Since Christmas . . .

Hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

We spent Christmas with the Hitchcock family (daughter, son-in-law and two grandies) in Inglewood, Taranaki. Lucy always seems to know exactly where her present is!

Christmas Day was a busy, fun day with about fourteen people for brunch, then maybe fifty for lunch? (Lots of extended family—I didn't count!) Tea/dinner was a lot quieter with only about eight of us.

Prior to arriving in Taranaki, we spent a few days in Hamilton catching up with friends and church family as well as taking care of a couple of chores and some Christmas shopping. While there, we stayed in the Classic Car Museum car park. This is an excellent facility, where self-contained campers can stay for free.

One of our neighbours—Gavin Mackenzie from the Gypsy Fair circuit—has this fabulous bus . . .

. . . two actually!

And this is a closer pic of his motorcycle and sidecar as he's packing it away. What a cool machine!

The Classics Museum is well worth a visit and very affordable at just $20 per person. The Jukebox Diner is a 1950s themed diner that is part of the museum experience. You can find the museum and diner on Railside Place, just off Rifle Range Road.

Most of Christmas and the following week, we just relaxed, lazed around and spent some time with the grandchildren. Dave and Nathan went out fishing early one morning but although they caught a gurnard, they threw it back. Sadly, nothing edible came home with them. On New Year's Eve, we moved on stay at our friends' place in Stratford for a few days.

We managed to clean the rig while we were there. After the dusty roads around the East Cape over November/December, we wanted to give it a really good wash. Dave did most of it, but I got the roof. Here's a couple of shots of what it looks like up top. First picture is from the front.

Those are hatches that pop up to let fresh air in that you can see—four of them. They also let the light in. The Apollo Satellite Dish is what gives us the signal for our TV (lies down flat when travelling) and to the left of that is the vent for the shower. That opens up too and has a fan on it as well. The two solar panels are obvious, but the other funny-looking thing poking up just behind the Sat Dish is the Australian version of our Sat Dish. I don't know why they installed it as they don't work in NZ. The rig is made in Australia, but they did know when they were building it that it was coming to NZ. Anyway, we're told there's no point in taking it out as it'll just leave a hole, so it just sits there.

. . . and from the back.

A few days into the new year the weather turned sour. Lots of rain and wind but we were quite protected down in "Hillman's Hollow". (We have claimed naming rights as first guests . . . well, I think we were first . . . right, Garth?)

The sun came out again today and we're moving on—back on the road again . . . .

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Day's Park Hamilton

While back in Hamilton last week, we went to visit Lucy's happy place—Day's Park. Hamilton has a number of dog parks where you can exercise your dog off lead. Our favourite would have to be Day's Park. When living in Hamilton, this was the one we would drive to every day, and Lucy soon knew what the word "park" meant—the reaction was the same as for "walk". This trip, as soon as we turned into River Road, she started to get excited. She'd remembered the way.

The main car park is small, often overflowing to where people park on the grass next door. But that's only suitable for those vehicles that can safely drive over the curb.

Our second choice of access (although you could also park on the side of River Road) is down at the end of Arran Road. This is the entrance.

Day's Park is a well-maintained area, right next to the Waikato River. There is a wide, loop walkway around the park or, if you prefer, you can just walk across the field.

Looking up towards the main car park you can see this part of the path is paved.

As you come down from the main car park, there is a huge rock where the path diverges.

And on the rock a plaque acknowledging Eric Day's gift to the people of Hamilton—this magnificent area.

There are a variety of different, beautiful trees.

Many of the trees have seats under them where you can rest for a while.

Day's Park attracts dogs of every size and type—mostly bigger ones today.

There is a walkway down to the river, where you will often see dogs swimming, retrieving sticks, etc.

The river is a popular place for rowing practice and most days, if you wait long enough, you'll see some pass by.

There are also a couple of picnic tables at the top not far from the main car park.

Walking around the park, there are a number of places where you can see or access the water.

Lucy heading back up the path towards the car parked on Arran Road . . . .

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