Heretaunga’s Joint Rally At Pohangina School Reserve – 24-26 Feb 2017

The map co-ordinates for this rally are:

The address is: 953 Finnis Road, Pohangina. See map below.

A bigger version of the map is available by clicking on the picture.

Directions from:

Ashhurst Domain

Ashhurst 4810

Head northwest on State Highway 3 toward Cambridge Ave/Manawatu Scenic Rte

230 m

Turn right onto Cambridge Ave/Manawatu Scenic Rte (signs for Feilding)

 

Go through 1 roundabout

800 m

Continue onto Cambridge Ave/Manawatu Scenic Rte

 

Continue to follow Manawatu Scenic Rte

10.0 km

Continue straight onto Pohangina Rd

4.2 km

Turn left onto Finnis Rd

  Destination is on the left

300 m

953 Finnis Road, Pohangina School Reserve

Pohangina 4884

Please Note that the School Reserve is on the Left

A Double 70th!!

Val and Bill were celebrating their respective 70th birthdays and caravan club members joined them at their home, together with family and friends for a birthday BBQ. Also sharing birthday honours was grandson Gus, who had just turned 6.

Guests arrived, we found seats outside, and delicious plates of nibbles were passed around.  Oh, that crayfish was heavenly – like most of us, it had been a long time since I’d tasted crayfish.  All the seafood, the crays, whitebait and paua had been caught by Val and Bill’s son.

It looks rather like a caravan rally

The BBQ was fired up, and delicious cooking smells wafted around the patio.  The cook did a great job!  There were sausages, chicken, and kebabs cooking away.

Lunch was announced, and we wandered inside to fill our plates.  The table was groaning with food - everyone had brought along a contribution along for the meal.  And after the mains, we went back to check out the dessert table.

Just look at that lunch!

Happy Birthday to Bill, Val, and Gus.

Christmas Rally, Koputaroa Road – 9-11 December 2016

We had a good turn out for this years’ Christmas Rally. In attendance were Webb's (Hosts), Turnbull, Canvin, Fisk, Benton, Wylie, and Fitzgerald.

The vans on the front lawn, unfortunately we missed out the Turnbulls

By about 4pm all were onsite on the Friday. Most had 4zzzes in the sunshine, the opportunity was taken to update the channels on Webb's caravan by Robin and Don. Later we all congregated in the conservatory where BBQ hamburger patties were cooked and everyone made up their own con-concoction. The evening also included some light entertainment provided by Geoff Herewini.

Geoff Entertaining us

Don Cooking the lovely thick Meat Patties

The evening concluded with general chatter with ample lubrication until we retired to the vans.

Saturday started off nice and warm and sunny, after morning tea of Christmas Tarts a few games of Disc Bowls and Quoits were entered into. There was also a game of Croquet on offer but no-one partook, perhaps they did not consider themselves to be old enough.

Glenys, and Dot playing Disc Bowls with Derek umpiring.

Later on the rain began to fall and in the process of packing things away, closing windows etc. poor Don had a fall and severely cut his leg which required an ambulance and stitches. He had planed a rotisserie for us on the Saturday night and this fall put him out of action so the remaining men of the club pitched in and did the cooking for him. The cooking of the meat did not go without a hitch as the rotisserie mechanism failed to operate properly and had to be repaired, but we got there with a little help from son-in-law Nick.

Who said you can’t watch cooking while internally basting with a cold beer.

Done to perfection, note the Heath Robinson fix to the Rotisserie mechanism, the other end was worse.

Doesn’t that look nice

Master Carver Dennis in his pinny

Sunday dawned slightly better, so it was agreed that the car rally which was postponed from Saturday would now be held immediately after morning tea, which it was. After lunch which consisted of cleaning up the left overs from the xmas evening meal, we all broke camp and headed for home.

What a very enjoyable rally. Thank you to the Webb's for being fantastic hosts and putting on a great weekend, that is going to be hard to beat. On second thoughts I am not going to try.

See you at the next rally which is Kahutara Primary School, South Wairarapa on Anniversary Weekend 20-23 January 2017

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year. Stay safe on the roads if you are travelling.

Happy Retirement, Dennis

The instructions were – bring a bottle, something for the Barbie, and a smile.  Being well trained caravanners, we went one step further and took our folding chairs along too.

The happy hosts

People arrived, glasses were filled, nibbles were passed around, and everyone was sitting chatting, and enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.  “It’s my party, so I’m not cooking on the BBQ”, Dennis declared.  So two of his former work colleagues rose to the challenge and spent an absolute age cooking up scores of sausages, chicken skewers, patties and steak.  The two ladies did a marvelous job, and the cooked meat was taken away to keep warm in the oven.

 

The cooks hard at work

They had a neat trick to clean the Barbie when they had finished cooking – one that we didn’t know about.  Cut a couple of lemons in half, and drizzle the juice over the hot plate.  Then use the cut side of the lemons to wipe it all down.  Easy peasy, and seemed to work a treat.  Then we were called in for dinner, and what a wonderful assortment.  Everyone had brought along salads (or desserts) for the meal, and there was plenty for everyone.

A wonderful assortment of food

Dennis had to be persuaded to cut the cake, and when he finally came back inside to do the deed, he made a short speech, waggling that sharp knife in front of him like a man possessed. 

The Retirement cake

Thanks Dennis, we had a great time wishing you well for your retirement.  Best wishes from the Heretaunga Caravan Club for many happy trips away in your van.

Happy HCC members

Carterton School–Joint Rally–18-20 November 2016

What a lovely venue, what a well maintained school.  This what greeted us on our arrival for the combined rally being hosted by Wairarapa Caravan Club.

Just some of the vans

Heretaunga had 6 vans in attendance, unfortunately Wellington had a no show and Wairarapa made up the rest.

The weather was turned on for us by Wairarapa,, or so they claimed, the rally was held with balmy sunny days with only light wind. We had games on the large playground i.e. petanque, disc bowls, and a version of lawn bowls. It was a good afternoon sitting in the sun watching the various games as they unfolded. It got so hot some even retreated to the shade of the large trees around the perimeter of the ground.

It is very Serious Deciding The Winner!

Interested onlookers while the games were taking place

The school let us use their hall for our evening entertainment. We had a game of card housey something Heretaunga members had not played before. It was very enjoyable and will be remembered for a future occasion.

Those in attendance having Morning Tea in the Sun on Sunday before breaking camp.

Thank you Wairarapa for putting on a very enjoyable rally yet again.

Don’t forget our next rally is the Xmas Rally (9 – 11 December 2016) at Webb’s and Sandra & Don have put out a programme and have also requested that we each contribute a little.  Those at the Rally have made their choices and got their copy of the programme.

Those who were not at the rally should have received an email with the programme attached from the President (Selwyn), if not please give him a ring. Would you also please give Sandra a ring to establish what can be contributed to the Xmas meal.

That’s all for now. Drive safe and see you at the next rally.

Charles (Charlie) Fitzgerald – Passed Away 7 November 2016

As a valued member of the Heretaunga Caravan Club and a recent long time member of the Wellington Caravan Club, Charlie passed away prematurely at age 76years,

Charlie’s funeral was held on Friday 11 November, may you rest in peace Charlie

WE WILL MISS YOU – RIP

Oroura Downs School (Cream Horn Rally)–21–23 October 2016

This was a new venue for the club and what a great one it turned out to be.

In attendance were:
Canvin, Benton, Turnbull, Fisk, Fitzgerald, Richmond, Wylie, and Solomon. A good turnout!

Situated along state Highway 1 just before the Sheepskin Factory it was a little bit further north than we usually rally but as it was a long weekend it did not really matter.

However I get ahead of myself. As it was a long weekend and the fact that school was in session it meant we were unable to to gain access to the school grounds until 4.00pm. As this is quite late in the day to start a rally some of us decided to have lunch and wait until entry time at the Manawatu Boating Club boat ramp.

Turnbull, Richmond, Benton, and Canvin obscured behind

As Derek & Dot had arranged to pick up the key at 3.00pm and were informed by the Head Master that the grounds could be occupied as most of the children had departed. We received a phone call saying we could now enter so preceded to travel the short distance to the school. Our apologies to those who did not know of this early entry and arrived at the appointed time to find us all onsite. We will try and communicate better next time.

Those in attendance (Solomon obscured on the right)

Due the extra day there were two rally families. Robin & Jenny looked after Saturday and organised a trip the the nearby sheepskin factory. We were shown how the skins are carded (combed), ironed and sewn into car seat covers. The rally family purchased a pair of seat covers for the Land Cruiser. We were joined before this though by our foundation life members Peter & Elaine for morning tea and they spent most of the day with us. It was nice to have your company. Saturday evening the rally family provided pictures onto a large screen, provided by Selwyn (thank you), of their recent trip on the Ghan train from Adelaide to Darwin.

Sunday was the day that Derek & Dot had organised. first up was morning tea at Viv’s Kitchen in Sanson for cream horns, hence the rally name. We all mostly had the cream horns (we really did need them!).

This went down very well and I can see this becoming a regular habit. The second part of the day was a picnic at the Pohangina Community Reserve. This is a future rally venue in an old school and the idea was to scope it out.

Picnic at Pohangina

As can be seen the venue looks ideal and is now firmly on our list. This site is now earmarked for our joint rally at the end of February next year. The day ended with the rally family getting us all to make cards using our imagination. Some people have better imaginations than others don’t they Geoff.

The weekend ended on Monday at Morning Tea when prizes were handed out, farewells said and slowly camp was broken and we made our respective ways home.