November 4th 2018
The next day the sun was shining in Whanganui and after dumping our waste and filling up with water we headed to my brother, Peter's, house in Marton for our first catch-up before carrying on to the Marton Golf Club at Santoft, one of our favourite courses. My mother used to play there and my middle brother Rodger sadly died suddenly of a heart attack whilst hitting the ball out of the bunker on the 3rd Hole 2 years ago.
We have donated a ball cleaner which has been installed just before the tees on this hole, in his memory, and the club has kindly given us a complimentary round of golf for doing this.
The course is in great condition and we were so lucky to actually get such a lovely day to play after a run of bad weather.
We stayed the night in the golf club car park where we were able to connect to power - rain and wind again in the night.
The only downside to staying there is that we had no phone or Internet reception so we missed some calls.
The course is in great condition and we were so lucky to actually get such a lovely day to play after a run of bad weather.
We stayed the night in the golf club car park where we were able to connect to power - rain and wind again in the night.
The only downside to staying there is that we had no phone or Internet reception so we missed some calls.
The next morning we popped into Peters again before heading out for lunch at my elder brothers house - Robin and Judy's. Lots more talking and catching up and it was good to see Chris & Tess again as well as Kate and Robin's great grandchildren. The afternoon went by very quickly and afterwards we headed back into Marton to stay at the NZMCA Park there - quite busy with only a few spots available. And SO cold, bleak and windy again.
The outside temperature overnight went down to 0.7 and it was 5° in the bus - no heater as we weren't connected to electricity so lots and lots of layers as well as socks in bed!
The outside temperature overnight went down to 0.7 and it was 5° in the bus - no heater as we weren't connected to electricity so lots and lots of layers as well as socks in bed!
The next morning we had been invited to lovely Margarets ( my brother Rodger's partner) for early coffee. She lives out of Fielding near the Hawkestone golf club and so after coffee and doing our washing at Peters we made the most of another sunny day by playing 18 holes on this 9 hole course for the first time.
After golf and collecting our lovely dry washing we drove to the Manawatu Boat Clyb at Foxton Beach, another great place you can stay for free right by the river. There were lots of men fishing off the wharf when we arrived at high tide not long before dinner time and they were catching some good sized kahawai. Our plan for the next morning before meeting up for lunch with good friends was to do some of the same but after a night with howling winds and rain that was no different by morning that plan had to be cancelled. The weather is so changeable right now.
So we met up with our friends, Bruce and Jo, at the Foxton Museum cafe for a nice lunch. What an asset the Museum must be for Foxton with all the information about the Dutch settlers and local Maori. There are also big plans underway for reclaiming part of the river which runs close by with lots of new planting beautifying this area - an added attraction for tourists. We also visited the Dutch windmill and climbed as far as we could to the top.
We had such a fun afternoon with Bruce and Jo, after lunch going back to their son's beach bach where they are staying while their new house is being built. So much to talk about and probably a wine or two too many! We were joined for a little while before going out for a roast dinner at the boat club by their neighbours, John and Janine. John used to live with his parents next to my mother in Marton when she moved into town from the farm and they were good friends to her. What a small world!
We had such a fun afternoon with Bruce and Jo, after lunch going back to their son's beach bach where they are staying while their new house is being built. So much to talk about and probably a wine or two too many! We were joined for a little while before going out for a roast dinner at the boat club by their neighbours, John and Janine. John used to live with his parents next to my mother in Marton when she moved into town from the farm and they were good friends to her. What a small world!
We had our nice roast dinner at the Boat Club and afterwards went back to the house to watch the rugby - All Blacks vs Japan. I think we did a lot more talking than watching! Such a happy day and night. We had a good sleep parked in our bus in front of the house and enjoyed a great "proper" shower in the morning before leaving for Plimmerton - we are booked on the Bluebridge ferry to the South Island on Tuesday so are hoping these huge winds die down before then!
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