Off to Raumati

It was a beautiful morning when we set off to Raumati.  We were meeting up with our SLG friends for lunch.  On the drive down we saw seemingly thousands of orange road cones from Levin to Otaki.  We sometimes wonder what on earth is going on as we drive slowly along the narrow lanes marked out with long lines of road cones.  A few workmen here and there, some trusty machinery on the side of the road, but certainly no great hive of activity taking place.  Guess the powers-that-be know what is happening.

Raumati is a pretty little town, and on the way down I checked with the all knowing Mr Google the meaning of this Maori place name.  I was surprised to discover that the translation for Raumati is Summer.  You learn something new every day.

Arriving a little early, we had a quick look around the park which contained a miniature railway, open for business every Sunday.  All securely locked away during the week, and we remembered going for a ride here in the distant past.  Also quite interesting, at least to me, was the “talking”  public toilet which has a conversation with customers who bravely enter the door.  I was instructed to push the button to lock the door, and then I was advised that I had ten minutes of time remaining.  What happens then, I wondered?  Will the locked door be flung open for all the locals to see me?  Or perhaps, I thought, this cubicle may have a self cleaning function and overhead hoses will come raining down?  Luckily I pushed the button on the door (“door opening” the voice intoned), well before my ten minutes were up and I escaped in one piece and my dignity intact!

Trish had planned today’s outing, and five of us arrived at the Vintage Village Café for lunch, just beating a bus load of gardening club ladies on a trip who took over most of the remaining tables.  What to have, we pondered.  I ordered a plate of delicious creamy mushrooms while the others all had food from the cabinet – two paninis, a croissant, and a sausage roll, with hot drinks to follow after our meals.

Trish, Calvin, Helen, Robin and Jenny

There is always plenty to talk about when we meet with this group, reminiscing about the state of the country, about what we used to get up to in our younger days, about friends who are no longer with us, and sadly as we age, our health.    Mind you, we are all alive and kicking, so that must count for something!  All this talking took some time, and we finally said our goodbyes and got on our way two hours after we had sat down.

Thanks Trish for taking our photo

Driving back home the weather was still perfect, winter sunshine, a blue sky and no wind.  The Tararua Ranges behind our home had a few cotton wool clouds on the top of the peaks, no sign of a dusting of snow which often appears at this time of the year..

Tararua Ranges

I had forgotten to blog about our previous SLG outing, organised by Robin,  which was held in May. Our friends first gathered here at our home for morning tea, and then we took them a short distance to  a new local café.  Bush Street Café has a South African flavour and although only operating for the previous twelve months or so, has turned out to be extremely popular with the locals.  Set in an industrial area it has a steady stream of  workmen who pop in for their takeaway pies and drinks.  Group of ladies visit for morning tea, and others, like us, stay for lunch.  It is great that this new business is so successful.

Jenny, Robin, Ashley, Calvin and Helen

The South African owner who run this café is extremely friendly and obliging, ensuring that everything is as it should be.  And thanking us for coming when we leave the premises.  A friendly welcome goes such a long way in hospitality, I always think. 

Bush Street Café

AGM Time

It was AGM time for our caravan club.  The meeting ran smoothly, the Executive and committee members were  nominated, the fees were set, nothing contentious was raised, and just like that, it was all over.  The meeting took place in the Levin Cossie Club, and we adjoined into the restaurant for lunch.  It was so nice to welcome some former members to our meal.

We sat ourselves down on one long table. What a nice lunch it was too – a set menu with three choices of mains and two desserts.  By far, the most popular combination was crispy skin pork belly and apple crumble. 

The service was great, with meals brought out to the table, and silence reigned as we were busy eating our respective lunches.  Some ordered a glass of wine or beer, others had coffee.  I had a small bottle of bubbly and Robin enjoyed a handle of beer.

We've eaten our meals, and busy chatting

President Owen and Helen had arrived in style driving their Ford Zephyr MK111.  Well maintained and beautifully shiny, this car really makes a statement.

Helen and Owen

So that’s over for another year.  The AGM is done and dusted, we all enjoyed our lunch, and had a good catch up with everyone.  We will carry on caravanning for another season.

Sunny Kapiti

We had a day out in Kapiti the other day, with a list of  several things to do.  The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day.  Isn't it meant to be winter now?  It was certainly hard to tell.   Paekakariki, (Maori translation: the perching place of the kakariki or green parrot), is the southern entrance-way to the Kapiti Coast. But before we could cross the railway line and turn into the village, the barrier arms came down, ding, ding, ding went the bells, and we stopped for a train coming into the station.

Here comes the train

We needed to call into Paekakariki Holiday Park to double check and confirm our booking for our upcoming rally.  Things got a little confused when we were told someone had just done that the other day, and it wasn’t us.  Luckily we knew that two different caravan clubs are booked into this park for the same weekend, the staff must have forgotten.  Everything was confirmed for our club, we checked the cost, and that job was ticked off our list of things to do.

Then we drove up to Paraparaumu Beach where we had a couple of other chores to do.  Lunch time was fast approaching – fish and chips on the beach sounded rather appealing.  So that’s hat we did.  Robin used to eat his lunch in his truck on this beach occasionally when he was driving for Toops, back in the day, so knew just the spot to drive to.  That’s Kapiti Island off the beach.  We enjoyed our battered fish and tasty kumara chips, so tasty.

Fish and chips on the beach

What was happening, we wondered, as a workman started laying a line of traffic cones down the beach.  It all became clear when he started up a yellow digger.  He was going to cut another channel for the stream which dribbled into the sea.  Goodness knows how long that will last once the tide comes in.  All this activity kept us interested for a while.

Working on the beach

I really fancied a hot drink after our lunch on the beach, and the best place to get one in Kapiti was Butlers Chocolate Café in Paraparaumu Mall.  So decadent and delicious, plus they are served with hand crafted chocolate as well.  What a lovely conclusion to our lunch.

Hot chocolate at Butlers Café

There was one more stop on the way home.  We stopped off at Waikanae to visit our friends Bill and Val.  A lovely fresh batch of cheese scones was waiting for our afternoon tea, how kind was that.  Plus we had two scones wrapped up to take home for our supper.  What a lovely day out we had.

Firemen, Helpful Friends, and a Holiday Weekend

It certainly was a busy weekend.   Our first ever King's Birthday 3 day Weekend, it seems so strange to say that after 70 years of Queen’s Birthday.  We finished packing the caravan on Friday morning, and then sat and waited for the firemen to arrived.  They were coming to do several smoke alarm assessments at our village, and we were on their list.  Actually, we were booked to have this done the previous week, but the brigade were attending a fire call out, so we were rebooked to this Friday.

And here they come, the fire engine was parked a few doors away from us, and three burly firemen came calling.  They checked and replaced our current smoke alarm as it was out of date, and installed an extra one as well.  We chatted about an escape plan, and found out that these men were not from our local brigade, but had come from Wellington to help out.  Such pleasant young men, and so helpful.  This is a free service, and much appreciated.

There they go

No sooner had the firemen departed, than Owen and Helen arrived.  Owen had kindly offered to clean the roof of our caravan which had lichen growing, so  Robin had sprayed it with Wet and Forget cleaner the previous week. Owen was up the ladder with his soft broom, a container of hot water and car wash and wax at the ready, vigorously cleaning away.  Helen was on hand to take the broom, and hand over the hose, while Robin was there steadying the ladder and offering encouragement.  He was just so thankful that it wasn’t him and his wobbly legs trying to stand up on the ladder to do this job.    All this took a while, much longer than I had anticipated, which gave me some time to whip up a batch of cheese muffins for us all.  We are so grateful for Owen and Helen for doing this chore for us.

Owen hard at work up the ladder

After lunching together, it was time to get on our way to Himatangi for a caravan weekend, a 40km journey so not too far away at all. 

New sign at Himatangi

We were staying at Himatangi Beach Camp, which has recently become a Top 10 camp.  This camp is always well maintained, with lovely clean facilities.

Just a small turnout this time, with just three of our vans attending the weekend.  The weather was fine, but that wind certainly had a bite to it, so we enjoyed the first 4zees of the weekend  inside our van.  Being a long weekend, there were plenty of arrivals during the afternoon, and beach buggies rolling in and out of camp visiting the nearby beach.

Our three on site, Dot’s VW motorhome, and two Leisurelines

With no rally family this weekend, we all had a say on what to do.  How about a visit to Viv’s Kitchen at Sanson?  That sounded great, but shall we do morning tea, lunch, or afternoon tea?  We all agreed that lunch sounded a great idea so off we went.  Several Cream Horns were devoured, and a couple of those big squishy chocolate eclairs came home with us for dessert that evening.  Sue and Murray called to the camp and joined us for 4zees, so it was great to catch up with them later in the afternoon.

Robin, Jenny, Dot, Helen and Owen

Luckily that pesky wind dropped but there was a definite chill in the air, a bit too cold to sit around outside. We decided to have a little drive on Saturday afternoon to Foxton Beach, and directed Owen down Wylie Road, one he had never driven down before.  This rural back road has several large free range chicken barns, and we saw plenty of chickens out enjoying the fresh air and scratching around in the grass, as they like to do.

 

This way to Foxton Beach

There were a whole swag of freedom campers parked up by Foxton Beach Surf Lifesaving club rooms, lots of big buses and vans, but freedom camping is not for us.  The beach was busy, beach buggies were driving around, some people were paddling, and we noticed one brave family sitting on the sand having a picnic.  Goodness me, the wind would have been rather cold down on the beach, I imagine.  Vehicles are allowed to drive on this beach, but at their own risk, I imagine.

The beach is a road

The moody beach

What better way to finish off our afternoon out that an ice-cream back at Himatangi Beach.

Helen, Robin, Jenny and Dot

We all packed up and got away reasonably early on Monday morning, as bad weather was forecast and we also wanted to beat the holiday weekend traffic.  It was a nice pleasant weekend, very relaxing, and enjoying each other’s company.

Ohaupo and Back

After a very wet caravan rally weekend at Whanganui River we farewelled our camping buddies and headed off on separate journeys.   I joined the masses (with Gemma in my little car) trying to find my way out of Whanganui bypassing road closures, detours, slips and flooding to get home.  And Robin towed the caravan northwards to Ohaupo for a caravan service.  He came across a number of stop-go traffic lights on the Paraparas as well as several slips half covering the road.  Eventually he made his way to the NZMCA park at Taumaranui for the night, being the only van on site.

Caravan rally at Whanganui

The next day he drove on to Leisureline at Ohaupo where he was very conveniently plugged into power for the night.  The service got underway and discussions took place to check out a leak and extra work required  when the caravan is booked in for this later in September.  Returning to collect the caravan after the service, the next overnight stop was at Otorohanga.  A visit uptown to Haddards shop was on the “to do” list to purchase a couple of pair of shorts from this iconic shop for the summer season. 

Otorohanga

Where to next?  It had to be Ohakune Club  for the night.  And what a night it was, up close to the mountain it was so freezing cold it woke Robin up.  At 3.00am the trusty diesel heater was fired up, on went a wooly hat, and Robin finally got back to sleep.  There was an ulterior motive for stopping at Ohakune, a visit to “The Chocolate Éclair Shop”.  The fruit turnovers were packaged up and put in the freezer, he ate one chocolate éclair after his meal, and the others came home to share.

That’s a lot of goodies

Then he made the last part of the journey heading home, stopping off at Flat Hills in Ohingaiti along SH1 for brunch.  There is plenty of parking there for caravans and motorhomes.  Home at last in the early afternoon bearing chocolate eclairs as a coming home gift.  Then the unpacking began and the caravan was finally moved back into it’s parking place around the corner.

Time to unpack the van

With “King’s Birthday Weekend” coming up fast, we will be packing the van once more and heading off on another adventure.  I’m sure it will take a while to get used to that phrase, after all it’s been “Queen’s Birthday” for 70 years, so the new name doesn't easily roll off the tongue just yet.

Very Wet at Whanganui

The weekend rally with the caravan club was held at Whanganui River Top 10 Motor Camp.  With instructions not to arrive prior to 2.00pm, we met up with Owen and Helen on a lay by and spent some time enjoying our respective lunches  with them.    Then it was time to move on, arriving at the camp just after 2.00pm – surprise, surprise, there were plenty of early bird club members already there.  The instructions were to keep off the grass, which was sodden, and we maneuvered the vans onto concrete pads.  These are obviously made with camper vans in mind, as they were not very big at all.  There was a great turnout for the weekend, with 11 vans in total.

Whanganui Top 10

The facilities at this camp are excellent, and the following morning I took a little walk around to the wet grounds to see what I could see.  The Whanganui River is right on the edge of the camp, and the locals have a saying about it.  “I am the river, and the river is me”. 

Whanganui River

There was a playground for kids, and a bird aviary.  Those birds didn't want their photos taken, when I approached the netting, they quickly flew right over to the other side.  There was a well stocked herb garden and a multi armed sign post showing you where to go, or maybe, where you have come from.

Around the camp

On Saturday afternoon the rally families had us driving around and jumping in and out of cars.  Each car had a team of four, and we were sent on our way with a list of instructions to find various things around the town.  Plus we had to take a cell phone photo to prove we had been there.  Our instructions took us to the Drurie Hill elevator to confirm what year it had opened – way back in 1919 as it was a way of getting home owners from the new Drurie Hill subdivision down the hill to work and school.  Previously, they made their way up and down a very steep line of steps – imagine doing that with a pram and a couple of toddlers!

This way to the elevator

Then it was in the car and back up the hill to check out the Memorial Tower. Questions to be answered were – how many steps to the top of the tower, 176 it stated on the plaque so we didn't have to clamber up the top, counting as we went.  And 513 people from the Whanganui district died in WW1.

Memorial Tower

One attraction we had to find, which none of us knew about, was the Queen’s Park Carillion.  We were expecting to see a concrete tower, but it was not constructed like that at all.  The Carillion in Queen's Park was installed in 1981 to mark the opening of the Farm Equipment Company's new factory in Wanganui. The company was owned by Dutch firm P J Zweggers en Zonen, and as this was their first factory to be built outside Europe, they wished to provide a traditionally Dutch gift to the town.  The bells were constructed in the Netherlands by prestigious bell foundry Petit & Fritsen and installed in Queen's Park by Emmett Brothers. The Carillion is equipped with eighteen bells and can be controlled manually by a keyboard housed inside the plinth, while it uses a hole punched plastic tape to play programmed melodies. 

Very attractive Carillion with 18 bells

Our car trip ended with us all finding our way up past Virginia Lake to the Pukeko’s Nest Café for an ice-cream, or coffee.  It certainly was an afternoon with a difference, taking us out and about around Whanganui.

Time for refreshments

In the evening we all pooled cars again and drove to the Whanganui East Club for a meal.  Lots of nice choices, but sadly to Robin’s regret, the lamb shanks were no longer available.  We had roast pork instead, and very nice it was too.

Dinner time

It rained incessantly on Saturday night and we awoke to news of flooding, trees down, and road closures.  This certainly made getting home a bit of a trial.  Robin was taking the caravan up to Ohaupo for a service and I was taking Gemma home in my little car.  Getting out of the city was a challenge in itself as I came across a road closed sign, was sent up the hill to the water tower and back down again hoping to get on my way, but no, this part of the road was closed too.  So I decided to back track and take the country road to Fordell, getting lost a couple of times along the way.  More detours, another road closed, driving through water flowing over the road, help, get me out of here.  I found out later that flooding and slips forced the closure of parts of State Highway 1 and State Highway 3 after torrential overnight rain, no wonder I had to travel so far along narrow roads to get back to the main road.  I was so thankful to get back home safely.  Robin just took things quietly on his trip north and arrived at his overnight stop safe and sound too. 

Anzac Parade State Highway 4 in Whanganui was closed due to a slip. Photo / Finn Williams

No wonder I had so much trouble getting out of town on Sunday.  I was concerned about Gemma being in her carry cage for much longer than anticipated, and must admit driving in those conditions was a worry for me.  But it all ended well, thank goodness.

Old Folks

The weather this week has been cold and wet.  The sun is out now, although temperatures are still low, low enough to have our heat pump on in the evenings.  And just to show us how chilly it has been, there was a dusting of snow on the tops of the Tararua Ranges behind our home.  Brrr, winter is not too far away now.

We had a day out at the movies yesterday, cashing in a Christmas gift card from grand-daughter Emma.  What to see?  I thought the film Allelujah sounded good.  A bunch of old folks in a small hospital, living and laughing their way through their troubles, so I thought.  That should be good for a laugh – after all, some people would class us as old folks these days.

Allelujah

The cast was excellent, with Jennifer Saunders, Judi Dench, and Derek Jacobi.  But the story was unexpected, and rather dark.  When the geriatric ward in a small Yorkshire hospital is threatened with closure, it fights back by galvanizing the local community. The hospital invites a news crew to film the preparations for a concert honouring its most distinguished nurse.  And what a nurse she was, moving on her elderly patients with an evening cup of hot milk laced with morphine.  Her dubious methods all came to a close when dishy Dr Valentine finds out through some sneaky around the corner I-pad filming by Judy Dench who wanted to share it with the film crew.  The film ends with the small hospital closed, the nurse arrested, the patients moved to other homes, and the nursing staff to other hospitals.  The last few scenes show Dr Valentine run off his feet in a Covid Ward, tending to a former patient from Liverpool who loses the battle with Covid.  Not at all the “feel good” story I was expecting, but definitely showing the stresses  that medical staff are battling with these days.

Just as well we decided on lunch out in the movie café, to cheer us up a bit.  Our menu choices were a bit different.  Battered pork belly bites for him, and Asian dumplings for her, followed by a coffee and a Coke, very tasty indeed.

It was a good day out, and we came away with the thought of a couple of other films we would like to see.