Oh dear
Room 107 was not a good room!! Turned
out we were right by the facilities so very noisy, and the bed not comfortable
so we had an awful sleep.
We had an early
start as we need to be ready to go by 8.30am.
Showering was really difficult but worked eventually.
Once
organized, we went to Reception to get our room changed to the fully accessible
room 235 before breakfast. They were
happy to do that and said they would move everything for us once we had packed.
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| Room 235 |
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| Bathroom - note how close the toilet is to the hand basin and the shelf beside the toilets - at head height! |
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| The shower - small but worked |
Of to
breakfast to find we had been moved all the AROC guests downstairs, as the
hotel was so full. Great - the only
access for me in the chair was via the Staff access. I am getting to like this ‘standard’ of
access for disabled guests. And of
course it wasn’t exactly a nice area to go through! Although the breakfast was good (well
what Pete gave me, as again I could not get to the food myself as it was down
even more stairs!) it was obvious the hotel had 300 to feed this morning – it
showed, tables not being reset and the staff appeared really stretched. I have to say, if I was a tourist paying
good dollars, I would have not been impressed.
After
breakfast we packed so we could be moved.
We left the
hotel before the rest of the AROC members to get petrol and take photos as we
were off to the Kingston Flyer. A
nice windy road and we managed to find a spot by a 30kmph corner so Pete could
take photos off all the cars as they went by. (Photos in a separate Post) We arrived to find the car park full to busting. Found a spot and as I got out of the car my
mobile rang. Two of the guys have got
lost! How I don’t know but once the
train hooted its horn, they followed the sounds!
The
Kingston Flyer is an old steam train running on a small disused train line and
is purely a tourist activity. Run by a
private group and very well set up and even had a ramp which just took chair! We parked the chair at the end of the
carriage and took a seat in the first of the First class cubicle on Birdcage
Carriage which were described as the ‘Brass and Leather experience’ – it sat
6. Shared with Murray McCatney, Neil
Miller (Auckland members now living in England
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| First class cubicle on Birdcage Carriage |
Fiona and
Pete were in and out like yo-yo’s taking photos as we steamed along. Just over three quarters of the way to the
turnaround the train was “held up” by 6 cowboys with ‘guns’ on horseback –
absolute scream. One of the guys cam on
board and ‘kidnapped’ the train driver and another came through all the
carriages looking for the loot! The
loot was an old suitcase full of Crunchy Bars! The train was used in the ‘70’s for a
famous NZ ad for Crunchy Bars!
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| The 'bootie' |
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| The Engine Driver captured - he was soooo young! |
We then
proceed to and stopped at ‘Fairlight’ which was the turnaround point. Cowboys gave out ‘crunchy bars’ and a few
people got to have horse rides! Bare in
mind these people are aged mostly from 50 – 85!!! All very young at heart.
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| The Crunchie Scramble! |
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| Fred having his first horse ride in 60 years |
By the time
the ride was over the weather had turned as we had the first rain since our
arrival which was a real pity. We all
headed back to Franklin to the Remarkables Primary School
This was
the venue for the infamous North V South Challenge! And we were told this was to be Part 1 for
the weekend! A Tug-o-war. Firstly the guys v guys, then girls v girls,
mixed and finally the school pupils made up two teams! The South thrashed the North!
Once back
as the hotel we settled into our Accessible room. It was much smaller but a much better
bathroom! Hopefully quieter at night
and a decent sleep.
Went to the
Lobby to use free internet but it ran out really quick, which was most odd.
So downloaded
photos and did more blog notes.
As a member
of the Executive I had to attend a meeting 4pm, which went quickly and
smoothly.
Pre dinner drinks
were held in the Lounge Bar. While the
drinks were on Part 2 of the North/South Challenge was on – each team had to
name a car make from every letter of the alphabet! From there we had a Gala dinner in the
restaurant where we had breakfast. Oh
joy, another experience at the staff access only area! This time there was only one seat I could
sit at and we had to leave the power chair in the staff area. So we were stuck in a far corner of a two
tiered restaurant. Such is life.
As the
evening proceedings started our esteemed President asked everyone to turn over
their side plates as see if there was anything on the under side. I turned mine over and found a piece of
paper with “AJ Hackett” written on it.
Thinking it was part of another Challenge, I ask the others at our table
what their side places revealed. The
answers were all ‘Nothing’. Odd. Then El Presidente asked who had AJ
Hackett, and that’s when we realized I had won a Bungy Jump! The whole place erupted into laughter – the
only disabled person out of 100 wins the bungy! I have to mention the other prize was two
nights at the hotel complimentary!
Talk about laugh!
We had a
wonderful night and by the end it was decided Pete would be the jumper!
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