LITTLE DAY TRIP

Today Stew, Brylee and I are off on a day trip to Tokoroa.

Not exactly a 'happening place' to be visiting if I'm perfectly honest.  It's where I was born... and left when I was 15.

We didn't move far though, just 20 minutes south to Upper Atiamuri, so my Dad had more room for his bulldozers and logging equipment!  Not the sort of things you can park on the road outside ya house! 

Anyway... we are going to Tokoroa so we can tend my family's graves.  

After that, we hope to pop out to Lake Ohakuri, which is not far from where we lived (in Upper Atiamuri), and have a swim.
We used to go boating on Lake Ohakuri when I was a teenager, I love the place.

So, a nice day ahead of us I hope.

And that is all for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

OH!  I did a google search for photos of the area we lived in, and came across some of our old home!  It was sold in 2017, so there were Real Estate photos.... MUM, this will interest you.

 ABOVE: Our front lawn, which my Dad leveled with a bulldozer.  Oh he also 'pruned' some trees... with a chainsaw.  Down. To. The. Ground.  lol  Mum wasn't that impressed.

Once a bushman, always a bushman.

Over that rolling hill, to the left of the tall trees, is the Upper Atiamuri Area School. My younger brother, Vern, attended it for a while.  Then he left.  There's a bit of a story about that, it involved a fire and a deep seated dislike of the School's Principal at the time. lol 

Suffice to say, Vern did VERY WELL at Boarding School!  *smiles*

 ABOVE: My Dad built this huge shed to use as a workshop for all his logging gear/repairs, strop making and so on.

 ABOVE: This big room was an extension my parents put on the original house.  Our pool table was in that corner when we lived there.  
My Dad put that marine plywood on the walls, and I'm bloody sure that is the original wallpaper my parents hung 44 years ago too!

 ABOVE:  The view out our back door... I always loved that view.

There is a little dirt road down on the right which leads down to the bottom paddock, where the local Pony Club meet.

It was a nice place to live and visit.  Lots of happy memories of this place.

We will probably swing by just for a look, see if it's changed much since these photos were taken.  It would be nice if the new owners have added some gardens or trees.

Well... it's now almost 5 pm and we are home after having a wonderful day out!

We left just after 9 am.  First stop was in Tirau, where we looked in a few shops, mostly the Notting Hill shops.  I just love them ... mostly furniture and giftware.

Didn't buy a thing!  Most unlike me.

Then we mozied on down the road to Litchfield, where we stopped at the Sheepskin shop.

 ABOVE:  I have driven past this shop literally HUNDREDS of times, and only ever been in it once.  So it was about time I stopped for a look again.  
Those mannequins have been outside the shop for at LEAST 30+ years!

 ABOVE:  Hard case, there were even a couple inside the shop too.  
They sell sheepskins, UGG boots, slippers, wool, woolen clothes and New Zealand giftware.
I was sorely tempted to get some UGG boots for wearing at the markets over winter... but didn't today.

ABOVE:  Stew tried on some hats... but HELL NO!  Most of them were too small for his fat head! lol

When we got to the cemetery I realised we needed new flowers.  So we went into Tokoroa and got some.  Then we tidied up the graves, put the flowers on and left for Upper Atiamuri.

ABOVE:  Looking so much nicer now.  The flowers certainly don't last very long!  We will have to make a point of going down 6 monthly to replace them.

 ABOVE: There is only ONE 'eatery' in Upper Atiamuri, called 'The Bullring'.  It's a pub/cafe/motel type place on State Highway 1.  When we lived there it was a petrol station/fish 'n' chip shop.

They served us a very nice lunch.

After lunch we decided to drive by my old home.
There were people home, so we decided to be cheeky and pop in and say hi.

WELL!  The lady who lives there now was extremely friendly, and immediately invited us in when I told her I used to live there years ago.

We yakked for ages, and I got taken all through the house... it was so STRANGE being inside ... some changes, but not that many.

***photos taken with her permission***

 ABOVE:  MUM... can you believe it!  The same carpets.  The lounge is now a bedroom too.
It has wardrobes along the left hand wall as you walk in.

ABOVE:  They have just finished painting OVER the original wallpaper in the family/kitchen/dining room too.

They have a very cheeky, friendly bird!  It was very interested in Stew and I and didn't want to leave us.

It tried to get my earrings off, and gave lots of kisses.

 ABOVE:  Remember me saying it would be nice if they had put in new gardens?
Well... they had JUST finished putting all these plants and rocks along the front boundary fence!  She said it was a very hard job.

Her husband is not a well person, so I suspect she did it all herself. 

Next time we go down I want to take her some plants.  

So after spending some time visiting and answering their questions about the house and our time there, we moved on up the road to Lake Ohakuri for a swim.

ABOVE:  It was stunning. And empty!
When we arrived there was one man and his dog having a swim, and about 6 boat trailers/cars parked up, but no boats to be seen.

They were obviously further up the lake somewhere.

Stew, Brylee and I jumped in... well, OK... we waded in... and had a lovely swim.  It was warm!  Until I swum quite a long way out, then it got quite cold!

So refreshing after a long, hot day.

After our swim we headed home.  We did stop at Tirau again, where Brylee bought some lingerie at the Bendon Outlet shop, and we all had an ice cream.  

Now home, and it's STINKING hot in the house... it's been closed up all day.  And the last thing I feel like doing is cooking dinner.

Cooking = heat = NAH, not gunna happen.

Signing off.  Long day.  Going to relax for the evening.