Masterton & Wellington catch up

 

Whilst in Masterton we visited the local library.  Along the back wall was a mural of stitched/appliqued/quilted/embroidered panels which the Wairarapa Embroiderers Guild constructed.  The embroidered wall hanging consists of 110 panels, with each panel commemorating an event of significance in the history of the Wairarapa. 

They are truly an amazing piece of handwork by some very talented locals.

And the following two pictures are from when Roy met up with Natalie and her children to collect the books we had picked up for them.

Renee with some of her stash of books, eager to get home to start reading them.

Michelle dressed herself for the occasion…ballet skirt, yellow gumboots,  completing the outfit  with a stuffed toy waistband accessory!  What every young fashionable person should be wearing this autumn.  Remember you saw it here first folks.

Woodville

As I mentioned in the last blog posting, I returned from the netball in Wellington on Tuesday via the train at 10am and by 11 we were all packed up and on our way to Woodville to meet up with Brian & Marj.  We arrived in Woodville an hour later to find them already comfortably parked up and waiting for us.  We had not long settled ourselves in when we got a phone call which meant a return to Masterton.  But first, the back story.

 The other day Roy opened up his laptop computer  to discover he had a cracked and broken screen rendering the computer useless.  This was not good.  You see Roy requires his computer for work (we run a small internet based business) which required some urgent work to be done therefore he needed a quick repair done.  He managed for a day or so by using the TV screen from the bedroom as a computer screen.  To do this, we took the TV off the wall in the bedroom and propped up on his desk, then ran the computer using the TV as the screen – this was a reasonable temporary fix and manageable for a day or so.   Monday morning he took it to a store in Masterton to see if they could replace the screen for him. Yes they could but the parts had to be ordered and sent by courier, all of which would take a few days.  We dropped the computer in to the store before we left Masterton on Tuesday morning hoping for the best as they estimated we could pick it up on Thursday. We figured that we could drive back from wherever we were to pick it up when it was ready.  But as it turned out, this was not to be……they had replace the screen and it was ready for pickup Tuesday afternoon! 

So no sooner had we arrived in Woodville when we got the phone call, just as we had settled ourselves in.  We unhitched the car and returned to Matserton to pick up the computer, arriving back in Woodville for the second time that day by early evening.  

All in all,  I had travelled a few miles that day,  first by train form Wellington to Masterton, then in the van from Masterton to Woodville, then Woodville to Masterton and return to Woodville by car.  

We spent a couple of nights in Woodville whilst we organised ourselves and had a good look around the town.  There seems to be a very good collection of second hand/antique stores to fossick through and a large number of cafes and bakeries. There is a replica of Gottfried Lindauer’s artist studio as he lived in the town and was buried here.  Lindauer is a famous New Zealand portrait painter who worked in the late 1800’s through to his death in 1920. He is particularly known for his paintings of Maori.  You can read more about him here

Outside the library was this interesting sculpture   

  
Next we start exploring the southern Hawkes Bay coast. 

Wairarapa Harvest Wine & Food Festival

It came as somewhat of a shock but we are just not used to it.  We are of course talking about the weather!  On Friday night the temperature dropped which meant we had to find some warmer clothes, dig out the slippers from their summer hiding place and get out the quilt to throw over the bed covers.  We are just not used to this, temperatures dropped overnight to 10C, I mean, we have become accustomed to overnight temperatures dropping to the early 20’s but this sudden change meant that we turned on the heating for a quick blast of warmth.  So when we woke on Sarturday morning with the temperature rising very slowly and with a cool breeze, we all rugged up ready for a cool day at the festival.

We drove the 6km to the venue where we were directed to park in a large paddock and then board one of the numerous buses running shuttles to the venue on the banks of the Raumahunga River.  Once we had gained entry we were given our wine glass which came with holder and handy cord to hang around our necks along with a very good programme which also included a list of each eatery with a menu of their offerings for the day,  a great idea.  In between cooking demonstrations there was great entertainment on offer and got the crowd to their feet.

  The crowd waiting for the entertainment to start
We met up with Ali & Ian (their motorhome is called Alian!) as we discovered we were in the same region.  We first met Ali & Ian in 2012 at the Pakawau Old school Cafe, read here, and then again in 2013 which you can read here so it was lovely to be able to meet up again.   They were parked in the motorhome parking area at the venue whereas we had decided to stay where we were after doing a recce of the venue and parking area last Thursday and on being told that 150-200 motorhomes were expected to arrive, we  decided to stay at Gladstone Reserve away from the throng.  However, once we got to the festival and checked everything out, there would have only been 40-50 vans there, but never mind, we were happy and comfortable where we were.     Sue, Ali and Bernice

It wasn’t too long before the sun came out and the layers of warm clothing removed.   The bands started playing and the crowds got to their feet to sing and dance  along with them.

  The band and crowd enjoying the atmosphere

Soon it was time to board our bus back to the carpark and then into the car to return home.  Funnily enough as we settled down for an evening drink outside we could hear the band on its last set of the day as although we had to travel 12km to the event in a circuitous route, as the crow flies it was just a few hundred metres away from our spot on the side of the river. 

A lovely day spent with great friends, good food and wine and entertainment – the weather was great too. 

The long and winding road

By Wednesday morning the gales had subsided and we were soon on the road heading toward Gladstone which is just out of Masterton in the Wairarapa, to meet up with Pat & Sue as we are off to the Wairarapa Harvest Wine & Food Festival this weekend.  We set off from Feilding taking just a small detour to the dump station before we were tootling along quite nicely enjoying the ever changing landscape. We caught glimpses of the Apiti Wind Farm peeping out from cloud covered hills.

 
 Apiti wind farm under the clouds

It wasn’t too long before we came to the Manawatu Gorge, we had heard a lot about this road through the gorge, its reputation preceded it so it was with some trepidation we approached the route.   Yes, it is a winding, narrow road but with all traffic travelling at a sensible, appropriate speed and it was not long before we came out of the other side.

    

  Manawatu gorge
Before long we passed through many small rural towns including Woodville, Pahiatua and Eketahuna not to forget Mangatainoka – the home of Tui Beer.

      Tui Brewery

Our GPS took us through one very convoluted bypass around Masterton to arrive at Gladstone Scenic Reserve where Pat & Sue were waiting, having just recently arrived.

  All parked up!