch the railcar whizz by.

The rain was lashing down as we traveled through the Manawatu Gorge, looking over to the road which has been closed since April.  The Manawatu Gorge road is likely to be remain closed for some time due to fresh fears about another major slip.   The Transport Agency said a large area above the Kerry's Wall rock face was highly unstable, and it had since  removed all contractors from working there. 

The slip in the Manawatu Gorge. Photo: NZTA

We arrived at Pahiatua and were given a tour through the workshops.  The Pahiatua Railcar Society (PRS) is  dedicated to the restoration of railcars and other locomotives and rolling stock formerly operated by the New Zealand Railways Department. It has the sole remaining examples of the RM class 88 seater and Wairarapa railcars.  We were told of the innumerable hours of work the volunteers undertake to restore these vintage treasures and the efforts to obtain funding.

Then we were taken into another workshop and it was explained that the two units being worked on are two halves of a railcar.  We could appreciate how these restoration jobs take so many years as they are painstakingly rebuilt piece by piece. Such dedication from the members, and excursions like those held over the weekend put some extra funds into the coffers.

There's our railcar waiting to take us back again.  We appreciated the request for passengers to swap sides,  as we would get a much better view of the gorge on the return journey – there were too many heads in the way to get good pictures previously.

The railway tracks are on one side of the gorge, and we looked over at the road propped up on pillars. The road is eerily quiet with no traffic at all for the foreseeable future.

Views of the Manawatu Gorge road

For whatever reason, the return journey always seems much quicker – I’m sure there is an explanation for that. We thanked the organizer, hopped into the car and drove back to Levin.   We had a great time – what can be better than riding the rails on a Sunday afternoon!

Camping at Mt Lees Reserve

Our first time camping here at Mt Lees Reserve and what a great site it is.  Ormond Wilson gifted the homestead block and surrounding bush in December 1971 to the Crown, and since 1989 the Manawatu District Council took over the responsibility.  Keen to carry on Ormond Wilson's vision, the council has undertaken an extensive planting programme of its own on the 29.5ha reserve.  We joined Rae and Dave, friends from the Wairarapa Caravan Club at the reserve  on Thursday afternoon.

Our two Leisureline caravans all by themselves at Mt Lees Reserve

The Homestead, now leased and run as a B & B

The four of us sat under our sun shade having 4zees.  The sky started to darken as we listened as thunder rumbled loudly  above us, seeming to come from all directions.  Then the lightning started  flashing – this was getting serious.  It certainly was getting serious – as some time later the rain came down with a vengeance.  What happened to our nice sunny day?

The reason the four of us were camping at Mt Lees was to attend the Central District Field Days at Manfield Park, the largest regional agricultural field days in NZ - over 540 exhibitors and over 38,000 visitors over three days.  While I was relaxing in camp on Friday Robin was hard at work.  He was part of the Levin team of Cancer Society Volunteers manning a stand.  They were there to promote men’s health, as everyone knows that some men are notoriously difficult to look after their own health.   He was exhausted when he finally returned back to the caravan, after being on his feet the whole afternoon is such sweltering conditions.  (Nothing that a sit down and a cool beer couldn’t put right).  He went early in the morning to allow time to check out everything else the Field Days had to offer, including new caravans on show. 

Ready for his volunteer duties

Members of the Levin Caravan Club were holding a rally in the grounds, and their caravans and motor homes rolled into the grounds.  Goodness knows what they thought of us interlopers, but after finding out we were caravan club members too, kindly invited us to join them for morning teas and Happy Hours over the weekend.

The grounds started filling up fast

The large BBQ on site was  fired up on Friday evening and most of the group brought out the bangers, steaks and chops to cook.  We all ate together outside on the picnic tables, and what a convivial bunch we were.  Made even more convivial when B&B guests Colin and Merilyn Bates, owners of the Leisureline factory in Hamilton shouted the group a case of beer for the blokes and several bottles of wine for the ladies.  Colin and Merilyn had brought down several of their new Leisureline caravans to promote at the Field Days show.   They are both very good company and it was great to spend the evening with them.  Later in the evening a delicious carrot cake, topped with cream cheese icing, and a tin of home made shortbread were placed on the table for us all to share.

Colin from Leisureline (far left) and the blokes sharing a beer

It was a case of two degrees of separation being proved during the evening discussions.  Colin told us that he used to know a Benton during his school years in New Plymouth.  No, not Robin, as it turned out, but the youngest Benton brother, Neil.  That just goes to show what a small world it is – somebody always knows someone who you do too!

Volunteer Driving again

Now we are reasonably well settled into our new home, Robin was keen to get back into his volunteer driving duties for the Cancer Society.  His application to become a driver for the Horowhenua area was gladly accepted, but first he had to be shown  the ropes.  Ray, the Driver Co-ordinator, collected Robin today to show him around the hospital.  Some patients go in for treatment, while others have specialist appointments, and the volunteer drivers make transport to the hospital one less thing for these sick people to have to worry about.  After a very quick cuppa, they were off and on their way.

They drove through to Palmerston North Hospital, where Ray pointed out the Cancer treatment wing, where to drop off and collect the patients, and where to park the car.  Now he knows the ropes, Robin will be all set to drive solo with a patient next time.

Sand Sculptures

Romany Rambler: Travelled 20186Km; 345 Nights Away

It was art of a different kind down on Himatangi Beach over the weekend.  Plots were measured out and for the princely sum of $2.00 anyone was welcome to “give it a go”.  Chris and Anne-Marie borrowed a folding spade from Robin and took their young family down to see what they could come up with.  We wandered down to the beach later to have a look.  There were all sorts of sculptures on display, and most of them had a seaside theme.  Our favourite was this very lifelike seal, created by a young lad who told us he won the competition last year.

The seal – our favourite

Humpty Dumpty

A Mermaid

The entries were judged by an artist from out-of-town and he wandered around with his clipboard taking notes and making his assessments.   He got chatting to us and told us that he chose the winner (a starfish) as it filled the whole plot and he liked the way the background had a different texture.  All the children got sweets so that kept them happy, and the winning adult sculptures won vouchers.

The winner – a starfish

The “Beach Ranger” was on duty making sure that vehicular traffic kept to the speed limit of 30km and drive sensibly.  The Ranger comes down each weekend and volunteers her time to safeguard all beach users.  She is authorised to issue tickets to those who break the law, and collect photographic evidence to use if the cases come to court.  

 

The Beach Ranger on patrol

Daffodil Day 2011

For more than two decades, the Cancer Society of New Zealand has brightened up the last Friday of wintery August with a burst of yellow flowers.  Daffodil Day is now celebrating 21 years of fundraising for the society. Our household is one of the many which has been touched with the cold finger of cancer, and I underwent treatment almost 5 years ago.  These days, Robin likes to help out as a volunteer driver taking local people into Wellington Hospital for treatment and appointments.  So he was more than happy to give an hour of his time this morning manning a stand with collection buckets, daffodils and balloons.  The table was set up in “The Warehouse”, in the Upper Hutt Mall, and many others were similarly dotted around the local shops, all manned by volunteers.

All for a good cause

The Cancer Society is a not government funded so it relies on fundraising events like Daffodil Day to continue offering support to those who need it.  The society runs support groups, holds public lectures, and has a well stocked library for patients and their families to use for research into their particular problem.  All the money raised on Daffodil Day goes to medical research funding.