Hand Stitching

Its hard work being on holiday, places to go, and people to see.  But I’ve managed to squeeze a little hand stitching in here and there.  One of my traveling projects is a little traced stitchery of a steam engine.  So far I've stitched the wheels, and feel like singing “the wheels of the train go round and round” as I’m sitting here stitching.  This will eventually be made into a cot quilt, I think.

Steam train stitchery

And tonight I sat outside with our caravan friends and did a little more on the border of my Autumn stitchery, hand quilting around each little Autumn leaf in the border fabric. 

Hand quilting the border

So what holiday adventures have we had since I last reported?  The annual Festival of Lights at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth was on our “must see” list.  We joined throngs of other people as we walked though the park, family groups, excited children, teens, and plenty of oldies like us.  The waterfall changed colours as we stood and watched, and the peacock was a sight to behold.  There were lights through the trees, on the bridge across the lake, and plenty of light wands being brandished about.

Lights at Pukekura Park

Our next adventure on our safari was a two day trip along the Forgotten World Highway, ( SH43) starting from Stratford.  SH43 is New Zealand’s oldest heritage trail at 155kms long and follows ancient Maori trade routes and pioneering farm tracks.  Eventually we arrived at our stop for the night, the Whangamomona Campground, formerly the local school, and rather rustic.

Whangamomona (doesn't that name just roll off your tongue) was first settled in 1895, and was once a bustling frontier town.  The 300 residents worked on roading and railway construction, and farming, but sadly by the 1960s the population had declined to about 20 residents.  But they were a force to be reckoned with.  When changes to the local boundarys were mooted, the locals strongly disagreed and declared themselves a Republic in 1989, and held their own Presidential Elections.  The famous Republic Day is held every two years and attracts visitors from far and wide, and Presidents have included a dog and a goat, with the occasional local wearing the chains of office too.  We spent our “happy hour” at the famous Whangamomona Hotel to soak up some of the “Whanga”atmosphere.

Whangamomona Hotel

The next morning we continued on the second half of our journey, crossing up and over the 4th saddle of the trip, and next up was the Moki Tunnel.  The single-lane 180m long Moki Tunnel was built in 1936 and is known locally as the 'Hobbit's Hole'. Home to fossilized giant crabs, the floor of the tunnel was lowered in 1989, increasing the height to 7m to allow access for triple-decked stock trucks. It has a timber gabled roof and hand carved walls.  We stopped the car, out I rushed to take a photo, then we were on our way again.

Emerging from the Hobbit’s Hole tunnel

We are still traveling, with more adventures beckoning, and hopefully a couple of lazy afternoons for stitching.