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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Visiting the Rellies

We are cruising in our caravan for a couple of weeks, and are currently camping at a kiwifruit orchard in Katikati – such a pretty little town.  We called around to see my cousin Brian and his lovely wife Bev today, for a cuppa and a good catch up.  Do you still do quilting?, Bev wanted to know.   I assured her I was still happily quilting.  Then she told me she had been given a surprise gift of a quilt by another cousin, and brought it out to show me.  It was lovely, a beautiful blue and white Log Cabin quilt, named “Home is Best”.  And doubly precious as it was an unexpected gift made especially for her by a family member.

P2220017 Brian, Bev and the surprise gift

Katikati is such a pretty little town, and the main street is decorated with colourful hanging baskets.  And murals, lots of murals painted on formerly blank walls throughout the town.  Each one tells a little of history of the town. 

Kiwifruit grows everywhere, protected by wind breaks of huge trees.  Katikati’s first first kiwifruit vines were planted around 1952 and by the late 1970s many dairy farms had been carved up for orchards.  Today, New Zealand kiwifruit earns about $1 billion annually with the Katikati district alone producing over12 million trays from around 1500 hectares.  And we are happily camping in the grounds of a kiwifruit orchard in this lovely piece of paradise.

P2220025 Kiwifruit ready to harvest

P2210083Camping at Katikati

1 comment:

Nancy J said...

Lovely place, Katikati, we lived at Tuapiro Road for some years, and a gifted quilt, love the pattern and those blues. Cheers, Jean.