Weekend in the Wairarapa

Our Caravan Club weekend got off to a shaky start.  We were driving along, the first time towing in our "new to us" Hilux and Robin discovered the brake controller wasn't working.  Oh dear, that didn't bode well, with our  trip taking us over the Remutaka Hill.  A phone call was made to the mobile auto-electrician who had recently done  work on the car, and he arranged to meet us at  Park and Ride carpark at Manor Park.  After an hour the wiring was fixed and we were good to go, thanks Paul for coming to our rescue.

We needed help

So off we went, through Upper Hutt, up the Kaitoke Hill, then climbing up and over the Remutaka Hill. Once in the Wairarapa, it wasn't too long until we arrived at Tauherenikau Caravan Park.  Tauherenikau means "the house made of nikau palm fronds".

  Other members soon joined us and once settled, we enjoyed lunch, followed by 4zees out side in the lovely Wairarapa sunshine.

Here are the first few arrivals

Luckily we had the use of a hall, and we met there in the evening for a quiz.  Murray was the winner, he knew many more answers than the rest of us.  Next was "The Great Reveal", and we did wonder what that would entail.  As it turned out, members were called upon to talk about an embarrassing caravanning situation, and there were plenty of them.  Robin started off the tales, relating how he was helping put a visitor's  van on a site, when the grab handle on the back of the van he was holding came off in his hand!  Not a great welcome to a prospective new member at all.

On Saturday evening most off us drove through to Greytown to check out the Festival of Christmas light show and food stall.  We found a car park and had quite a long walk to get to the town centre, which was closed off to traffic.  The place was humming, full of people with kids in pushchairs and older ones everywhere, dogs on leads, and lots of oldies like us.  The first thing we saw on arrival was a row of burners used in hot air balloons.   Whoosh, whoosh, they went, flames shooting upwards.  Plenty of people were taking videos and photos, and just standing around watching it all happen.

We wandered around with the crowds and checked out some of the food stalls.  Mmm, profititeroleseroles, that sounds nice.  So we shared a few of these dainty little cream filled balls covered in chocolate, while sitting on a very low wooden structure. The  next food stall was selling fried oysters, but at $78 a dozen, we passed them by.  I love fried oysters but certainly not at that price.

Tiny profiteroles

Nibbling away, we watched as  mid winter themed images were played across one of the lovely old buildings.  Kids walked by with glow sticks, excitedly exclaiming at all that was going one.  Gingerly getting up from our very low seating, we wandered down another ally and founf an interesting Japanese food truck.  This was new to us so we ordered, and enjoyed,  some fried dumplings and Japanses fried bread.  The fried bread was rather like a toasted sandwhich containing very tasty curry meat filling.  Who would know that curry was a Japanese thing?

Let's try Japanese

We came across a huge Christmas tree, such a pretty sight.  Nothing nicer than Christmas in July celebrations.  We were getting weary by tghis stage, and my back was protesting, so we wandered back through the throngs of people.  I'm sure more and more were arriving as it got darker.  

The weather wasn't quite so nice on Sunday, the sky had clouded over and the wind had got up so we were pleased to have the hall available for morning tea.  Everyone said their goodbyes and started to pack op and head home.  Not us though, we had decided to spend an extra night in the Wairarapa and check out the newish Masterton NZMCA Park.

The members in the area have done a wonderful lot of planting NZ native trees around the perimeter, these will slowly grow and  mature, provide shelter and encourage native birds to come and visit too.  This is a large roomy area with water available, rubbish bins, and a dump station.  I walked over to the sign in shed and checked out the books available.  I left some of mine behind which I had finished and found a couple by authors I rather like.  There are only a few other campers so there is plenty of room for us.  And 50 other vans too, if they decide to come.  

Spending the  night at Masterton

Lunch with Friends

 It was time for our regular get together with our Super Leisure Group friends.  We travelled down to the Hutt Valley along the Transmission Gully motorway coming into some fog at the top.

Transmission Gully

With time to spare we stopped off at Avalon Park for a look around.  It's been ages since we had been here, and although the day was a bit damp, there were plenty of family groups  out and about.

I walked over the foot bridge to see what I could find.  Plenty of ducks in the small lakes hovering around waiting.  Although there were signs up asking people not to feed the ducks, some people were.  Feeding water fowl bread is dangerous to their health and can give them a condition called Angel Wings which prevents them from  being able to fly.  I came across a monster dinosaur in the lake, roaring his head off!

Dinosaur on the lake

We met up with Helen and Calvin for lunch at Boulcott Golf Club Cafe.  This is always a busy place, with finding a car park a bit of a mission.  And the cafe is always very popular.  It was Helen's birthday, so she needed a balloon to celebrate.

Calvin and Helen

Jenny and Robin

After an enjoyable lunch, and plenty of chatter, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.  We had to take our car to get a little extra work done locally, so that took a wee while.  After that we  went to check up on our SLG friend Trish.  This lunch was originally her outing, but sadly she ended up in hospital for a few days.  So we popped over to the Hutt Hospital to see how she was getting along.  Trish was looking good, glad of our visit, and has since been discharged.

It was time to head home, enjoying listening to all the "Songs we Love" from our favourite radio station Magic.  And......we remembered each and every one!

Driving home, listening to music from our era

That was a long day

We set off on a reccie trip on Saturday to make plans for the upcoming Safari trip we are organising  for the caravan club.   Packing up our picnic lunch we  set off bright and early at 8.00am, the morning just seemed to be waking up. 

Ready for our adventure

It was a bit misty driving over the Pahiatua Track, with the first few wind turbines shrouded in mist, then it cleared as we drove down from the top.  

It's a fairly long drive to the Wairarapa from home, taking us two hours.  Guess we should have left home a little earlier.  First stop was at Henley Lake for a comfort stop and we noticed plenty of freedom campers in residence.  Lots of water laying about on the ground too, no doubt the resident ducks and geese will enjoy splashing about in all those puddles.

Henley Lake

Then we set off on our reccie trip to check out where we would stay on the safari, the cost of camps we were interested in, the milage we might do on any given day, and any attractions in the area.  We drove here, there and everywhere

We drove up and down hills

Saw plenty of sheep

Showers followed us around, then we saw several rainbows keeping us company as we drove along.  

Yet another rainbow

There were road works galore, with lots of damage we noticed to various areas of the edge of the roadway falling away.  There were road cones everywhere and heavy machines parked on the side of the roads.  I think this area is still in recovery mode from a large storm which caused a lot of damage.

Yet more road works

Our picnic lunch was eaten looking out at a very attractive beach watching the small waves roll in.  And what's this, a seal was resting up by one of the rubbish bins.  Only a young one I think, and I carefully took his photo keeping my distance.

Our stop for lunch

Seal resting on the grass

We drove around some more, checking off the places on our list.  And passed by this massive area of work done - it looks like there was quite a landslide here at one stage.

Lots of remedial work done here

It was time to head home and by 5.30pm it was getting dark.  So it was quite a slow careful trip retracing our steps, watching out for the road cones and pot holes along unfamiliar roads in the pitch black.  No street lighting out here in the wop wops!  Eventually we made it over the Saddle Road and stopped at Dannevirke for a meal at Subway.

Dinner for two at Subway, Dannevirke

We still had a way to go and the car told us that it was running short of fuel and we wouldn't have quite enough to get back home.  That wouldn't do so we topped up and continued on our homewards journey.  Finally making it back home nearly 9 hours after starting out, and travelling 610kms.  It had been quite a day!

50th Anniversary for the Caravan Club

There was a big weekend planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary celebrations of our Heretaunga Caravan Club.  Goodness me, that's a long time.  We met at the Manawatu Caravan Club campgrounds on Thursday, an early start for the weekend as Friday was a public holiday celebrating Matariki, the start of the Maori New Year.

The notice board is out, telling the members what is on

We were all presented with a new coffee mug, showing photos of the caravans in the club, together with our club logo.

New club coffee mugs

There was a new campervan in the club, and proud owners Sandra and Don welcomed members to have a look inside.  

A new camper van for Sandra and Don

Friday evening saw us all meet at the Manawatu Boat Club restaurant for a meal.  It was a lovely meal indeed, I enjoyed my Fisherman's Basket and Robin had a tasty lamb shank.  Two couples who were former members joined us for the meal too.

His and her menu choices

We arranged ourselves at the small round tables, although there was plenty of table hopping going on after our meals, to catch up with all the others.  When it was time to go back to the camp grounds we noticed that very thick sea mist had rolled in, making visibilty a challenge.  So it was lucky we did not have too far to drive back.

Sandra, Dot, Jenny and Robin

Morning Tea was held in the club hall on Saturday morning, with the cutting of the cake.  This was performed by Maureen and Eileen, our newest and longest serving lady members.  The banana cake was beautifully decorated with chocolate icing and decorations.

Maureen and Eileen cutting the cake

It was dinner with a difference on Saturday evening when everyone consumed their individual fish and chip parcels together in the hall, with slices of buttered bread and plenty of tomato sauce.  Then we shared our memories of our very first caravan rally, and how we came to join the club.  That was very interesting, and drew a few laughs at the memories, luckily we had a print out of the date and place of the first rallies, in case people had trouble remembering back in the mists of time.  With the foundation club members sadly no longer with us, the joining dates for current members range from 1980 to 2022, and we joined in 1987.  

Heretaunga Caravan Club members

Keeping busy at Home

 We've had a few weeks at home between caravan rallies, and we have been keeping ourselves busy.  The usual weekly happenings, Menz Shed for him, and shuttle driving each week, quilting get togethers for her.  Then we have had doctors appointments, Probus meetings, always plenty to keep us busy.

The shortest day/longest night has rolled around, and you know what that means.  From now on, it is countdown to Summer, as the days start to get slightly longer,  Although it's Winter, our weather has been reasonably mild so far,  The colder weather, cold winds and rain, usually arrives about August.  And from time to time we get a dusting of snow on the Tararua Ranges behind our home, that's always a pretty sight to see.

Our next caravan club rally, coming up fast, is to celebrate our 50th Birthday.  Wow,  that's an achievement, it should be a fun weekend.

The leaves have fallen, it must be winter

Takapau, final days

Sunday morning dawned fine and sunny, and the combined rally attendees enjoyed morning tea out in the sunshine.  It's hard to believe that we are now in Winter.

Morning tea in the sunshine

Then our group headed  off to  Onga Onga.  Yes, we had been here before, but the historic buildings were always locked up tight.   The museum complex is open on Sundays and run by volunteers of the Historic Society.  Our first stop was the recently renovated Coles building, previously photographed so it was great to finally have a look inside.

Historic Coles building

We sat down and enjoyed a video telling the history of the Coles and how their business grew and flourished for a couple of generations.  Then the building was sold, and fell into disrepair.  The Historical Society purchased it for $1, obtained a Lottery Board grant and began the long process of restoration.  

We were interested to see a wooden container on rails inside the building.  Seems it was the job of the apprentice to shovel all the saw dust into this each day to clear the floors, slide it down the rails to the bottom of the property, and dump it and eventually  burn the pile.  

The overhead belt drives were switched on and it was interesting to see several of these running.  Back in the day they would have powered up the different machines all around the building.

Belt drives and machinery

Robin, Jenny and Dot sitting in a seat made with cart wheels

From here we wandered around the other historic buildings in Onga Onga, being Sunday, these were all opened up too.  Clothes, furniture and appliances showed about colonial life in New Zealand.  Our $5 entry fee allowed us into all buildings plus around the grounds.

Historic buildings at Onga Onga

Lunch time beckoned so our group of hungry caravanners all drove off to find a place to eat.  Some went to the local pub, while others, like us, drove through to Waipukarau.  We stopped at one of the local cafes and enjoyed a light lunch.  The cafe was  very busy, the best in town, the owner informed us.  The food was great, the coffee was nice and hot, and when she spotted my camera on the table, offered to take a photo for us.

We enjoyed lunch at this cafe

As it was King's Birthday weekend, with a public holiday on Monday, it was only fitting that the quiz on Sunday night was all about the King Charles 111 and the Royal Family.  Some of us did better than others, I think we came about 2nd, which wasn't too bad.  Then on Monday morning I provided a cake for morning tea, in honour of the King's Birthday.  And then I related a few facts about the earlier kings, Charles 1 and Charles 11.  Charles 1 unfortunately lost his head during the Civil War when Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector for some years.

Iced fruit cake to celebrate

Everyone then packed up and headed for home.  Unfortunately our club president got stopped on the road for some time when a stock truck overturned on the hilly Saddle Road.  He phoned to let us know the road was closed and eventually had help from the police and fire brigade to turn his car and caravan around and get away.  Cattle from the overturned stock truck were wandering around, and the truck was blocking both lanes so no doubt it would take a bit of sorting out.  He is sure to have some stories to tell at the next caravan club rally about his experiences.  We took the alternate road over the hill, the Pahiatua Track, and got home safely.  

First Days at Combined Rally at Takapau

 It was a lovely day when we were all packed up and ready to leave on our next caravan adventure.

Getting ready to get on the road

Our caravan club had organised a combined rally at Takapau with the Wairarapa Caravan Club.  Four of us arrived a day early, just because we could, to find the camp chocker with Jayco caravans and motorhomes - they were having a roving rally and were moving out the following morning.

The two of us arrived a day early

The Jayco group moved out bright and early the following morning.  Robin and Owen sat out in the morning sun on the recently vacated grass waiting for their morning tea to be delivered.

Patiently waiting

Over the course of the day, caravans arrived and slotted into place.  The club flags were raised, and the weekend rally started.

Combined rally at Takapau

The outgoing caretaker had us intrigued when she wheeled her Lilac Birman cat out in a pet stroller.  We had never seen such a thing, but the cat seemed very content to sit back and be wheeled around.

Happy cat, happy owner

On Saturday evening we all met up in the dining room and ate our meals together, followed by shared desserts.  This is always fun, all sorts of desserts arrived, from ice-cream, trifles, chocolate balls, sticky date pudding, and much more.  Something for all tastes and no one went hungry, I'm sure.

Dining together