8 April 2017: Raetahi enroute to Wellington

Raetahi Cosmopolitan Club -  Gold Coin Donation POP

Inside the Cossie Club - homely and full of interesting artifacts!  

We took a different route down to Welly this time - via the West side of Ruapehu. At Raetahi 'Cossie' Club friendly staff helped to welcome us after we parked overnight in their large car-park (for free). Inside was a cavern of interesting memorabilia from hunting times gone by... 

above the bar - and interesting diorama of taxidermy

Of course while were there, along with the sampling the local grog, we had to take advantage of the hot food available - and the fish & chips was a welcome hearty meal after the plummeting mountain temperatures outside set-in (a frost in store for tomorrow at this height above sea-level).

Raetahi is a small local community, it's good to support these friendly partnership clubs where we can always get a bit of an insight into the rural way of life. OK - so the drunkards at the bar weren't a great look for the club (it was only 7pm too), but it was a Saturday, so I forgive them for that (!). And the many stuffed animals are perhaps too archaic an aesthetic to bear (especially overlooking your meal table), but this to me is real New Zealand - warts and all. Let's not get too hung up on the politically correct here - no-one else is. There's a lot of poverty in New Zealand and artificially alienating these isolated communities isn't good for anyone. And for us, it's what makes the learning journey that is travelling so worthwhile.