Our Autumn Trip

 We had hoped to leave earlier and be down in Martinborough for our wedding anniversary - but hey, what's a few days when you've been married 48 years?

We had a few hiccups along the way - 2ate7 where we usually stop for lunch has now closed permanently so we had a short stop by the river, and then went on to the Napier  coast. We stopped at the coffee cart there and  I was given a cappuccino rather than a hot chocolate, and then we took off, leaving the step to the caravan behind, which precipitated  2 U turns on state highway 2 towing a caravan. We also left the fridge unlatched which meant a spew of items from the fridge - fortunately no liquids were involved.

We got established at the Waipukarau Camping ground - distinctly provincial - and relaxed!

Happy Wedding Anniversary

After dinner we played scrabble - 2nd turn in I managed FEARSOME with a 50 point bonus for using all my letters. To his credit, Duncan played hard, and lost by 47 at the end.

Thursday is the day for sightseeing in Waipukurau - which shouldn't take all that long!

Leaving the camping ground to explore.

Quite often an earthquake will show up on my Geonet App as having been registered at Porangahau. So we set off to the coast - this is the far end of the Hikurangi plate which causes all the earth movements up Gisborne way as it is subducted under the Australian Plate. It is a lovely drive out to the coastline, which is wild and deserted. There are some baches and some nice homes crouching above the shoreline.

Driving back, the hills look like gigantic grey boulders - it is so dry - but when the watery winter sun shines through they turn an enchanting bronze colour.

We return via Pukeora (Hill of Health) where there was once a TB sanatorium, then a hospital for disabled children. More recently it was turned into accommodation, a small winery and an art gallery. The buildings are quite magnificent, but it appears it was not financially viable and is now closed. Perhaps the ghosts of tortured souls still lurked.

View from Pukeora

Back at the camp we went for a walk by the Tukituki River, however it wasn't very scenic in Waipukurau. This is a functioning railway track with trains at odd hours. We probably could have scored some drugs here if we  wanted to!