Still traveling

I'm obviously much to busy to do too much knitting while we are on our road trip.  The only thing I've worked on is my pair of pink socks, mostly knitted while traveling in the car.  This pretty yarn was a gift from my daughter Nicky last Christmas, so I'd like to get them finished soon.  They are coming along, I think I'm just about up to the heels by now.   In case you don't know, I knit my socks flat, two at a time.

My pink socks

Not only have I packed my pink socks to work on this trip, I've also got two pairs of socks which need the side seam stitched up - no, not done yet.  Plus my blue cardigan which needs working one, not looked at either.  Guess I've been too busy getting out and about.

One of the interesting places we have been to while staying at Ohaupo while our caravan was getting its annual service was to check out the Peat Lakes, we had never been there before.

Ngaroto is the largest of the many peat lakes found between Hamilton and Te Awamutu.  These lakes were formed about 19,000 years ago when sand and gravel carried in the Waikato and Waipa river blocked up small valleys.  Water loving plants thrived and thick layers of peat eventually built up within the lake and around the margins.  There is a walkway around the lake, including stretches of boardwalk together with dirt and grass pathways, about a 6km flat walk.  Self contained camping is allowed at the lake side, and there were several motor homes staying the day we arrived.  

Lake Ngaroto

The next day we traveled out to The Mount (Mount Maunganui) while we were waiting for our caravan awning to be restitched,  so drove there and found a parking spot overlooking the beach.  What a busy bunch the locals were.  There were people climbing up the pathway on the Mount, tiny dots in the distance.  We watched as a never ending stream of people walked, jogged, ran and cycled along the pathway adjacent to the beach.  Fit youngsters  effortlessly ran by, older couples walked together, young Mums wheeled their babes in pushchairs, it was great to see many people out and about enjoying the morning.  Unfortunately when I got out of the car to take a photo I slipped and fell, and found myself on my back between the gutter and the adjacent car.  An unexpected fall is always quite frightening, and as I said to Robin as I clambered back up, it could have been so much worse.  I could have broken my ankle, or banged my head on the car, luckily all that was damaged was my pride.

  Mt Maunganui and beach

Another interesting find was the "Tree of Knowledge" at our next overnight stop, Welcome Bay, in Tauranga.  Perhaps I should have gone and hugged the tree, and asked it to impart some knowledge!

The Tree of Knowledge 

There is a large meeting room with books to swap, and several boxes of kiwi fruit had been donated for the members.  "Help yourselves", we were told, so we did.  What a bonus for the campers.

Help yourself to the kiwifruit

And just because we are on holiday, doesn't mean that the laundry doesn't get done.  There is always a trip or two to find a local laundromat while we travel.

Laundry time again

Gemma is stoic with car travel, she just puts up with it, but once out of the car and into the caravan she is completely relaxed.  Then she jumps up on the bed and spends time grooming herself, her way of calming down, I think.  She is always interested going outside on her lead to check things out.  And once she has finished sniffing the grass, she often likes to sit in the doorway.

I wonder what she is looking at, birds perhaps?

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

Our Big Day

Sunday arrived, our 40th Anniversary.  After breakfast, we drove out to one of the things on our “must do” list, the Redwoods Treewalk.  Driving into the carpark, we noticed walkways in the trees above criss crossing overhead.  Tickets purchased, we were given a briefing about allowable numbers on the walkways and platforms, and don't touch the trees as it can harm the bark, we were on our way up the spiral walkway.

The start of the walk

We weren't sure how we would both manage up in the tree tops, but it was very easy walking indeed.  The platforms had seating if needed, but I was unaware that the walkways were in fact swing bridges!   All very sturdy, and no problem really.  With 28 bridges and 27 platforms we slowly made our way around the redwoods, stopping to read the information boards at the platforms.  There were plenty of people down on the forest floor on  the walking tracks, and the forest is free entry for recreational users.

The bridges, and looking down onto the undergrowth

The walkway is suspended from the trees using a specially designed sling, which carefully wraps around the trunks without causing any harm.  The slings can be easily adjusted to allow for the growing trees.  Another feature of the forest is the Nightlights Walk and we spotted several of the lanterns on our walk which are illuminated in the evenings. The redwoods and other exotic species were planted in 1901 as an experiment to see if they would be suitable as a timber crop, to save our native forests from being milled.  But the trees grew too fast here in NZ conditions and the timber was too soft for commercial use.  A friendly couple took our photo standing in front of the tallest tree on the walk, 246ft high, and 7ft in girth.

High up in the tree tops

For all you Royal lovers out there, we came cross an info board telling of the visit of Harry and Megan to this attraction in October 2018.  By all accounts, Harry was most impressed. 

Royal visit 2018

The walk was very enjoyable and I’m pleased we finally achieved it.  Back to the van for a rest, then it as time to get into our glad rags and head out to for a ride on the Skyline Gondola, which started operations in 1985.  The ride was silent as we glided upwards, with great views of Rotorua spread out below. 

Up we go

Our Anniversary Dinner was at the Stratosfare Restaurant at the top of the gondola, and what a great place it was.  There was a queue of people ahead of us, and we were soon welcomed into the restaurant and taken to our window table, by a very attentive staff member.  With a glass of bubbly to hand, we then checked out the extensive buffet. The restaurant was quite full, and had a lively atmosphere as people chatted at their tables, gazed out the large windows, or selected their food from the buffet.

Fine dining indeed

The food was wonderful, we must say.  With plenty of overseas visitors to cater for there were many Asian dishes on offer, as well.  I tried a selection of Asian cuisine as my starter,  very tasty indeed to try something new to me and quite different.

There were plenty of choices for the main course, and as expected, a wonderful selection  of desserts too, including my favourite, crème caramel.

Many delicious dessert choices

Just as we had finished a cup of coffee each, and nibbled on some cheese and crackers, our waitress appeared carrying a tray which she presented to us.  On the tray were some extra dessert goodies, Happy Anniversary written in chocolate, and a card signed by the staff.  Guess we had mentioned our special occasion, and we were overwhelmed with the thoughtfulness of the management for doing this for us.

Such a lovely thought

After such a wonderful meal, we hopped on one of the gondola cars for our downward journey, and drove 5kms or so back to camp.  It had indeed been a wonderful evening.

Not so for poor Gemma, she  was quite agitated with the noise of  fireworks outside.  Our anniversary date is 5th November, Guy Fawkes night, the time for lighting bonfires and letting off noisy crackers.  She settled down once we returned, thank goodness.  There have been calls to ban fireworks altogether here, because of injuries and fires, and the noise upset animals, with farm animals frightened and often running into fences and injuring  themselves. 

RSChallenge Finish

It’s always good to have a finish, isn't it.  This one is made from boys Happy Blocks I stitched during my RSC sewing last year, 2022.  It was fun finding charm squares in the nominated colours each month, and selecting fabrics to frame them.  Some months I stitched several squares, and others, just one or two.  The top had been finished for a while, then I finally got around to quilting it, using a donated fleecy sheet (thanks, Dot) as the backing. Then I made a scrappy brown/cream binding to finish it off.

Boy’s donation quilt

Most of the squares came from my late neighbour’s stash, and I found dogs, sports, safari animals, boats and such which were suitable for a boy.  Then I added some New Zealand themed squares too, caravans, silver ferns - our NZ sporting emblem, and kiwis.

New Zealand squares

I've also been stitching Happy Blocks for this year, 2023 RSC, both for a boy and a girl.  The boys squares have all been used up, but there are still plenty of girly ones yet.  So that's two more quilts that will need finishing some time soon.  Oh dear, plus all the others waiting in the wings!

It’s Spring here now, and during this season the weather is always so changeable, with quite a bit of wind.  We have a lovely native Kowhai tree in the back garden, which was a mass of beautiful blossoms, and these attract the Tui to sip their nectar.    The wind soon took care of that, and most of them are now a yellow carpet on the concrete path.  This tree was a self seeded small seedling which we brought up from our previous home and has now grown into a lovely mature tree.

Hanging Kowhai blossoms

Little Bricks in Blue

It’s time for some more Rainbow Scrap Challenge sewing.  I only have one project still going, believe it or not, the others are complete.  Not properly complete, I hasten to add, but a series of blocks sitting in their project bags.  Little Bricks was started late, and will be carried over to 2023.  I cut out eight blue blocks and got to work stitching.  Well pinned, as I like to do.

I like to use plenty of pins

While I was up at the ironing board,pressing the blocks, Gemma decided to join me at the sewing machine.  After snoozing the day away, I think she was looking for some company.

I’m here to help you, Mum

The blocks were stitched together in a zig zag line, with a sashing strip added to each end.  There, all done – this will join the purple and orange strip now.

Blue strip complete

Our Spring here in New Zealand arrived a couple of weeks ago.  Looks like our native kowhai tree has got the message, as the tree is now festooned with pretty hanging yellow blossoms. 

Our kowhai tree in blossom

I have just come back to  writing this blog post as  I had to stop and sit in front of the TV to watch the “Ascension of King Charles 111”.  Full of pomp and ceremony, 200 members of the Privy Council met to hear King Charles make his declaration.  Later heralds gathered on the balcony at St James Palace, and the Proclamation was read out from the balcony to those members of the public gathered below.  This is the first time this ancient ceremony, dating back to 1600s has been shown on TV. 

Heading Home

All good things have to come to an end, and our trip away was winding down as the four of us started heading home.  Gemma was her usual relaxed self during our time away – she tolerates the car travel by cuddling up besides me facing backwards.  It’s always a bit scary for her getting from the car to the caravan, but once inside she is perfectly happy and relaxed.

She loves looking out the windows, or just having a snooze

Heading home, our first stop was Ashley Park, north of Wanganui.  It is many years since we have been to this camp, and there are new owners since our last visit.  There are lots of bird aviaries and animals on display here and we went for a walk around.    The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo Goldie had a lot to say and we were amused by his repertoire.  Val was having quite a conversation with him, but had to watch her fingers though, there was a sign warning about him biting, naughty Goldie. 

Hello, Goldie

There were many aviaries to look at, full of excitable birds.  Lots of animals too, pigs, (my favourite)  goats, sheep, ducks and chickens scurrying around, and peacocks too.  The peacocks always announce their presence with rather loud squawks, but kept themselves well hidden as we were strolling around the farm animal exhibits.

Who wouldn’t love that piggy face?

Our final night was staying at the Whanganui Seaside Holiday Park.  We had never stayed here before, and it is a nice little camp with young enthusiastic owners. Just outside our caravan window was a pretty lilac coloured bush, absolutely covered in bees.  I’m not sure of it’s name, but the bees just loved it.

There was all sorts going on the following morning as we were packing up to leave.  Three old wooden cabins had been sold and were being removed.  We watched as the first cabin was lifted up a little, and the sling was slid underneath, then up, up and away the cabin was lifted up onto a truck.  All done, luckily, without mishap. I had a great view out of the caravan window.

Removing the old cabins

Saying goodbye to Bill and Val, our traveling companions of the last week, we headed for home, arriving back in time for a late lunch.   We had a great time away, and it’s always nice to stay in a new place or two.  The weather could have been better but then it is always a bit marginal in Spring, can’t seem to make up it’s mind, sometimes it’s nice and other times it’s horrible. Spring has truly sprung here at home, our lovely kowhai tree is covered in gorgeous yellow blossoms, full of nectar and they attract our native birds, particularly the beautiful tui.  When we moved here seven years ago, we brought this tree with us as a young seedling from our garden, and it is growing bigger each year.

Our kowhai tree

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, from our home to yours.

The Christmas Mice

Our Christmas Day started with the traditional family breakfast of hot croissants filled with ham and cheese, and a pot of “real” coffee.  Then we joined friends Dot and Derek and son Brent for Christmas Lunch out at a local restaurant, The George.    With three lunch sittings, the place was heaving with people, most of them oldies out with grown children, it seemed, and some of the patrons looked so much older than us, we commented.  Unfortunately, our table was situated right by the door, and the cold wind blew in every time there were comings and goings.

Dining out for Christmas Lunch

Dinner was buffet style so we all went to help ourselves.  There was a nice selection of food, and we helped ourselves to an entrée, where I tried an artichoke for the first time, and for the main course there was roast beef, chicken, hot ham, and baked salmon.  There was no contest for me, salmon it was, delicious, served in a nice creamy sauce.  Later on dessert, and what could be nicer to finish our meal than Christmas Pudding, custard and whipped cream!

Back home for a well deserved Nana nap in the afternoon, we then phoned and chatted to family to catch up on their Christmas Day news.  Gemma has decided that climbing up behind the village snow scene is a great place to hunker down and hide.  Must admit it took a while to find her there.

We realise we are so lucky living here without any restrictions in place (at the moment, depending on the situation changing).  We have been told than plans have been formulated, ready to put in place, in case the virus appears again as community transmission.  It must be so difficult for people in other countries to have to curtail their Christmas celebrations with family, and having a much  quieter time than usual, but in these trying times, needs must.  Hoping things will get better worldwide soon for everyone.

I’m leaving you with a picture of our New Zealand Christmas Tree, the pohutakawa, snapped in Palmerston North on a recent trip, which flowers at this time of year.  It is said that the crimson flowers predict a long, hot  Summer.  Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Greetings from New Zealand