Trip to the Wairarapa
Monday 15th April 2024
After being home for a day and a half, Christine, Nathan Holly and I are driving down to Masterton in the Wairarapa today. The drive is approx 8 hours, but we stop off a few times, so it generally takes us around 10 hours. If you want to see the route we take, you can see that on Google Maps.
We got up around 6.30 to get ready and finish packing the car. It took a little longer than expected to get ready, but we left around 8.30am. There was a little bit of traffic but being the school holidays it wasn’t too bad. It’s always a bit unusual when you get to the Waikato Express Way and you are allowed to drive 110. The drive through to Taupo is fairly easy these days!
Our first stop was at the Industrie French Kitchen in Taupo. We like to stop here and get something a bit fancy. There are a few shops in the block as well as a petrol station. After grabbing something to eat, stretching our legs, giving the dog a drink and taking the dog for a walk we continued our journey.
The desert road is also an interesting drive - it’s a bit windy in places which I enjoy. A little way after the desert road we stopped in Taihape for petrol, and to stretch our legs again plus walk the dog and give her another drink. We also purchased a couple of snacks and drinks to stretch us over the remainder of our trip.
After Taihape we headed over to state highway 54 via Vinegar Hill over to Ashhurst then via Saddle Back Road to Woodville. From Woodville it’s a reasonably easy one hour drive to Masterton. By now it was getting dark, so we took it easy, and we were behind a truck for a fair way of the last bit.
We arrived at the Air BnB that we had booked and followed the instructions to get inside. The Air BnB we had booked was exactly as described and we really enjoyed staying here. It was on a very quiet street, and shops/supermarkets were easily available. It had been a long day so we grabbed Pizza Hut for dinner and headed off to bed.
Tuesday 16th April 2024
Today we were heading over to my Dads house for lunch. We were staying in Masterton and Dad lives in Featherston so thats approx a 45 min drive from us. We got up at around 8am had showers, breakfast, walked the dog etc and headed off… We arrived at Dad’s house at around 10.30am. Most of the family was already there, and we had a good time chatting with everyone. Including Holly here were 6 dogs in total at Dad‘s house - Nathan was very pleased with the number of dogs that were there! It was the first time we had seen the house since it was built, so was nice to see it finished. It must have quite good insulation as it was cool outside but with the sun it was very warm inside.
After lunch we headed back to the Air BnB for a bit and then went to Embers house for dinner (Fish and Chips) with Ember, Bernhard and children. It was good to catchup and chat - Nathan and the kids had a good time playing on the switch after dinner.
After this it was back to the Air BnB for the rest of the evening - it had been a long day so we were happy to relax for a bit and then headed off to bed.
Wednesday 17th April 2024
Today we had a relaxing morning with nothing much on… We had intentionally built in extra time into our trip so that we could relax and catchup on sleep seeing the last few weeks had been so busy with me being away. We had a decent sleep in and then headed out to Greytown to The Lolly Shop for some sugar. It’s one of those places that you can pick your own lollies from the selection available. They also have fudge etc. It’s a bit spendy, but we were on holiday so we splurged.
We headed back to Carterton and grabbed some lunch from The Carterton Bakery - everything in Greytown was a bit fancy, cos Greytown is a fancy town. After lunch we headed out to my sister Gerda and her husband’s place in Longbush.
We had a good catchup with them… I find its easy to forget to connect when we are all the way in Auckland, so whenever we are down there is always plenty to talk about. Gerda and fam have quite a few animals on their property including Goats, Sheep, Cats, Kittens, Chickens, Guinea Pigs and a horse.
Around 5pm we headed back to the Air BnB, and grabbed some dinner from Mr Chips Masterton. They had a smorgasbord so we collected a couple of things each for our dishes - it tasted pretty good… Nathan had left over pizza and a toasted sandwich from Mr Chips. We spent a relaxing evening at the Air BnB doing not a lot 😄
Thursday 18th April 2024
Today we were heading over to Ember’s place in Masterton for another group family get together at 11am, so we were able to have a bit of a sleep in again. We headed to the supermarket to grab some ice and then headed over to Embers house. When we arrived we realised that they had no power (it was a planned power cut that they weren’t aware of), so I went back to the Air BnB to get some hot water for coffees in a thermos.
We sat around and chatted, then had lunch - for lunch we had buns and home made bread with various meats and some salads/coleslaw. After lunch we chatted some more and then headed back to the Air BnB for a bit.
Dinner was hosted by Leah and John at Bernhard’s house in Featherston. Dad also came along to dinner and we had Leah & John’s two kids, plus Bernhard's, so was quite a few people! Initially I played a game of Bingo with Dad, and the kids and then after that we had dinner. Dinner was DIY chicken buns or wraps, and we had ice-cream for desert.
We headed home around 9.15pm and had to take a weirdly long route home due to road closures. As we were driving on rural roads we kept an eye out for wildlife on the sides of the road, but we didn’t see any 😦.
After we got back to the Air BnB we did a bit of tidy up and then headed off to bed - tomorrow we would be heading back home.
Friday 19th April 2024
Today we were heading back home - we got up at around 7am, showered and had breakfast - then spent a bit of time repacking, sorting out the Air BnB, putting everything back in the car etc etc
We left Masterton around 9.15am, and made our way on the same route back home. We almost immediately got stuck behind a truck, but in Woodville it went the other way so that was good 😄
Photos between Masterton and the other side of Vinegar Hill
We stopped again in Taihape and got some drinks/snacks, walked the dog and got some petrol. From there we carried on to Taupo (the same place as we went to on the way down), and had lunch there.
Photos taken on the Desert Road and on the way to Taupo
From Taupo we went to Tokoroa where we stopped to stretch our legs, and for a quick bathroom break. From there we carried on to Tirau where we stopped at the BP for a quick break.
From there we took the same route via Hamilton through towards Auckland - there was more traffic than expected so we did another brief stop at Mercer McDonald’s before we headed home.
We arrived home around 7.30pm - Just as we arrived home it poured down, so it took a wee bit to get all the things out of the car and into the house.
I enjoyed catching up with the family, but it was also good to be home… I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed - so far I’ve only slept in our own bed 3 times this month!!
