Out and About in the first days of Winter

 The Winter season has ticked over down here in the Southern Hemisphere.  The weather has been fine and sunny, although the temperatures are definately getting much cooler.  We had great weather for our caravan club weekend away.  It was a long weekend with Monday 3rd being a public holiday, King's Birthday weekend to commemorate King Charles birthday.  Although his actual birthday is in November, it is celebrated in June.  Why?  It all goes back to King George 11 and the cold English winter weather, he started this tradition way back in 1748.  He had a November birthday, and announced that is was much too cold to hold the public grand parade.  Since then, British monarchs who were not born in the Summer get to celebrate their birthdays twice, once on their actual date of birth, and again in the British Summer.

We spent the weekend at Takapau Caravan Park.  The former caretakers have a Lilac Birman cat who has always been allowed to run free through the camp.  They live in their motor home and are moving on.  And have now  realised that they should have got the cat used to being on a lead, both cats and dogs must be on leads in motor camps.  So to help keep their cat contained they have purchased a pet stroller.  There was the cat, sitting up and looking very regal, as she was wheeled around.  And no, we won't be getting one of these strollers for Gemma.

We had a right royal quiz one evening, trying to answer all sorts of questions about the royal family.  Although I didn't win, I did quite well, and I was the only one to know the names of the 6 wives of Henry VIII and get them in the correct order.  As I often say about quizzes, they are easy if you know the answers, and I have a particular interest in Tudor royalty.  Then on Monday morning I provided some cake to share in celebration of the King's Birthday, and gave a little talk about the Kings Charles I (who lost his head) and his son Charles II.  And now, of course, we are up to Charles III.

Cake for morning tea

On Sunday we visited the Onga Onga Museum complex.  We had been there recently, but were not previously able to look inside the buildings, as they are only open on Sundays.  

I was so pleased to see lots of old linen, old irons and sewing machines, and clothes from yesteryear inside some of the buildings.  I really enjoy seeing this sort of thing.

You could imagine the effort it would take getting the household laundry done, standing over a big hot copper then wringing and rinsing all the garments.  It is so easy for us today with modern appliances.

Colonial life in early New Zealand

After seeing our fill of the museum buildings we drove on to find a cafe for lunch.   The cafe was  very busy, the best in town, the owner informed us.  The food was great, the coffee was nice and hot, and when she spotted my camera on the table, offered to take a photo for us.  What great service.

Out to lunch, Jenny, Robin and Dot

Sign in the cafe

All too soon it was time to pack up and head for home.  Unfortunately our club president got stopped on the road for some time when a stock truck overturned on the hilly Saddle Road.  He phoned to let us know the road was closed and eventually had help from the police and fire brigade to turn his car and caravan around and get away.  Cattle from the overturned stock truck were wandering around, and the truck was blocking both lanes so no doubt it would take a bit of sorting out.  He is sure to have some stories to tell at the next caravan club rally about his experiences.  We took the alternate road over the hill, the Pahiatua Track, and got home safely.  

Where have we been lately?

We are heading back up the east coast of the South Island, making our slow way back to the Ferry Terminal.  Staying at Christchurch for a couple of days gave us the opportunity to catch up with son Michael again.  And I had so enjoyed our previous visit to Sign of the Kiwi Café on the Port Hills last time we were here, that we collected him from his home and went there for lunch.  It certainly was a long and winding drive up the road.  There were plenty of people there already there enjoying their lunches in the fresh air, and we ordered whatever took our fancy and found ourselves a table too.   Outside in the gardens seemed an ideal place for a few photos – “Oh, Mum, not again” said Michael, rolling his eyes.  But that’s what mothers do, don't they, take family photos when they can.

Michael and his Mum

While out and about we came across a large hollow metal ball – wonder what this is?  So we stopped to find out.  “Fanfare” was designed by Christchurch born  sculpture Neil Dawson and was suspended from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark New Year in 2005.  Then it was gifted by the City of Sydney to Christchurch City in 2007.  Fanfare is 20m in diameter, 24m high and weighs 25 tonnes, and is covered in 360 steel fans, each 1.5m in diameter and each one rotated by the wind.  It certainly is a mesmerizing sight.

“Fanfare”

With Cyclone Gabrielle wrecking havoc in the North Island, and not being sure if she would travel down south, we decided to stay in the Christchurch area for a few more days.  We moved from where we were staying as all those tall trees surrounding the property had me worrying if they would blow down on us in the strong winds.  So we moved 10km or so up the road to Kaiapoi.  The brand new  Kaiapoi NZMCA Park had just opened the previous day, so we were delighted to be one of the very early customers.  This new park is built on the substantial red zoned area, (previously a large subdivision)  from the massive 2011 Christchurch earthquake and all the badly damaged houses have been knocked down and removed. 

No more housing can be built on this red zoned land, so it is good that other low impact activities like sports fields and a large enclosed dog park are making use of the land.  Another great idea in this area  is the Food Forest, quite a large area built around many fruit trees.  Other items are planted in the gardens, I noticed many pumpkin plants spreading about and just starting to flower, and plenty of thorny berry bushes with not a single fruit on them.  I collected some apples and pears plus a few peaches from old mature trees to take back to the caravan.  All these trees would have been part of neighbouring home gardens before all the houses were destroyed in the earthquake.

I checked out the Food Forest

Kaiapoi was an important trading hub with the Maori people and the Kaiapoi River and surrounding waterways were used to transport pounamu (greenstone) from the Arahura River, and mutton-birds from Stewart Island.  These days the river is used by pleasure boats and cruise boats, including the Kaiapoi River Queen.  There was a trip scheduled in the weekend after we had departed.  So we will certainly have to return to this town and have a lunch or dinner cruise of the wonderful looking boat.

Doesn’t it look great

A couple of days later we drove up SH1 to Kaikoura.  Oh look – tunnels.  There are two sets of these tunnels, carved through the rock.  They may look tiny but plenty of large heavy trucks pass through them on a daily basis, so there was no problem that we would fit.

Two tunnels cut through the rock

Kaikoura township was buzzing with cars and campervans, the tourists had certainly come calling.  The car park at the Whale Watch encounter was packed with vehicles as the customers had climbed onboard the boats for a thrilling trip.  Down at the coastline the bleached white uplifted rocks from the big 2016 earthquake were ghostly white in the sunshine – all this coastline was originally under water.  There were several seals basking in the sun – some people walked over the rocks and got alarmingly close to them.

Seal basking in the sun

We finished off our sightseeing with an ice-cream.  Not a real ice-cream, the vendor was selling either Gelato or Sorbet.  We chose a gelato each and sat down in the sunshine trying to consume them before they melted in the sunshine and dripped all over our fingers.

Happy days

Then it was off to Blenheim.  Driving along the now repaired coastal highway, we reflected on how it was during our last trip to the South island when the road was still being repaired after the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake.  This tore through fault lines, demolishing houses, ripping up roads and railway lines and causing massive landslides.  Kaikoura was cut off and isolated.  1700 engineers and workers toiled for over a year before Kaikoura was finally reconnected.  Two years later on  our South Island trip in 2018 we remember how the road on the hill side was lined with long lines of containers to keep further rock fall at bay, so work was still ongoing then.  There was not a container in sight this time as we drove along. No wonder New Zealand is called “The Shaky Isles”.

Gemma wasn’t the only cat in camp in Blenheim, there were two others.  A white cat with black markings was nicely behaved on his harness and lead.  And the van next to us had a “catio”, I had only ever seen this before on an American quilting blog, so went to check it out.  The older tabby cat enjoying the fresh air in safely has only recently been caravanning and hated the harness and lead.  So the owners decided that the catio was a great idea for their cat, and made one themselves which hooks on to the side of their motorhome.  The cat is free to hop in and out of the motorhome through the window, and really enjoys his room with a view, I was told.

Cat in his catio

I’ve been doing a little stitching on a rainbow lately, but nothing really to show just yet.  I was really impressed when I asked Robin if he knew the colours of the rainbow, and he rattled them off, no trouble.  Although I had a general idea, I would have asked Mr Google to get it correct.  Luckily I have all the thread colours  my bag, so I’m stitching merrily away.

Family Christmas

Our Christmas was spent in rural Kiwitea, just north of Feilding, at my daughter and her family’s smallholding.  We were staying in our caravan, tucked around behind the house.  Just through the trees was the chicken run, and we could hear the chooks cluck clucking away.   I went with Nicky into the chook run to feed them some scraps and see how they were getting on.

Daughter Nicky with one of her hens

Grand-daughter Emma welcomed us with a pre-Christmas gift, home baked Christmas fruit mince pies and shortbread, such a lovely surprise.

Pre-Christmas gift from Emma

Emma loves Christmas so knocked on the caravan door door  bright and early on Christmas morning.  This family always have a Christmas tradition of hot croissants with ham and cheese for breakfast,  delicious indeed, so much so that we have borrowed their tradition when we have Christmas on our own.  Then came the presents, and what a stack there were.

Presents galore

I’m pleased to say that the hand knitted secret socks were well received.  Grand-daughter Megan had asked it I could knit her a pair “sometime” so I thought it would be nice to also knit some for Emma and my daughter Nicky as well.  Emma got the purple ones, Megan got the yellow, pink and blue ones, and daughter Nicky got the navy ones, all knitted with   Zauberball 4ply sock yarn.

Socks for the girls for Christmas

And this is what was waiting for us under the tree

Christmas lunch was a feast of BBQ chicken, glazed ham, salads, yummy desserts and a glass or two of bubbly, eaten picnic style outside under the shade of the gazebo.  We were fit to bursting and I must admit to a nana nap in the afternoon. 

Megan glazed the ham

The family dog Noodle kept us entertained as he demolished his Christmas piggy toy.  He gets one every year and when he heard the squeak inside his wrapped parcel, he could hardly contain himself.  There wasn't much left of piggy by the end of the day.

Noodle and his Christmas pig

Poor Gemma was traumatized by the household cats.  The older cat PK (Psycho Killer) had gone missing for several months and only just returned home.  Meanwhile, the family had just acquired a young kitten, so both of the felines were rather put out with each other.  And then, we arrived with Gemma in the caravan, so there was a bit of hissing going on and Gemma couldn’t cope with this at all. We decided that it would be better for Gemma, and our peace of mind, if we kept Gemma in the caravan, away from the other two cats.

PK is waiting outside the caravan door

The weather has been lovely and warm, and I’ve sent some time under the gazebo doing a little stitching.  This is going to be a set of placemats for the caravan.

Stitching time

We have had a lovely time here in Kiwitea, the girl’s boyfriends have been staying so we got to knw them a bit better.  And several neighbors have popped in, and stayed for a meal.  One of them was relating how she had two sows almost ready to farrow, this was a first for her so it was rather exciting.  Such is life in the country.

Visiting Family and Pets

Over the weekend we stayed with our caravan club buddies at Mt Lees Reserve, a beautiful place surrounded by native forest.  But we did wonder where this elusive mountain was.  Mt Lees has an elevation of only 95 metres, barely noticeable as you drive around, and I couldn’t really find any info on why the area was named Mt Lees. The reserve was created by Ormond Wilson, who inherited 320 hectares of what was part of Ngaio Station.   The homestead was built first, then he set to and planted a huge number of trees.  In 1972 he gifted the land to the Crown.  There are walkways through the extensive bush, self contained camping is permitted, toilets and water are available.  Eight vans from our caravan club enjoyed a weekend here in the lovely setting.  In the Spring the grassy paddock where we were camping is a mass of beautiful daffodils.

Weekend camping at Mt Lees Reserve

We had lunch out  on Saturday with my daughter Nicky.  She hasn’t been at all well lately, so I was pleased that she is now looking so much better than she did before.

Nicky and me at lunch

Then we drove back to Nicky’s home to catch up with grand-daughter Emma and see the new kitten.  They call the kitten PK (Physco Killer) as it was from a feral litter and still has some wild instincts, it seems.  The kitten spent some time trying to kill her cuddly toy dog, and doing quite a good job, biting the poor doggy's face with all her might, and lashing out with her back paws.  Seems the hunting instincts are well ingrained.

Emma and PK

The family dog Noodle was a little apprehensive of us visitors and spent some time hiding under the table.  When we first arrived he barked and growled, being his protective best, and finally settled down

Noodle the dog

Then we had to go and meet the chickens.  They have a nice big fenced area to live in, with plenty of bushes and grass  to scratch under, and a chook shed where they hopefully lay their eggs.

Here, chook, chook

Back inside the house I spotted a stitchery cushion I had made Nicky for an earlier birthday.  She is very fond of growing herbs and veggies so I thought the pattern was just right for her.

Birthday cushion

It was so nice to get to spend the afternoon with Nicky, and catch up on all the family news.  On the way back to camp we spotted some purple wrapped hay/silage bales, so had to stop the car and get a photo.  Around New Zealand, hay bales in pink, blue and purple are increasingly common thanks to different initiatives designed to raise money for charities. The coloured wraps cost farmers about 10 per cent more than the standard mint green ones.  The pink silage bale wraps support Sweet Louise, a  breast cancer charity while the blue ones raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. And the  purple wrap is part of a worldwide project launched to support children's charities, which includes Starship Hospital.  Such a great idea, and some of  these were adorned with smiley faces too.

Supporting Starship Hospital

Cats on Tour

We are away on another trip (lucky us), the weather was good and the car and caravan just hummed along.  We had our  favourite radio station belting out all the songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s “songs that you know and love”, as the adverts say, rather like spending time with good friends, as we hummed along.  Gemma came too, of course, and she is quite good on car rides, she usually spends her time beside me, leaning on the consul with her head facing backwards as we drive along.  Rather like an ostrich with her head in the sand, I often think.

Arriving at Waiouru we parked behind the  National Army Museum for lunch, usually plenty of room plus a café and restrooms inside the building if required.  The museum building looks rather like a castle, I always think.  We ate inside the van enjoying “something I had prepared earlier”.  I did check out the café which is now under new management, maybe we will lunch inside next time we are passing by.  And check out the wonderful view of Mt Ruapehu through the café window.

Mt Ruapehu

A small tree and a plaque were close by our lunch spot behind the museum.    Australians and New Zealanders  all know about the Anzacs and the Gallipoli Peninsula battle at Lone Pine during WW1.  A solitary pine tree stood at the battle site, and this remaining tree was almost destroyed during the battle.  Once the fighting had subsided, two Australian soldiers collected pine cones still attached to the branches used to cover the Turkish trenches.  These pine cones were carried home with the soldiers after the war, resulting in the germination of Turkish pines throughout Australia.

This tree is one of many raised in the Scion research nursery in Rotorua from seeds collected in 2012 from the Turkish red pine growing at Paeroa Golf Course.  This tree is an authenticated New Zealand descendant of the Gallipoli Peninsula’s original Lone Pine, and three seedlings were gifted to the museum as part of the ANZAC Day centenary in 2015.   How special to see this tree surviving here in New Zealand so many years later and so far from home.

Lone Pine at National Army Museum

Then on to stay at Taupo for two nights, with the “other” cats on tour, my Colourpoint Cats quilt top.  Remember these blocks I laboured over while I was taking part in the RSC each month?  Those arcs and curved piecing almost got the better of me, but I persevered and finally got the nine blocks completed.  I was meeting up with Linda of Razzle Dazzle Quilting who had agreed to work her magic on this wall-hanging.  We sat a discussed what I would like, and what Linda thought would look good.

Colourpoint Cats

Linda showed me a lovely gift she had received from fellow blogger Nancy who writes at Wyoming Breezes.  I read Nancy’s blog too, isn’t it wonderful how we are all connected through blogland!

Linda with her pretty scarf

Of course I had to take of photo of Linda’s sister Peggy too.  She was tucked up on a comfy chair,  busily sewing in the thread ends on a quilt, and one of the family cats on her lap.  IT was a picture of contentment.

Peggy and one of the cats

While at their home I admired some of the lovely quilts on display.  I loved the little village quilt with the matchstick quilting, don't those lights in the windows glow!  And I was in awe of the wonderful quilting on the dahlia panel.  It was so nice to meet up with these two lovely ladies again.

Two examples of Linda’s beautiful work

Then it was time for a little shopping before heading back to the caravan.  We had to make an urgent trip to the local vet, not because Gemma had taken poorly again.  No, I had forgotten to pack her Hill Science Diet crunchies, and they are only available through a vet, not a supermarket.  We arrived home, unpacked the groceries, and Gemma decided to see what was inside the shopping bag.  Maybe she could smell the meat we had purchased at the supermarket?  The bag certainly made a great cat sized hidey hole.

Gemma hiding in the shopping bag

Where have we been?

So where have we been?  Rotorua, for a start – which has a love story to tell.  From where we were staying, I could just get a glimpse of Lake Rotorua and Mokoia Island.  The Maori legend tells of two lovers.   Tutanekai lived on Mokoia Island and Hinemoa was a princess of a tribe that lived on the shores of the lake. Though deeply in love, Hinemoa's parents had forbidden them to meet. In desperation Hinemoa swam to Mokoia Island guided by Tutanekai's flute, and so began Rotorua's most famous legend. Arriving at the island Hinemoa rested in the hot natural pool where she was found by Tutanekai  - they married, their tribes united, and descendants of the two still live in Rotorua today.

From here we went to Hamilton to have our caravan serviced.  We stayed overnight outside the factory and there was a knock on the caravan door bright and early at 6.30am.  As they towed the van around the back of the factory to work on, we had gathered our things, a water bottle, put Gemma in the car, and off we went out into the dark and foggy morning.  There was only one thing to do at this time of day, we went out for breakfast. Scrambled eggs for me, and poached eggs with bacon for Robin.

Early morning breakfast

It was still early, so we drove down to Lake Rotoroa to sit and relax.  There were plenty of ducks and pukeko relaxing on the lake edge, waiting for the sun to break through and warm things up, no doubt.  Lake Rotoroa was formed about 20,000 years ago, when the Waikato River changed to flow out at Port Waikato It was originally  a braided river, but most of its braided courses were left as lakes once the river cut its present lower level. Peat then dammed and increased the size of the lakes.

Serene morning at Lake Rotoroa

We collected the caravan after it’s service and traveled on to Waihi.  The discovery of gold in the 1870s attracted miners from California and New South Wales, with production reaching it’s peak in the early 1900s.  The massive open pit Martha Mine sits on the edge of the town, it certainly is a sight to see.

Martha Mine in Waihi

Our next stop was at Katikati, where we found a handy laundromat.  On holiday or not, the laundry still needs doing.  So I sat and waited, just as well I had an interesting book with me.

It’s laundry time

Katikati was founded in 1875 by Irish settlers.  There are many kiwifruit, avocado and citrus orchards in this area, and the town has many murals painted on the buildings, showing life in earlier times.  We called in to visit my cousin Brian and his lovely wife Bev and had a great catch-up with all the news.

Katikati

At the moment we are overnighting at Omokoroa, looking over the estuary.  Such a lovely peaceful setting, and this is our view out of the caravan window.  How lovely is that!  There are all sorts of boats anchored in the water to admire, and the area boasts a very popular cycle track.

Omokoroa Estuary

Friends Andrew and Debbie live close by, and we were invited around to their home for afternoon tea.  And to say hello again to their two rag doll cats, Beau and Van.  These two had certainly grown since we saw them in the New Year, particularly Beau who is now a very big boy indeed.  And smaller Van looks so cute with his eye patch.  They were having fun hanging about  on their cat tower.  Later on Andrew and Debbie came back to our caravan and we shared a fish and chip meal together it was so nice to spend time with them again and catch up on all the news.

Beau and Van

Our own cat Gemma always seems quite happy in the caravan, snoozing her day away as most cats do.  She does enjoy a little walk outside with Robin too, and bounces along at the end of her lead, until a loud noise sends her scurrying quickly back to the safety of the caravan.  She likes to curl up in the laptop bag while I’m busy tapping away writing a blog.

Curled up in the lap top bag

I’ve done a little knitting while we have been away and some work on my stitchery project too.  This is getting there slowly, I’ve now added some leaves and yellow flowers since I last worked on it.

A little more stitching done

So that’s what we have been doing over the last week.  Traveling, some sightseeing, a little knitting and stitching, and catching up with family and friends.