Paws Awhile: Music In The Mountains

Friday afternoon rolled around and the truck was ready to pick up. Heslops hadn't found the source of the problem but they had tinkered with a few things and taken it for a test drive. All seemed to be running smoothly. Phew!
We hitched the rig up and drove off to our very first rally, "Music in the Mountains". It's an annual event held by the NZMCA at Tapawera school. We were impressed with how organised everything was. All vehicles were parked in rows with enough space to manouvere out if needed. By 6 o'clock we were parked up, enjoying a meal that was waiting for us (thanks to Amanda, Paul, Graeme and Rob).
After dinner, we collected our chairs and set off to sit and enjoy the first performers. They were a band from the North Island called 'Legal Tender'.
The next day, Bernie wanted to fix some things on the truck, so I went for a walk around Tapawera Village. It's such a cute town and the locals obviously take pride in their properties. I came across a sign for the 'Shedwood' bush walk. I followed the directions, which led me across a paddock and into native bush. The track led uphill for 20 minutes, I had the company of a couple of black fantails who were too quick for me to photograph. After an hour I was back walking along the main road of Tapawera, where I visited an art exhibition displaying local artwork.
We had lunch at the rig and Steve called in to visit. After a shared dinner with Amanda, Paul, Rob and Graeme, we grabbed our chairs to listen to Suzanne Prentice. Although it wasn't our sort of music, she was a great performer and it was an enjoyable night.
We decided to leave on Sunday so I could spend the next day getting ready for the new term. The 'Gypsy Pickers' were playing on Sunday night, but as they are a Nelson band we thought we'd have another opportunity to listen to them during the year.
So Sunday morning started with a cooked breakfast (thanks Bernie). Then we went for a walk to check out the dump station to make sure we could get in. When we got back, some friends of Bernie's from Westport (John Lee & his wife) called to say hi and to check out the rig. After they left we visited a couple in the van beside us,Geoff & Carron Stevenson (who are members of 'Motorhoming with Pets'). It was great to meet up, Carron is taking a writers course and has had several articles published already. That's exactly what I want to do this year, learn how to write for a magazine. Just as we were leaving Colin Smith arrived along with his poodle, it was nice having a brief chat with him. Then we hitched up, and arrived back in Richmond mid afternoon. The truck went well...the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.