Welcome to tales of my stitching life, home, family and friends.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Family, Holiday and a little stitching

Just in case you are wondering, yes, we are still on holiday.  During our time in Hawkes Bay we called in to see my sister Kathleen and her husband Dennis, who live in Hastings.

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Kathleen with me

There were two “new to us” places to stay at while we traveled slowly southwards.  Guess it’s no coincidence that they were both by breweries!  The first was GodsOwn Brewery – Godfrey the brewer was originally from South Africa, married to Kiwi wife Rachel, and they have realised their dream of brewing craft beers on their own piece of rural paradise.  Of course, we had to meet for 4zees in the large safari tent.  Geoff and Robin ordered the tasting selection of six different beers, and they arrived in quite an impressive wooden rack.

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Trying GodsOwn beer

Our last night on our caravan safari was spent camped on the river bank at Mangatainoka Reserve. This is a very significant stretch of water, in the history of beer brewing.  In 1889 Henry Wagstaff stopped on the banks of the Mangatainoka River to boil up a pot of tea.  The water tasted so good that he decided to build a brewery, and so Tui Brewery began.  All these years later Tui Brewery is still going strong, producing plenty of Tui beer, incidentally, Robin’s beer of choice, although I’m not a beer drinker. 

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Camping besides the Mangatainoka River

While we were camped here, it would be rude not to walk across the road to the famous Tui Brewery, don't you think.  It took us no time at all – the beer drinkers were happy, while others had coffee and hot chocolate.  And here is the famous seven storey brew tower, built in 1931, so brewers could use gravity to turn malt into beer. Strangely, the builders forgot to put in a lift and stairs, and this quirk has only added intrigue to the site’s long history. The tower is now classified as a Category 1 Heritage Listed building and has been earthquake strengthened.  Advertising photos often  show a bevy of beautiful Tui Girls leaning out of the windows, but they weren’t there when we were visiting. 

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The famous Tui Tower

We stopped for lunch at Henley Lake, full of ducks, geese and swans, which certainly had Gemma intrigued.  These birds were much too big for her, so she was happy to peep through the screen door at them.

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Henley Lake, Masterton

Then it was just a short drive to our last stop on this trip, at Carterton for a caravan club rally.  The Wairarapa club are hosting a double celebration, the 20th Regional Rally, and their club’s 80th Birthday.  Quite a lot to celebrate.

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80th Birthday Cake

And lucky us, we won two raffles during the weekend.  Coffee, mugs and biscuits in one, and a pretty tea towel and chocolate in the other.  All very nice indeed.

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Raffle prizes

Blog reader Helen popped in to visit us at Carterton, arriving in her rather flash red car, and bringing some home baking with her, so kind.  We had a good catch up, and it was interesting that she knew our caravan club friend Val from their working lives some years ago.  What a small world.  Helen duly admired our new caravan, my stitching projects, and of course Gemma.  Helen is a great knitter and I was most impressed to learn that she spins and knits fleece from her own small herd of alpacas!  (Such a shame I forgot to take photos.)  And I’m still slowly stitching along, hand quilting a little more on the border of my Autumn stitchery.

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This is a long three day weekend (Wellington Anniversary Weekend) so we will finally arrive home on Monday.  I can't wait to make friends with my sewing machine again!

11 comments:

Judith nb Serena said...

You have certainly had a good holiday. Brought back some happy memories. We still have our glasses from our visit to Tui Brewery. You and your sister are very alike, it's lovely you were able to meet up while travelling. Enjoy getting back to your machine.
Judith nb Serena

Julierose said...

What a lovely getaway adventure you are having;)) my hubby was impressed with that beer tasting selection!!lol he loves his beer--especially German Spaten...
hugs, Julierose (Prosit)

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

sounds like you had a great time and won some nice prizes too. So nice to meet up with a blog reader and that she brought home made treats was nice too I bet. I think it would be very interesting to learn to spin wool and have alpacas!--but I'm not a farmer I have no idea how to care for them!

Cathy said...

It sounds like you’ve had a few fun days, Jenny! I know my DH Bruce would certainly love those breweries! and isn’t it always so nice to get back home after traveling for a bit? (And Darla sends her best to Gemma, agreeing that Gemma fur would indeed be a lovely decorating touch!)

Maria said...

You both had a lovely time tripping around, catching up with your sister and friends as well as celebrating your clubs special dates..
Lovely to go on holiday but there;s no place like home and your machine.

Michelle Ridgway said...

Sounds like a lovely holiday. Such a nice picture of you and your sister. Congrats on your raffle wins xx

Tired Teacher said...

So nice your wandering took you close to your sister's home. Love the photo of you and Kathleen. I'm not fan of beer but I've visited a few breweries on travels.safe travels home.

Jeanne said...

Travel safely!

loulee said...

You're certainly tripping about.
Looks like a good spot to stitch.

Karen S said...

I know a lot of people who would enjoy combining caravan trips wit brewery visits!
Lovely that you caught up with your sister as well.
And how lucky are you with the raffles?

Janice said...

How nice to catch up with your sister and another blogger on your travels. It’s been a great trip.