The Bunnies are Back in Town

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 It is Vintage Weekend in Whanganui, which coincides with Wellington Anniversary Day on Monday. The town is busy with both visitors and locals enjoying all the activities. The main streets’ Whanganui Caboodle is a big draw. 


We started the weekend on Friday with a trip to the Otaki Pottery Club Art and Garden Ceramics. We stopped in Foxton on the way there for a cuppa at De Molen Café. The event was very busy and very well organised. There were a number of items which caught our eye, sufficient to distract us from taking any photographs because we both completely forgot. There was a brief shower of rain but otherwise the weather was better than forecast, and we had no need of our gumboots. We had our picnic lunch by the Otaki cemetery which was very peaceful. The Woodshed Café in Sanson provided us with our afternoon tea. Fish and chips for dinner rounded off a lovely day.


Yesterday we went into town to join the throng, and enjoyed a pipe band, jazz band and a brass group (nothing like a colliery brass band). The vintage car display on Victoria Avenue was crowded so we wandered round to Drews Avenue to find spot to sit and consume the left overs of Friday’s picnic lunch. Going through some of the market we arrived at the wharf a few minutes before the paddle steamer came in from its first sailing of the day. We had a chat with most members of the crew before walking back to the car and returning home.



James and Wendy (from Auckland) were in town to enjoy the weekend and came round for afternoon tea. It was good to see them again and have a natter, and for them to see the changes in the garden since they were last here. Some plants are twice their height. We were due to have dinner with them tonight at Bushy Park, but our Sunday plans have been scuppered by a virus. I have picked something up which really made its presence felt this morning, and Nicky is suffering similarly also. Church attendance for her and going to the Aero Club Open day for me were cancelled, as was Parish Shared lunch and dinner with James and Wendy. They are off to Oz soon and I didn’t want to pass my bugs on, though if I was infectious yesterday while not noticeably symptomatic, that boat has sailed. Instead we have done laundry and ironing and kept our commitment to Frances to spend a couple of hours with her helping to set up for the Arthritis Amble tomorrow.


The rest of the week has been less exciting. Quizzing started again this week, and the Aramoho Library also re-opened. The weather has been variable; hot and sultry on Wednesday, wet on Thursday. Grass has been cut, weeds have been extracted and shopping and cleaning have been done. We have enjoyed watching more of The Rings of Power on TVNZ+, and The Piano, where amateur pianists get to play a grand piano in British railway stations and one is invited to play at a concert at the National Theatre.


On Thursday afternoon I popped over to see Claudia-Ann to try and figure out her problem with her phone (I wasn’t any help). On the way home I called into the supermarket to buy some milk and discovered they had hot cross buns (a bit late in my view with it already being the 15th of January). A packet was purchased and lodged in the freezer as we have a surfeit of other food on the go at them moment, but it’s good to know we have a good few weeks of bunny-dome ahead of us.


Take care, Rick and Nicky.

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