Beanies and Donations

 I've been (slowly) knitting beanies using some donated wool from a group which does knitting and sewing for those in need.  Beanies for men were needed so from the big box of wool I chose some brown and a smaller ball of cream.  This group does good work for the community but the day of the week they meet doesn't suit me so I've decided not to join them after all.  But of course I needed to pop in and return the beanies to them.  I managed to get three large and one child's beanies out of the wool I had, with just a tiny bit left over.  So I'm really pleased with that.  

Beanies for donation

I've also donated the remaining two unicorn cushions I made earlier, these are going to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and I'm sure a couple of young girls will enjoy them.  The drop off point is a wool shop in Paraparaumu Beach, which worked out well, as we were traveling down to the area to meet friends for lunch.

These two will be finding new homes

We met our friends at Club Vista, a place we hadn't visited before.  The lovely big windows in the restaurant have a great view over the Returned Services Memorial and Kapiti Island in the background.

Club Vista and the views from the 1st floor restaurant windows

We enjoyed a wonderful meal with our friends, a great lunch, and it's always so nice to have a good catch up with old friends.

Sew Wot Tuesday

Coming home from our recent Safari trip away, I had to convince Robin that we really didn't need an extra day away.  After all, it would be such a shame to miss my two weekly Tuesday Sew Wot get together.  So we returned home on the Monday instead - thank you Robin.   This time we met at Carol's home.  It was Jude's birthday, so we got to watch her opening up the Sew Wot's gifts.  I'm sure it is just as exciting for us as it is to the birthday girl.  

So what did we have for Show and Tell?  First up was a pair of orange socks Heather had made for herself, using up some odds and ends of wool.

Heather's new socks

Heather had also finished another pretty lap quilt.  This is the backing, isn't she clever!

Heather's lap quilt

Carol had another lot of baby singlets and toys, all packaged up ready to be sent to the Neo Natal ward in the hospital.

Baby donations knitted by Carol

Jude had completed two black pillowcases to go with the quilt she showed last time, these are for her grandson.

Jude's pillowcases

The six of us chatted happily away, busy with our various knitting projects, and then it was time for morning tea.  As it was Jude's birthday, she was presented with a cake complete with birthday candles, and we all sang Happy Birthday to her.

Morning tea

As always, we enjoyed a lovely morning together.  Thanks so much to Carol for being the hostess this time.

More Safari Travels

 Akitio on the coast was our next stop  This is a sheep and beef farming district and the small town has a school, volunteer fire brigade, a motor camp and a freedom camping area by the beach, and not much  else.

We found ourselves a site with  plenty of room here for our group.  Water, rubbish bins and a toilet block was available, but unfortunately the weather was not kind to us at all.  The beach was covered in driftwood and bigger logs, no doubt washed ashore after a storm.  

Akitio Beach

It was just one night here, so we packed up and set off again, to arrive at Te Paerahi Beach, Porangahau.   Along the way we stopped at the site of "The longest Placename in New Zealand".  There is a nice large area to pull off the road and check out the sign, which was very long indeed.

The name translates to "The place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as land eater, played his nose flute to his loved one".  The story goes that Tamatea was so grieved over the loss of his brother that he stayed at the battle site for some days.  Each morning he would sit on the hill and play a lament on his flute.

That's a very long sign

Te Paerahi Beach was another freedom camping area, not one we had stayed at before.  A toilet block was available, plus a drinking fountain, but no tap water available to top up the vans.  There were other vans staying there too, but still plenty of room for our seven vans.  The wide sandy beach was beautiful, and most of us strolled along it during our stay here.  There were no piles of driftwood cluttering up this beach, unlike the previous one we stayed at.

Te Paerahi was a lovely sandy beach

Gemma enjoyed relaxing on the caravan bed as a sliver of sunshine came through the window.  Cats always find the best spots for themselves, don't they.

Gemma's happy in the sunshine

The last stop on our safari was two nights at Takapau camp.  It was nice to be on  power again, as we were still experiencing cool weather.  We ate together in the hall on Saturday night, enjoying our local fish and chips.  Then everyone was invited to share an embarrassing story.  I started the ball rolling when I related my tale of woe as a young Mum driving a car with L (learner) plates, remember those, plus two kids and two dogs.  I was traveling up the Wairarapa side of the Remutaka  Hill when all the traffic came to a standstill.  When the cars started off again I found it impossible to do the dreaded hill start and kept sliding back, getting closer and closer to the car behind me.  Finally, the driver came to me and offered to start my car and drove it to a flat pull off area.  I was mortified, and stayed put till all the traffic had passed by, before slowly driving home to Lower Hutt.  Other embarrassing tales followed, most of them long forgotten and buried in the subconscious, as it turned out.

Sunday was a free day with people out visiting friends and family, or in our case, a little shopping and attending to the laundry.   These are always busy places and many locals come to use the machines.  I took my knitting along while I waited and did some rows on my pink socks.

Sock knitting in the laundromat

The grand finale was dinner that evening at Sawyers Arms in nearby Tikokino.  Once again, many muddy gumboots were left at the door.  The pub was quite full with patrons  and our group was seated in the dining room on a long table, which suited us fine.  Menus were studied, our choices were made, and generously heaped plates  arrived at the table.

It was a lovely evening, thanks were made and we were presented with a pretty card, signed by all the attendees on the safari.

Thank you card 

Everyone departed on Monday morning, and the gusty wind made towing a little difficult.  We stopped at NZ Natural Clothing shop at Norsewood  to make a couple of purchases, two nice warm plaid shirts for Robin, and a big kg of cream wool for me, for a future project.  As a thank you for our purchases I got a pair of cozy socks, printed with caravans.

My purchases

A little further on we stopped for lunch.  We had planned ahead and made some bacon sandwhiches before we broke camp to eat on our way, and they were very tasty indeed.   Then we drove up and over the Pahiatua Track, and we were on the home stretch.  As much as I always enjoy our trips away, it's always good to get back home, safe and sound again.

Caravan Safari

 Robin and I are leading a Caravan Safari with our caravan club friends through coastal Wairarapa.  Taking them along roads not traveled, and places yet to be explored.   The drive took us through some pretty farmland, with plenty of cattle and sheep grazing contentedly.   Our first stop was Alfredton Domain which has overnight free parking.

Alfredton was formed in 1868 and was part of the Small Farms Association.  These days it is a tiny village with a school and a church.  The Domain is an attractive place with ewes and small lambs everywhere.  The calls of our beautiful native bird, the tui, were heard overhead in the large trees.   There is a plaque honouring the pioneers who laid the foundations of the district.

 Next stop was Pongaroa.  For such a small place, there are quite a lot of interesting things there.    In the middle of the village is a sculpture to commemorate a famous son, Maurice Wilkins, who was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize together with his colleagues when they discovered the now familiar double helix of DNA.

Tribute to Maurice Wilkins

The local pub, the Pongaroa Hotel,  has an interesting history, starting life as a BNZ bank.  The bank closed in 1936 and was used as a private house for 12 years.  It was then converted into a hotel, then a tavern, then back to a hotel again.  There are many interesting historic photos inside the building including bullock teams hauling huge loads of native timber to the mills.  You know this is a rural area when you see the gum boots (Wellington boots) all lined up at the door.  We settled down in the dining room, checked out the menus and ordered our meals.    Generous country sized servings and very tasty indeed.

Pongaroa Hotel

We found out that our club member Helen grew up in Pongaroa so knows the area well.  When having a coffee in the local cafe, she mentioned that she worked in the building as an after school job when it was a country store.  I couldn't help myself and had to purchase a tea towel to mark our visit here, after all, you can never have too many tea towels, can you!

My new tea towel

The following day was clear but cold, and we packed a picnic lunch and the folding chairs, and headed off on an adventure.  Off we went to show our camping buddies the beautiful Waihi Falls, about a 45 minute drive from the camp.  The majority had not been there before.  The walk down to the falls was down a steep track, and I counted 105 steps.  Of course it was much easier going down than clambering back up.  We all walked at our own pace and the walking poles made us feel a little more secure.

Waihi Falls were a sight to behold, roaring with sound as the water thundered 25m over the edge, sending light spray around to land on our faces.  Such a magnificent sight, so doubt the recent rain fall had made the flow even stronger than usual.

Waihi Falls

Our safari trip is half over with even more adventures to come.  It is good to come exploring to visit places a bit off our usual itinerary, and even better introducing these places to folk who haven't traveled this way before.  

Believe it or not, I have taken three pairs of socks, at various stages, away with me.  But I've only knitted a few rows so far.  Never mind, the knitting projects are there for when I need them.

I've got three pair of socks on the go.

Sew Wot Tuesday

 This time Sew Wots was held at Helen's rural property.  There was a bevy of cute heifers looking over the fence at me as I came up the drive, watching me with their big soulful eyes.  It was nice to see Sandra again, she hasn't been feeling too bright lately.  We spent the morning chatting away, as we got on with our various knitting projects.  Heather received a couple of belated birthday gifts, so it was exciting seeing the parcels being opened.

So.... what did we have for show and tell.  Carol had been busy again, with more knitted toys which will be donated to the Neo Natal Ward.

More knitted toys from Carol

There were two pair of men's knitted socks to admire, from both Helen and Heather.  Both their hubbies seem to have very big feet indeed.

Knitted by Helen

This pair knitted by Heather

And I had taken my Batik  Beauty quilt to show.

I'm very pleased with my batik quilt

Helen then showed us a couple of UFOs she had rediscovered and was working on them again.  The first was started in a class at Crazy Cow quilt shop, which has since closed.  This is a mixture of piecing and applique and has a real Kiwi flavour, with pukekoes, Maori designs and little lizards.  Looks like it is all pinned up ready for some of Helen's clever machine quilting.

This one is so nice

The second one Helen showed us is a Jelly Roll Race quilt top.  Very effective indeed, but I must admit that I have never made on of these.

Helen's Jelly Roll Race quilt top

Morning tea was served, and as usual was very tasty indeed.  Helen's husband calls us the Eat Alots, goodness knows where he gets that idea from!

Morning Tea

Many thanks to Helen for being the hostess for the day, as usual it was a lovely morning.

The next evening I attended the Town and Country Quilt Club monthly.  The speakers were a couple who talked about and showed us his beautiful woodturning.  And his lovely wife told us about their trip to the Outer Hebrides and her love of the Harris Tweed produced there.  My batik quilt got another outing as I took it along for Show and Tell, together with many other items on show by club members.

Show and Tell at the Quilt Club

My Batik Beauty

 This is another long winded RSC finish, which started off as another completely different project, way back when we lived in Upper Hutt.  I found my big bag of batiks, and decided to make Cobblestone blocks instead, and there it floundered again.  Eventually added it to the RSC list and started making Cobblestone blocks in the colour of the month, working away until I had stitched sufficient blocks to give me the required number for a large quilt.

My bag of batiks

The colours in this quilt is quite different from what I would usually choose for myself.  Lots of teal blue, purples, creams, dark blue, a little green and pink.  But batiks all seem to go together, don't they. Gemma helped with the final arrangement and the top was finally finished.  I had decided against adding a border.   Then it was sent it away to be commercially quilted.  

Gemma is such a big help

The top is finished

I like to get the binding done early

It took me a while, but I finally finished the label, so my Batik Beauty is finally done.  I had offered this project to my daughter and granddaughters, but they all declared they didn't like it.  I love it, and I'm happy it is finally finished living with me.

My Batik Beauty, finished at last

Heading Home

 Our last night in the South Island was quite a worry.  A storm came rolling in as the day wore on, and was fully fledged by night time.  We could swear that the thunder was right over head, and each noisy clap spooked Gemma.  She ran around the van looking for a hiding place, hunkering down on the carpet at the foot of the bed, with the overhanging duvet giving her the illusion of cover.  Lightening cracked around us, torrential rain came down, and the caravan was buffeted all night by strong wind gusts.  Dear oh dear, what would our sailing be like the following day, we wondered. 

 Luckily the storm had gone the next morning, just leaving the wind gusts behind.  Time for the final part of our journey, crossing Cook Strait.  We were hoping the return trip would not be too rough, after all that bad weather the previous day.  While we were waiting in our lane to board the ship, we noticed a silly young girl walking around with a tiny pup.  The pup was not on a lead at all, and the girl was running here and there with the pup trying hard to keep up.  No control at all, and I had visions of a car or truck driving up to wait where they had been sent, and running over the pup.  Luckily that didn't happen, but.....  Soon, the vehicles in our lane were waved aboard, our journey across Cook Strait is beginning.

It is always rather noisy down in the hold.  Pets have to stay in the vehicles, or in Gemma's case, inside the caravan.  She is left with water and dry food in her bowls, and her dirt box.  Other than that, she is on her own, and has to deal with the trip alone for the next few hours as best she can.

Gemma stays in the caravan during the trip

So it was up to the cafe for a light lunch.  As the ship started to slowly leave the wharf I stepped out on the deck to take a few photos.  Traveling through the Marlborough Sounds is always so calm and  beautiful.

 On our way through the Sounds

I had brought my knitting with me to while away the time.  Not the blue pair of socks I was knitting on the trip down - I'm up to the heels on those so put them aside till I returned home.  This is another recently started pair, the pretty pink sock wool was a Christmas gift from my daughter, Nicky.

Busy knitting socks

The remainder of the journey was surprisingly calm, hard to believe after the terrible weather the previous day.  A friendly traveler noticed the Scotch Thistle on the front of my jumper and asked if I was from Scotland.  No, I answered,  but I did buy my jumper there in Edinburgh, and my maternal grandfather came from Glasgow.  It was easy to work out that this man was Irish, he had such a wonderful lilting Irish accent.  Yes, we've been to Ireland too, we said, and spent an interesting hour or so swapping travel tales.

He  saw my camera and asked if we would like a photo.  He and his wife were very impressed that we made such good use of our caravan and traveled far and wide around our beautiful country.  "You two are enjoying life and living the dream", he commented.

The time soon passed and we arrived in Wellington.   Time to head down to the car deck and get ready.  We decided to stop at Plimmerton NZMCA Park for the night, as it was getting dark, and we didn't want to arrive home and unload the van at night time.  A quick meal, and it was early to bed, it had been a big day and we were exhausted.  The next morning after  breakfast we hooked up for the final leg of the journey.  Home at last we unpacked the van, put the first load of washing on, and sat and relaxed over a late lunch.  Phew, it's good to be home again.  We had 10 days away this trip, and traveled 1110 kms.

While we were away Spring has sprung and our Kowhai tree had burst into blossom.  We brought this tree up to our new home in Levin as a seedling from our garden, and it is certainly thriving up here.

Our Kowhai tree in blossom