Middle NZ: Having trouble belting up for girls trip

The stunning Oruawharo Homestead in Takapau. Photo / NZME

It started with the words " I can't seem to find my keys".

That little sentence set off a chain of crazy events that ended with a video.

I'll start at the beginning. It was a schoolgirls date which had been planned and booked weeks ago.

We were off for high tea at Oruawharo Homestead, an historic homestead built in 1879 in Takapau.

None of us had ever been there and we were really looking forward to it.

As I had recently bought a new car, which would seat us all comfortably, I put my hand up to drive.

Three of the schoolgirls duly arrived at my place on Saturday morning and when we were just about ready to set off to pick up the fifth person, I looked to where my keys usually hang and yep, no keys.

I hunted through my bag five times even though I knew they weren't in there after the first search.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.

Peered through the car window, but knew they wouldn't be there because it was locked and you can't lock it without the keys in your hand.

Okay — time to retrace my steps. I had been in the shed trying to reach a vacuum cleaner. Oh dear, if Id put the keys down in there I'd never be able to find them. No luck.

So I went to where I had placed the vacuum cleaner and there they were sitting on the ground.

So 10 minutes later than planned we were off. I drove straight past her house even though I've been there a number of times before.

Finally, we pull up beside her — she's waiting in the driveway now — oops.

She gets in the back and while one of the others scoots to the middle seat.

Okay, I say, are we all ready to go? "Um I can't find the seat belt" says the person in the middle seat. Okay, first time I have had backseat passengers in this car.

So they all pile out and start dismantling the back seats looking for the elusive seat belt. Nowhere to be found.

Blimey you just wouldn't read about it. Five people looking for one seat belt.

"There are two more seats in the boot" I suggest. So skipping a long a bit we finally got the two seats in the boot up, found the seat belts, shoved her through the gap and off we went.

I don't think she was very comfortable back there, but to her credit there was no moaning.

We reached our destination just in time. It was hilarious watching the boot passenger extracting herself from the car.

Time to eat — high tea was nice, the hosts were amazing, we laughed a lot as we always do.

After high tea we were invited to have a look through the homestead.

If you have never been to Oruawharo it's worth the drive just to have a look around this historical home.

It is absolutely stunning. The furniture has to be seen to be believed and the artwork is amazing.

We spend ages looking through the rooms, it was like taking a huge step back in history. Loved it.

The trip home was broken by a visit to the Little Gem Garden Centre (another great place to visit) where I may have bought a beautiful yellow rose and then back to my place for a coffee. What a day.

I said this story ends with a video.

The next day one of the schoolgirls, who we have started to call our IT person because she's pretty tech savvy, sent me a YouTube link titled 'How to setup the centre seatbelt on the rear seat of Outlander'.

Apparently, lots of people were having trouble setting it up and no wonder.

Who in the world would look up when trying to figure out where a seatbelt was. Yep — it's in the roof. Why? The mind boggles.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today