On Monday, since the weather was grotty (aka "yucky" - rainy and windy) we decided to stay in. It was a great day to hang out at home. Faith Ann and I did venture out to the library and the Pak n Save to get some movies and food. We enjoyed tomato & cheese toasties for lunch, homemade potato soup by Martha for onesies (Lord of the Rings, anyone! :) and a fab chicken cordon bleu - ala Sherry. It was all delish and fun to hang out with each other!
As Faith Ann and I drove to the store and library, we drove through crashing waves of sea water! It was crazy to see how rough the water was and to watch it crash over the road.
Hangin' out and buildin' card houses.
Tuesday, after getting some ideas from friends, we hopped on the train to the Waiarapa. It was a beautiful, easy ride and quite the adventure. Our goal was to get to Greytown, a sweet Victorian village which was the first inland settlement in NZ. There, we were going to take a fine stroll through town and then catch the train back to Petone in the afternoon. Well, we left the house right on time (7:45am) and found the train station. However, it took us a little searching to find the car park. We finally found it, took the ramp over the highway and down to the station. Faith Ann purchased our tickets and we were set to get on the 8:30am train. What I understood was we were to get off at the Woodside station but first, as we were sitting on board, the ticket man came around, "tickets please". We showed him our tickets and told him of our plans and that's when he proceeded to tell us we were on the wrong train! He let us know how we could correct our problem so we hopped off at the next stop and waited for the "green" train to the Waiarapa. After about a 15 minute wait we loaded up (again) onto the green train, anxious to get to Greytown, via Woodside.
We had a great time on the train, took in the beautiful scenery of pastures, sheep, cows and even snow-covered mountains. We passed time with cards and stories. Finally, we arrived at our stop in Woodside. Because we had the buggy (CB's stroller), it went in the baggage bin and I went over to get it from the train guy. I asked him the best way to get to Greytown and with a curious look, he said it was a 3k walk to town and there were no buses in Woodside! UGH! He went on to tell me, had he known, he would've let us know to get off in Featherston, the stop before, to catch a bus to Greytown there. With my quick-thinking skills :) I inquired about going to Masterton and how far the town was from the train station. It was only a 15-minute walk from the station and had shops and cafes, etc... Martha, Faith Ann, Caroline, Calvin & Mary Katherine were all waiting patiently off the train to see what our next move was going to be. After I spoke with the ever-so-kind train guy, I hurriedly ran over to the group and shooed them back ON the train with a "I'll explain later...just get on". We found some more seats and after getting re-settled, I explained my mistake - how we were supposed to take the Featherston stop and grab a bus there to get to the cute little Greytown but now we were going to take a tour of Masterton instead.
More card-playing and kid-entertaining, more sight-seeing on the train and we were there - in Masterton - in no time. The lot of us gathered our backpacks and hopped off the train, finally in the right spot. Not the original plan but that's half the fun of exploring, right?! We found the "city centre" sign and started our 15-minute jaunt to the fine town of Masterton, where we were to spend the next 5 hours. Of course, a minute into our journey on foot, MaeMae had tired feet, which made for an interesting beginning to our walk. However, she finally got over it (when we got to town and saw the McDonald's sign - a little bribery never hurt!). Because it was still "breakfast-serving time" at the Golden Arches, we decided to check out the town. It had a really nice main street with some fun shops and a few cafes. We even found the library and made a purchase of 2 dvd's and a book on Australia for $3! Mickey D's was next on the agenda so we found our way back to it and got the kids happy meals and had a play.
We enjoyed our stroll around Masterton, had a nice garden lunch at a cafe, found a dollar store and made some fine purchases for the kids and made it back to McD's for an ice cream. You know you are killing time when you go to McDonald's twice in one day! Leaving with plenty of time to spare, we made it back to the train station and awaited our ride home. It was a really nice ride home, the kids played with their new treasures and we enjoyed our time together. I loved hearing stories from Martha and Faith Ann and remembering the good ol' days!
The kids hit the sack pretty early these days that we're so busy and then it's card-playin' time! I have so loved playing rummy every night and we've all won our share of games. We'll see who the big winner is at the end of the week!
Waiting for our first of 3 trains going north to the Waiarapa.
Martha's Iphone has some sweet as games on it! Oh the technology that we are a missin' over here.
Playin' cards.
Pretty Finney, takin' in the sights!
Gorgeous countryside
Snow-covered mountains!
Snack time!
We made it! Time to journey to the town!
Main Street Masterton
Our garden cafe lunch
End of our day in Masterton...Ohhhh...what...a...long...day! We just had to take a wee rest before we got to the train station.
Out like a light!
Waitin' for the train to leave...
We made it home! A view of the Petone train station...off we go to Stonehaven but first...a stop at the Indian restaurant for some curry takeaway! A great end to a fabulous day of adventures and exploring!
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