Last Friday and Saturday we have had 2 fine days in a row. Well I thought that was what was going to happen, but there were showers on Saturday afternoon to spoil it. I got the washing dry, so that was good.
We were going to go to Marsteron on Sunday, but the rain is going to be worse on Sunday, so we went on Sunday instead.
We went to Scotts Ferry, which is on the other side of the Rangitikei River. We were going to stay there when we came this way, but the lady said we wouldn’t be able to as it was so wet. We went to have a look at the camping ground and it still has a big puddle in the middle. It isn’t a big camp, with only 10 sites. The owner was towing out the electrician, who had come to do some work and got stuck. We watched from the top of the stop bank and had a chat with them when they were out on the stop bank.
The village of Scott’s Ferry made us laugh as we drove along the road that went through it. The houses were all labeled as follows.
Dew Drop Inn; Snapper Inn; Flounder Inn, Les b Inn ( the owner’s name is Les we found out from the men we spoke to). Holiday Inn, Return Inn, Amble Inn and lots more I can’t remember. The funniest one was the empty section with the name on the gate, Nothing Inn.
We had a good trip over the Woodville Saddle. The GPS was a bit weird. It wanted to take us through the centre of Palmerston North. It started off taking us to the road to Woodville, which was the way we thought we would go. Then it tried to take us back on to the road through Palmerston North. Eddie went the way he knew. Even when we were over the saddle it wanted to take us back to Palmerston North. It suddenly came right at Woodville.
We followed a milk tanker over, so it was a slow drive. When we got to a passing lane, we had to let traffic behind us to go past. There are a lot of wind turbines along the top of the hills. You don’t realize how big they are until you pass one that is close to the road. We had lunch at the Tui brewery at Mangatainoka. There was a bit of snow up on the Tararua ranges.
On Sunday a friend came for a visit from Ashurst. We had lunch and then went to the Queen Elizabeth park and had a walk around. It is quite a nice park with a few deer in one area. They did look as if they needed a bit of care. The stag needed his feet looking after.
We went on a mission to find our next site to move to.
FIrst stop was Lake Ferry. It is on the south coast with the southerly roaring in. The lake opens out into the sea, so I don’t think of it as a lake really. Lake Wairarapa is further north and a river links the two. The campground is very wet and it was hard to find a spot where we wouldn’t sink. There are a lot of permanently sited caravans there and a few people living permanently too. We thought it would be ok and Eddie was happy to be beside the sea. The price was right too.
Next we stopped at Featherston, but we wouldn’t fit in there, so on to Greytown. It was a pretty site with lots of native trees that have been there a long time, so they were very tall and of course, created a lot of shade. The sites here were wet too, but we found one we wouldn’t sink on, so that was good. We thought it was better than Lake Ferry and the price was the same.
On a whim we went to Carterton on our way back to Masterton. It was the best of the lot, with hard ground to park on and not a lot of mud. It’s a wee bit dearer than the others, but a nicer place, so that’s where we are going to go on Saturday.
After lunch, yesterday, we went for a walk up and down the main street of Masterton. It took almost an hour by the time we wandered home again.
Masterton is a bit bigger than we realized. It is quite a nice town. They have a lovely swimming pool complex too. We went and had a look at it on our walk today.
We have discovered a lot of the towns are bigger than we thought. When you go past them on state highway 1, you don’t realize how far back they go towards the coast. It’s been a bit of an eye opener.
Wind turbine on the Taraua Ranges 
Deer park Queens Park Masterton
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