Friendly Feilding

Feilding is a lovely little town, and embraces it’s farming heritage.  The Feilding Saleyards have been going since 1880, and 100 head of cattle were the sold at the first sale    The huge sale yards cover  3.7 hectares and has 350 sheep pens, 140 cattle pens and (latterly) 45 pens for deer.  The Saleyards Tour has been on our list of things to do for sometime – it is very popular with tourists and it is a matter of remembering to book a ticket in advance so we can attend.  

Feilding Salesyards

The Salesyard Silhouette was erected in memory of shepherds and drovers, together with their horses and dogs who mustered and drove the sheep and cattle  to both the yards and railway.  They made a huge contribution to Feilding becoming a premier stock sale centre.

Silhouette outside the Salesyard

The imposing clock tower in the square is another Feilding icon.

On Thursday morning a whole posse of cars, a beautifully restored Mercedes and a rather grunty looking BMW bike pulled up down our end of the car park.  The Coach House Museum volunteers were having their weekly meeting and the campers were cordially invited to join them for “smoko”.  What a great morning it was.  After everyone had enjoyed a cuppa and biscuit, we were asked to introduce ourselves, and relate our travel plans.  Then the reminiscing started – tales of things which went wrong during the volunteers working lives.  Tractors catching fire, paint booths filled with smoke, machines arcing and sparking – each volunteer was trying to outdo the others with their disaster stories.

This old beauty was rolled out of the museum for an hour or two in the sunshine – a wonderful Ford Model T.

Model T

4eez rolled around and there was a mild moment of panic – where were our folding chairs?  Because of the wet weather we hadn’t used them for several days.  Then we remembered, we had taken them over to the hall at Marton NZMCA camp but had used the plastic chairs instead, and left them there.  There was nothing for it, Robin had to drive back to Marton to collect our chairs, which luckily were right we we had left them.  Terry from the Mobile Kiwi Crib joined us for 4zees in the sunshine and told us he had been on the road for many years, doing jobs all around the country.  “Life’s a working holiday”, he told us.

Terry’s rig parked up at the museum

After three days here it is time to move on.  Next stop, Lees Reserve.

Coach House Museum, Feilding

Waiting for the rain to ease before hooking up the caravan to move on doesn’t always work, as we found out yesterday. Rain or not, it was time to go outside and do those chores.  Clad in a bright yellow rain jacket Robin sloshed around in the puddles with the rain falling steadily as he filled the fresh water tank, hooked up the caravan and then we were on our way.

 

And the rain kept falling

After a stop off at the dump station we took the country route through Halcombe to  Friendly Feilding as the welcome sign declares.  Making our way to the Coach House Museum, our stop for the next couple of nights,  we found Dot and Derek already in residence – just waiting for Geoff and Eileen to arrive from their trip down from Taupo now.  The rain kept falling for hours, and we kept a wary eye on the raging stream behind our vans.  Luckily it didn’t overflow, and by morning the rain was replaced by gusty winds.

On site at the Coach House Museum

The exhibition of “Metal Toys of Yesterday” appealed so we went to check it out.  The toys had been loaned by groups, such as the Manawatu Meccano Club, and the Manawatu Scale Model Club.’'  There was certainly plenty to pique our interest, toys of all kinds, and plenty which were very familiar indeed. As any follower of TV’s Antique Road Show knows, toys in their original box are worth so much more.

There were exclamations of “I used to have one of those” from Robin and Geoff as they checked out all the toys.

When does a man become a boy?  When the metal toys become metal models.

While the boys were drooling over their “boys toys” I climbed aboard a gig and went for a virtual ride around Feilding.  As I held onto the reins and pushed the big green button, the ride started.  The gig gently bounced around as the horse travelled along the streets around town, finally returning to the Coach House.  Such fun!

My virtual horse and gig ride.

The Coach House Museum is well worth a visit if you are in the area, and is a POP for NZMCA members.

Marton

Leaving Foxton behind us we travelled up to the NZMCA site at Marton.  This is always a popular destination and by evening is generally full to bursting.  We didn’t arrive till quite late, as we had attended a family luncheon and didn’t get away till much later than planned.  You know how it is, the food and company are great, the conversation keeps flowing, and the time keeps ticking by.  We parked next to a rather different looking caravan, and wondered about the story behind it.

The next morning we met the owner, Sonny.  This Chinese engineer had built his van himself over the last twelve months, he proudly told us, on a chassis made to his specifications.  This was the inaugural trip to see how it went on the road.  Sonny pointed out the various features, and we peeped inside the door.  He had built a clever feature in the ceiling, using pulleys which allowed sections of the roof to be pulled back to let extra light in through the clear plastic skylights.  His van has everything necessary, and has been certified self contained.  Everyone in camp came to wave him off as he travelled on to Wanganui.

Sonny towing his interesting van

The camp emptied out during the day and we ended up on our lonesome down the back of the camp.  We weren’t alone for long though, more rigs pulled in during the late afternoon and the camp soon filled up again.

All alone for a wee while

We went to 4zees in the club room – well stocked with “swap a books” for those who like to read.  NZMCA Board Member Peter Willcox, in charge of property was at our table and spoke about the various NZMCA properties scattered around the country.  These are such a boon to members as they travel around our glorious country.

Today we are moving on to Feilding, and the rain is falling steadily.  We can be thankful that there is no wind blowing, at present.  Rain we can cope with, it’s that awful gusty wind which can be a problem.

Happy Birthday Bro–and moving on

Little brother Gary was having a family birthday lunch – his special day is News Year’s Day.  Of course we could go, it wasn’t too far to drive down from the rally at Foxton Beach back to Levin.  It was a double banger as Gary was celebrating his retirement as well.  Sister Kaye and her husband Jan were driving down from Taupo on their way to an evening sailing of the Picton Ferry, so that worked out well.

 

Dessert time for the birthday boy

We had a lovely meal and there was plenty of conversation flowing around the table.  It was great to catch up with all the family news and travel plans.  With a bit of coercing, I managed to get them all together for some family photos.

Robin, Kaye and Gary

All of them together - Suzanne, Robin, Kaye, Gary, Jan, and Debbie

We said our goodbyes, Kaye and Jan were driving down to Wellington to continue their homewards journey to Nelson, and we headed back to Foxton.  The caravan was soon hooked up – it was time for us to move on.

But first we had to carefully maneuver our way through the narrow entrance gate.  The ground to the approach is quite uneven and as we entered several days ago, we noticed that it tipped the caravan sideways towards the gate at an alarming rate.  So, carefully does it.  Oops, Robin was a little close one side so I held my breath as he moved forward.  We made it with inches to spare.  Next stop – Marton.

Easing through the gate

Happy New Year from Foxton

Although I am proud that I have Scots blood from the Gunn Clan in my veins, I have to admit that my relationship with a haggis in my life has been nil so far.  All that changed on Saturday night when our large group of happy campers sat enthralled as we listed to the “Address to the Haggis”.  All delivered by the wonder of the internet.

Out came a real haggis on a table, to be cut open and served to one and all on a cracker biscuit.  Can I say it was such an ugly looking thing, I didn’t really want to look at it!  But I did my duty, and quickly ate my little portion of haggis, which was accompanied by a dram of whisky.  Much too strong for me, I couldn’t get it past my nose, so Robin happily drank my share as well.

Crackers, haggis and whisky

Ready to try it!

The campers at the Drop In Rally gathered in the hall in the evening to help bring the New Year in.  There was music playing, and dancing for those who were nimble on their feet.  As we were, for a while, until Robin’s knees called out loudly “enough!”  There is nothing more enjoyable than listening to music from the era you grew up in, knowing each and every song.

The band

The crowd listening to the music

Although some decided that they couldn’t really stay up too long and crept away to their vans, most of the people in the hall stayed up till the very end.  All the dancers linked arms as the band played Auld Lang Syne at midnight, we kissed our partners and wished each other well.  It was a great night – and we welcomed in the New Year.  May 2017 be a good year for us all.

More Arrivals at Foxton

More and more caravans and campers have been arriving at the Drop In rally at Foxton Beach School, just in time for the New Year festivities.  They have been rolling in, finding a good place, and settling down in little groups of friends around the school grounds.  It will be interesting to find out the final count.  I climbed up the rise to get a better view and tried the panoramic setting on the camera to get all the vans in.

Household chores are minimal while camping – do the dishes, make the bed, shake the mats outside.  There is no water available here so Robin brought along a large container to top up our supplies.  To to make the job easier he used his secret weapon, his battery operated submersible pump.  It works wonderfully well, and saves the previous job of lifting a heavy container up and trying to pour the water through a funnel into the tank.

Making short work of topping up the water

Caravan friends Dave and Rae are staying at a camp around the corner, and have biked around to catch up with our group.  They kindly invited us to join them for a meal at the nearby Bowling Club restaurant last night.  We all jumped at the chance to have an night off from cooking duties.  And the prices are very reasonable too.

Dinner at the Bowling Club

The evening was so mild that we sat outside on our return, enjoying the pleasant conditions.  This is the life!

Drop In Rally at Foxton

Its not too far up the road to Foxton, and that suits us fine at this time of year.  It’s best to limit our time on the busy roads over the Christmas season when cars are whizzing every which way, all in a hurry to get to their holiday destinations.  We joined the 40 or so vans camping at Foxton School who had “dropped in” for all or part of the rally, as it suited individual plans.  Three vans from our caravan club managed to get sites close together, with a fourth arriving a little later.  So we are all nice and close together for when 4zees rolls around.

At Foxton School

Foxton is well known for having problems with their water supply and we had read about a temporary solution offered to residents.  Somewhere around was a stand pipe which allowed residents to fill containers with fresh drinking water – but where was it?  We drove around looking in likely places, and finally came across it, but with no signage pointing the way it was difficult to spot.  The long term solution is to drill water bores much further into the ground, we understand.

The “Strawberry Man” drove around the school grounds ringing his hand bell – the back of his little car piled high with punnets of luscious strawberries.  Campers appeared from everywhere, money in hand, to purchase some of these delicious summer fruits.  Its certainly a hard life when we are reduced to having strawberries on our breakfast cereal, just to make sure we get through them all.

Strawberries for breakfast

We were all sitting outside yesterday when I felt the earth move.  Vibrations ran up the legs of our camp chairs – did you feel that, I asked the others?  Yes, it was another earthquake, this one was reasonably small and centered in Cook Strait, and so far no damage has been reported.  A little later dark clouds came rolling over and it looked like it was going to pour down with rain.  Chairs were quickly put away, and roof vents were lowered, just in case. 

 

A promise of rain

Later in the evening we took a walk around the neighborhood to check out the flashing Christmas lights.  They were across the front of the property and up the driveway.  A sign invited people to walk around the back of the house to see even more lights.

Christmas lights in Foxton

And then to our surprise, the home owners invited our small group to check out the decorations indoors.  It was a Christmas wonderland indeed, flashing lights, Christmas furnishings and ornaments everywhere.  Even the “littlest room in the house” had a Christmas theme.

Ho ho ho, a Christmas toilet

It was a lovely experience, and the home owners were very warm and welcoming, telling us of their plans for new decorations next year.  We walked back to the school with the rain gently falling, ready for a last cuppa before bedtime.