Over the hill and not so far away…

lies the sweeping rural beauty of the Wairarapa.

We left on Friday in the most glorious sunshine.  Our destination Poplar Cottage on the historic 19th Century Tinui Station, on the Castlepoint Road from Masterton.

Enroute we stopped at Kaitoke Regional Park to stretch our legs, test out the swing bridge and watch numerous folk bravely diving in the cool, river.  The forest in its ancient grandeur, used as a set for Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, revealed to us wonderous secrets of nature with the help of informative signage.  Did you know vines such as supplejack always grow upwards to the sun in an anti-clockwise direction?  Think of the sun and the direction it travels across the sky.  Northern Rata has been called a predatory gangster and a forest bandit due to the way it starts off life as a seed landing high up on a host tree such as a rimu. The host tree eventually dies through old age or by being starved of light and food and will rot away.

Well our little ethereal beings had no trouble finding the light, or the light finding them…

After a refreshing short walk we travelled up to the top of the Rimutaka hill, where we parked up and made the most of the crystal clear weather to walk the Rimutaka Trig Walk. My folks had walked to the summit on Kapiti Island (521 m) the previous day and my Mum’s knee wasn’t very happy at the thought of an hour’s return walk on steep, rough terrain, but we knew the forecast for our return on Monday wasn’t good and had to grab the opportunity to embrace the view whilst we could. Whilst I worried over her she fussed over me and baby saying, ‘Sarah, are you sure there’s enough oxygen for bubs up here?’. We took a little longer than an hour, as the girls carefully watched their steps and needed a little help on the men folks shoulders from time to time (couldn’t have done it without them and they really deserved their beers later on!), but the view (at 725 m) was absolutely worth it…

By the time we’d finished our walk and driven down the other side of the Rimutaka Hill a very late lunch was beckoning. We drove into Greytown and enjoyed a very relaxing lunch at the Mainstreet Deli.

Stocked up with supplies from the supermarket we headed off to the remote Tinui Station where we were greeted by our wonderful hosts, Kelso and Jane. We stayed in one of the three cottages available, Poplar Cottage, and were immediately taken with the relaxing surrounds. The rural beauty and farm setting brought out the child in us all. The girls ran free till sunset, chasing rabbits and sheep, admiring the horses, playing golf and croquet, discovering a hidden treehouse. The glorious weather certainly made for a fabulous welcome and held strong for Saturday too, but changed dramatically by Sunday when we saw a very different side to farm life. Non-stop rain in a twenty-four hour period brought the sheep up to our deck. They were quite hilarious – eye-balling us as we sat watching the Australian Open finals. When we retired to bed the sheep crept up on the verandah and spent the night there, sheltering from the rain. During the night we heard little stampedes as their hooves hit the wooden deck. But, surprisingly, we slept well and woke on Monday morning to yet more rain, flooded fields and streams and lots of sheep poo! Our wonderful hosts later informed us that the sheep had never been that bold or cheeky before and offered us a 10% discount on our next visit. We really felt for them having to scrub down the deck…