As we adapt to the timezone and fitting in all the activities a late start was required this morning. We dragged ourselves out out of bed and drove up to the main centre of town to find some breakfast. With Feilding being a smaller town and no guarantee about what would be open on a Sunday morning, the best bet was to head for the cafe in the Cinemas. Having eaten there on previous visits it was the safe option. A very serviceable Eggs Benedict was my choice.
We had a number of other jobs to get done, all associated with ensuring Christmas day would work out… a few last minute presents and of course ensuring there would be enough drinks for the day.
More importantly, no visit to Feilding is complete without a photo of the clock tower. The tower itself was built as a millenium project (2000), but the clock is from the original post office and was originally installed in 1904. The post office was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1942 and the clock was put in storage until 1998 when the new tower was built in the town square.
With the weather looking a bit threatening (as above), we had a quick lunch with the family and then the boys of the house and I headed to Manfield Park, just near our hotel for a quick drone flight. We were able to get a bit of a view of Feilding from a height, but also discovered the ‘return to base’ feature when the drone got too far away as we tried to make it to the neighbouring motor racing track.
Deb’s oldest nephew, Luke and his girlfriend Bronya then arrived to pick us up for a barbeque with Bronya’s parents at their place in Levin which is about 50KM from Feilding. Apart from Christmas lights, Levin is well known for giving us Rebecca Gibney (Actress), Carlos Spencer (a one time All Black… now a coach in South Africa) and James Tamou (An ‘Australian’ Rugby League premiership player for North QLD).
We sat in the outdoor area at the back of the house, which was plenty warm enough – a little surprising for this time of year but very pleasant. The Manawatu area of New Zealand is suffering extreme drought conditions (by NZ standards) and are under water restrictions, so when the afternoon clouded over there was hope for some rain, but sadly the sun persisted, making for some great photo opportunities.
With some great company and a few wines we waited for ‘hours’ for darkness to come. The sun doesn’t set until about 8:45 and the twilight goes on forever.
So with darkness finally upon up, it was time to take a drive and look at Bronya’s dad’s competition around Levin. We visited around a dozen properties that really do go to a lot of effort to decorate their yard with lights. It should be remembered that most of the really sophisticated lights are not made or sold in New Zealand, so most is imported from Australia and the USA. It was hard to pick a best house, but this one was very impressive, even if the photo is not that great.
So in closing off a big day, I’ll leave you with a photo from our dinner hosts, (Helena and Murray) and their lights … and a big thank you for your hospitality! We had a great night… and thanks to Luke for driving us around.
Until tomorrow!
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