Duddings Lake and Foxton

This morning was the first time in a long time that we actually woke to a fine day! It was windy and not too warm but at least we could take the dogs for a good walk on the beach before we left Wainui Beach. We also took the opportunity to again empty and fill the tanks on the motorhome so we left in a “ready for use” state. Whenever Bruce is occupied doing the tanks, I take the opportunity to sweep the carpets inside and to sometimes do a bit of dusting, so the motorhome looks as good as new when we are done.

Today we aimed to head south and drive straight through Whanganui, with the exception of stopping for a “get well” card for our neighbours who were involved in a car accident on the weekend. At times like this we wish we could be closer to be able to give more support. Our planned stop for the day is a place just 10kms or so north of Bulls called Duddings Lake.

This lake was in private ownership until the 1960’s when it was gifted to the local Council on condition that it remained available for public use. Apparently it is well stocked with perch and trout and has good water quality so it is safe for swimming and boating. It is about 2km around the circumference of the lake. Apparently it is a great water skiing venue, but to us it really did not seem big enough for that.

The sign at the entry to the park warned us not to go on grassy areas, and that if you got stuck you had to be prepared to get yourself out. The evidence was all around of vehicles who had driven onto the grass and regretted it. We felt sorry for some fellow motorhomers who had driven in for a scenic lunch stop, had deviated only slightly from the metal drive and had got stuck. They were there for a few hours before getting assistance out of the mud.

This was definitely gumboot territory, and we walked in gumboots all around the lake feeling grateful we had them on board. Overhead we could hear the planes from the Ohakea Airforce Base doing their flight training, but due to the heavy cloud cover we could not see them. As per our luck for this trip, it wasn’t long before the rain started again.

Our night was peaceful enough, and while the sun came out in the morning for a few hours, and we could see how pretty the lake was, we felt it was definitely a summer venue, and at $25 per night for a powered site it was expensive for what was provided (very little).

This morning we headed off  in a southerly direction with the destination for the day being Paraparaumu. Our stopping place on the way was Foxton. We had driven through Foxton many times before but had never stopped. We now realise that this was a mistake, that there is a lot to see in Foxton.

Foxton was established in the 1860’s and was a centre for flax fibre production which was used to make wool packs, matting and rope. Foxton exported more than 22,000 tonnes of flax fibre by boat. The boat part was significant because Foxton had a small harbour – the only one on the coast between Wellington and Whanganui, so while it was a dangerous place to navigate it was an important port for some years until the railway came to town.

In 2002 a Dutch windmill was built in Foxton, called de Molen, and it continues to stone grind wheat into flour in the present day. There had been a problem a few weeks ago though, when a storm damaged two of the blades of the windmill. They are away being repaired at present so until they are fixed the mill cannot operate.

The design was an authentic Dutch windmill design from the 1700’s and craftsmen came out from Holland to complete the building. There were a few concessions that had to be made to keep the Council happy, such as steel beams on the bottom floor instead of wooden ones, and shingle roof instead of a roof made of reeds.

However, the rest is true to tradition and it was most impressive. We were amazed by the craftmanship eg. wooden cogs, tradional rope pulleys, flour chutes made of wood. Every wooden item was well sanded down and poly urethaned.

Besides all that, the mill was spotless. I have never seen Canterbury Flour Mills in a state like this one. You could have eaten of the floors, the walls or the ceilings!

Besides the windmill, there is a lot of work being done on the streets of Foxton to make them beautiful, and you can see by the parts that have been completed that the town centre will look great when it is all finished. Ther are murals dotted about all over the place so although Opunake regards themselves as the “Mural Town”, Foxton could give them a run for their money.

Some of their old buildings have been well restored and the New World store below is the fanciest I have ever seen.

We bought some lunch from the Dutch Bakery, including a delicious loaf of Dutch bread that was still warm from the oven, and headed out to Foxton Beach which was about 6km away.

The wind was a really strong off shore wind today and it was picking up the sand and blasting it at us when we headed out for a walk on the beach. The dogs were trying to let Bruce know that it was a bad idea, but once on the beach it was more pleasant. The shore was typical of this coast – dunes, lots of driftwood, rough seas, but it was beautiful in its own way.

The sands are not so black here and there are the usual speed limit signs. They make more sense here than at Wainui because at least you have some chance of driving on the beach, and several vehicles were doing that.

We had a lovely walk on the beach and found the usual walnuts washed up, as well as lots of blue bottle jellyfish that we had to try and keep the dogs away from.

One we returned from our walk, we drove back to Foxton and stopped at a service station so Bruce could remove the half tonne of sand that had been deposited on the windscreens by the wind while we were walking, and then we carried on south to Paraparaumu, watching the heavy rain clouds get closer and closer.