Places to go, and people to see

It’s been another busy day, travelling down to the Hutt Valley.  We had places to go and people to see.   After a little business (and Jenny had time to check out a new quilt shop), we drove down to Petone Beach and bought some lunch.  Sitting in the car, we looked out across the beach to the bright lights of Wellington City.  Actually, it looked a little hazy, which was quite an improvement on the previous day, when mist and low clouds had kept the airport closed for several hours. 

Petone is full of history.  The first immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone Beach following the long voyage out from England on 22 January 1840.  At that time, the  Hutt Valley was covered in dense forest and swamp, and rich in native bird life.  Maori from the nearby pa assisted the settlers to build their homes on Pito-one Beach, now known as Petone. These settlers established New Zealand's first bank and newspaper.

Petone Beach, looking across to Wellington

There was a handy coffee cart right on the beach, so I could indulge in a nice latte.  The red flowering pohutakawa tree is known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree and the bright flowers promise a long hot summer.

   Pohutakawa tree by the coffee cart

After this bit of R & R we headed over the hill to Wainuiomata to visit friends Geoff and Pauline.  They have just purchased a new coffee machine (I’ve seen George Clooney with one of these on TV so it must be good) so were keen to see what we thought.  In no time at all, we were served piping hot cups of coffee with lovely frothy milk, served with freshly baked scones with jam and cream, made by Geoff.   We also came away with a bag of plums, picked straight off the tree, thanks so much Pauline.

Coffee time

Back in the car, back over the Wainuiomata Hill, and our next stop was Paremata.  We were a little early for our appointment so wandered down to the harbour.  Family groups were splashing about and jumping off the bridge, while the traffic kept whizzing by.  A 4WD was backed into the water and hooking up a boat to tow it out of the water.  While we were watching the world go by, a train taking weary commuters on their homeward journey  raced across the rail bridge

Enjoying time in the water at Paremata Harbour

Commuter train crossing the water

We had been invited to the Paremata office of Harcourts Real Estate, together with many others who had sold their properties recently, and entered into a lucky draw of $10,000 travel voucher.  There was a bit of mixing and mingling to get through first, and the head honchos of the company did the rounds and spoke to all those in attendance.  Drinks were served, and all sorts of large platters of interesting food was passed around.  Where shall we go if we win the voucher, we asked ourselves.  How about a trip to Las Vegas, then on to the Grand Canyon?  That’s where we will go, we decided.

Our names are in that bucket

A young police constable came to help with the draw, put in her hand and pulled out…….no, not our names, sadly.  We will have to put our trip to the Grand Canyon on hold for a while.

It wasn’t us who won

Family Time

It was time for a pre-Christmas visit to the family in Kiwitea as we will all be doing our “own thing” on Christmas Day.  We had some presents to drop off, and maybe, if we have been very, very good all year, some to collect from them to take home with us.  The farm dogs Bounce and Patch must have recognised us from previous visits, and didn’t make a sound when we arrived.  Bounce the pup has really grown, and is turning into a leggy adolescence.

Bounce and Patch

Daughter Nicky made us a yummy lunch, plus a home baked ginger and pear cake for afternoon tea, so we were very well looked after.  After lunch grand-daughter Megan took us outside to admire her favourite pony, Speight's Gold.  Megan had no trouble jumping up and riding without a saddle.  The pony has been fitted with a nose shade to stop his pale nose getting sunburnt in the hot summer sun.

Megan and Speight's Gold

She can even go backwards

Daughter Nicky is the only one in this family who doesn’t ride.  She gets rather cross with the horses as they keep eating her native trees along the fence-lines when she has invested time and money trying to get them established.  Here she is talking to Sonic.

Nicky and Sonic

Our other grand-daughter Emma arrived home after her work-day shift.  She really only likes having her photo taken riding horses, but here she is posing with her Nana.

Jenny and Emma

We didn’t leave empty handed and came away with a whole swag of gifts.  The home made fudge will be going straight into the fridge, and we will have to find a home in the caravan for the others till Christmas Day.  On second thoughts, we may keep the pressies in the car boot, there’s not much spare room in the caravan.  We even scored some fish – caught by son-in-law Robert on his recent fishing trip out with the boys.  Thanks, Robert.

 

Not to be opened till Christmas Day

Who is this in the Kitchen?

Now, this is a sight you don’t see very often.  Just what is Geoff doing in the kitchen – I think he well may be out of his comfort zone.  But he is under orders, it seems.  With a full house of visiting family members, meals to feed the crowd have to be planned with precision.  Pizza was on the menu, and Geoff was put in charge of the bread maker to whip up several lots of dough for the bases.  I caught up with him in the kitchen when he was endeavouring to get the first lot of dough out of the bread maker.

First lot of dough is made

With a house full of visitors a lot of pizza bases are needed so in goes the the ingredients for the next batch of dough.  Flour, water, a little sugar, yeast, what else?  That’s right, water to mix it all together.  It’s hard work being a cook, Geoff thinks.

Next batch being prepared

That was Geoff’s part of the meal preparation done, so he could sit down and relax and just wait for the finished pizzas to appear like magic at the evening meal.  And they were proficiently prepared and cooked by number one son, who just happens to be a chef!  (It must be handy to have one of those in the family.)  All sorts of interesting toppings were used, and as there was plenty of dough, a special dessert pizza was created.  It all sounds very tasty to us, but I don’t think there was much in the way of left-overs.

Here comes the Sand

It’s handy having friends living close by to our building project – D & D are right on hand to keep an eye on things for us.  And send us photos to keep us informed of the progress.  After the block-work was completed a large truck arrived to offload the first lot of sand.  We are not sure how many times the truck returned with yet another load, but presumably many loads were required over the course of the day.

Adding sand on top of base course

We have kept busy travelling over the last few days to take part in  the last of our pre-Christmas social outings, so just had to drive up to Levin today to see the progress for ourselves.  All the sand had been packed down and flattened out, and the next step will be when the concrete pad will be laid.  It is exciting to watch each step of the building process.

Wonder how many truck loads of sand to fill this up?

Marton NZMCA Site Official Opening

Talk about being at the right place at the right time – it was all a bit of luck really.  We took a drive through to Marton to check on the progress of the NZMCA (New Zealand Motor Home Association) site.  Not only was the site completed and open for business, but the Official Opening had just taken place.  A large group of members from Wanganui were in residence for the weekend, sipping wine and beer under the shade of the marquee, and generally feeling rather pleased with themselves.

And so they should – the rather run down Marton Motor Camp has been changed into a new NZMCA site, with plenty of hard standing for large rigs, gardens planted, several over-large trees felled, and new fences erected.  We chatted to the Project Manager Peter Willcox, and his right hand man Adrian Flett, the driving force behind the transformation. 

Peter and Adrian were in charge of the project

A view of the camp

We may have missed the official opening, but Robin kindly offered us a slice of the celebration Carrot Cake.

Cake, anyone?

Ray was very proud of his vintage Bedford bus, which was originally owned by the New Plymouth City Council, he told us.  It sports a sign in the front window which declares: “This bus is a Heritage Vehicle and we are preserving it for New Zealand”.  Good on you, Ray!

Ray and his vintage Bedford

In years gone by, we have rallied here at the old Marton Motor Camp with the Heretaunga Caravan Club.  The camp is adjacent to a church, and we remember the time a group of local teens climbed up into the bell tower late at night and madly pulled on the bell ropes.

 

Congratulations to all those from the Wanganui branch of the NZMCA on all their hard work and dedication on this site.  We are looking forwards to a stay here in the near future.

No Beer for the Boys

It was a hot and sultry day when we gathered with our SLG friends for our Christmas Lunch get-together at Speights Ale House in Petone.  Not one of our fellows chose a refreshing Speights ale to sip, surprisingly.  Some of us had a long drive home in the hot afternoon and decided that the alcohol might well go straight to the head, so sipped on Adam’s Ale (nice cold water)  instead. 

Barrels on the wall

The bar at Speights Ale House, Petone

Our group all chose from the Christmas menu, with the main’s being fish, turkey or pork belly.  There was no way the pair of us would ever pass up a meal of slow cooked pork belly, and what a great choice we made.  The pork was cooked to perfection, soft and succulent, and came with crispy crackle, just divine.

Waiting for our meal

Slow cooked pork belly, so tasty

Speights sent a version of their iconic Ale House all the way to London in 2007. Speight's built and transported a fully operational Speight's Alehouse from Dunedin, New Zealand to London, England by sea aboard the MV Lida. The campaign was brought about by Kiwis in London missing their favourite beer who regularly send emails and letters to the brewery. Tim Ellingham wrote a particularity touching email that would front the campaign and his good friend James Livingston put his hand up to lead the voyage tasked with getting the pub to London. After a nationwide hunt for 4 southern men to accompany James the MV Lida, Ale House secured on deck departed Dunedin on July 25, 2007.  The voyage took 76 days arriving in London via Samoa, Panama, the Bahamas and New York on 7 October 2007.

Check out the story here:   

Sadly, we could find no trace of Ale House when we went looking for it in London during our UK trip in 2008.  Has it been moved to another location, or perhaps it’s time in London has came to an end?  We would love to find out what happened to it.  Does anyone know?

Time for a Koru Ice

What better way to cool off on a hot summer’s afternoon than with a refreshing ice-cream.  And not just any old ice-cream either, but a “Koru Ice”, lovingly made on the premises at a cute little shop in Te Horo, Otaki.  We could choose from gelato, sorbet or real fruit ice-cream.   We made our choices, a waffle cone of lemon curd gelato for her, and peppermint chocolate chip for him, and sat on the wooden seat contentedly licking our ice-creams while watching the world (and the heavy traffic) rush by.  Megan and Michelle, daughters of owner Lenore Winterburn, were kept busy serving customers.  One car after another pulled up and disgorged passengers who pondered over the choices on offer, made their order, then drove happily home licking their large cones. 

 

Megan and Michelle

We took a peek through the window where all the ice-cream is made, and admired the gold and silver certificates proudly displayed, won over the last few years in the annual New Zealand Ice Cream Awards.  How delicious does gold medal winning “Christmas Pud Gelato” sound?

It all happens in here

We Kiwis love our ice-cream, and the most popular flavour being hokey-pokey, according to statistics.  Did you know that ice-cream was introduced to Europe in the 16th century?  The ice-cream cone originated in the 19th century, and soared to popularity during the 1904 St Louis World Fair.  And rules and regulations state that New Zealand ice-cream must have no less than 10% milk fat, which makes it so deliciously creamy.