The Wairarapa is a great area with lots to see and do and it’s such a nice area to take pictures!!! Solway college is directly next to the solway show grounds which seams to have a few events happening on it and so far I have been long to the A&P show which was a bit like the Stocksley show i usually go in Yorkshire with lots of cute animals! It was a fun afternoon watching lots of different events and even seeing someone stood on 2 houses while jumping, but Mostly I really did want to steal a piglet or a duck!! Although it is quite difficult to get around without my own transport people are so friendly and offer to take you with them when they go anywhere! There was a centenary celebration on at Castle point beach and we managed to grab a lift of a very kind teacher from solway. We even got coffee and scones when we arrived at the beach. Was a particularly windy day but had a great time, running up The Sand dunes, watching some live music, walking up to the lighthouse and even ended up meeting up with another teacher and getting a full picnic 
. After a great day at the beach we set off back to Masterton but not before stopping off for a cup of tea on the way back in someone’s house!!
Solway college is a great pace to be and I have been able to do lots of different and great things . Solway had there Founders day which was a swimming sports day, (basically a day sitting enjoying the sun and writing down a few swimming times) and another few similar days since watching athletics too! The food here is great and I have been told I arrived at a perfect time as the caterers just changed and the old food was bad!! Most of the food in NZ is the same as we have back in the UK with only a few differences. Masterton is small but nice, not been for a proper shop yet but managed to get s bargain already and buy jandles for $2 (flip flops).
I enjoyed castlepoint beach so much that when there was another event on (house races on the beach) we went along when a friend came to visit from Marton! The weather was fab and so after enjoying our little picnic and even a win on the house races we went for a walk up to the light house and to castle rock and took some interesting pictures! Back at school It was nice to actually cook and although very odd after hours in the school food tech room, it was fun cooking and we even found some candles to go with our meal before finishing the day off with wine and card games. We managed to fit a lot into the Sunday having access to a car does make thing a lot easier!! we first went along to the Martinbourgh farmers market which was at a wine yard and may have tasted some gin and wine (even enjoyed some red wine). Back in the car we headed to New Zealand’s Stonehenge Aotearoa, was quiet and so being the only people there got to take some fun photos, and even found that our star signs are wrong :s. just over the road is a very interesting old house creatively named the ghost house and you an walk up to it for a look (don’t think i would in the dark).
It is amazing how much there is to do in the Wairarapa, and considering this is my home for 6 months I want to see as much as possible in my local area!! On a Monday off school one of the teachers took us to Cape palliser, to see the panicles, the lighthouse and the smelly but very cute seals. The pinnacles were fascinating to see and its amazing how they have formed. The walk up was quite steep but really nice and didn’t take too long. 240 steps i think i counted up to the lighthouse (but I may have miss counted :s!), and it was a great view from the top out to sea. We had a picnic by the sea and then climbed the rocks to get really close up to the seals for some good photo opportunities!! The weekend after we were able to go along to Mount Bruce to see lots of amazing native NZ birds! Although $20 to get in, they do have a great selection of birds to see both cadged and out in the wild! Getting to see my first kiwi bird was great and they even have a very rear white kiwi which we saw having a nice time rolling around in the dirt . They do have kiwis in the bush at mount Bruce but on out walk up which takes about an hour we dint see any. We did see lots of kaka birds out and about though and when we went along to a kaka feeding they just came right up to you and one even jumped on my arm to grab some food!!
After not being able to play golf yet since arriving in NZ I went up to the driving range and discovered even with some random clubs I could still just about strike a ball at the Solway driving range. Although public transport is rubbish here there are a few buses on a Saturday to be able to visit the near by towns! And so have been able to visit Grey town which is very popular with Wellington people as it has some really lovely cafes and shops. I especially enjoyed the cobble stones museum and the amazing chocolate factory shop which is most famous for its chilli and lime chocolate. although $10 to buy I did ave to get some after tasting every other flavour available including curry and popadom (which was surprisingly nice).
I think one of my favourite event in the Wairarapa has been the Balloons festival. And i must do if you find yourself in these parts in march time!! The events lasted over a few days and I was able to go along to the very early start at Henley lake to see the splash and dash event. The ballots looked quite cool over the lake and it was a great photo opportunity with the sun rising in the background! I was also able to go along the night glow event which was basically the hot air balloons performing a light show to music and was just amazing to watch!!
