26. Pipiriki – Whanganui (Mail run)

Wednesday, March 6: Cloudy the whole day with a little sun shining though occasionally and a sprinkle or two of rain

Brennagh’s/Dave’s

Sleep was unusually fragmented – I managed to fall asleep fairly quickly (what a difference a bed makes) but awoke from about 12:30 for an hour and a half before sleeping through to 7:00.

The one guy with the very compact tent had it packed away in next to no time and was a Tasmanian on the Te Araroa (south to north) and was going via the road (in lieu of a jetboat) to National Park. Also spoke to a British couple with daughter at breakfast, who were also going kayaking together with the older American woman (jetboat up, kayak/canoe back). As for my breakfast the egg was the last thing over that I wanted to eat (muesli bars excluded for the time being) and there was enough coffee for one cup. The last remaining yoghurt in the fridge had been opened and had started to sprout a fungus so that had to be thrown away.

In between bit of conversation with some of the other inhabitants and staff. I had everything packed away and ready to go well before the mail run arrived. In the meantime more and more people started arriving (by the bus load) for the paddle tour, and the staff had enough on their hands. Had a bit of a chat with Josephine (Treanor) before Valerie the mail lady turned up.

Quite a chatty person (from South Africa, near Kruger Park) and we readily filled in the gaps between delivering letters and advertising along the Whanganui River Road. Once or twice we stopped for the view or a picture which I obliged with, and a couple of times I got to deliver the mail because the letterbox was on my side. Some memories of the cobwebbed poplars on the way to the Atene Walkway in 2010. All said & done she dropped me off right in front of my place, and I said I felt like a cosmonaut struggling to get out of a Soyuz capsule. In any case I was back on the planet. At almost exactly noon.

Brennagh must have been dozing because it took her a few minutes to register that I had arrived, but then my suitcase and second pack were soon in my room. Now the plan had to go into action. Showered and shampooed, and into fresh clothes (the shorts had to be pinned using a safety pin to get them to hold up; they had elastic sides, so this was a good ersatz for a belt for the time being). Then I threw everything I could find into the washing machine and set it going.

With the almost one hour cycle underway I set off to find a replacement belt (very nice: Synthetic with double-D buckle in navy and red for $3.5 at a dollar shop), following a mashed potato topped pie for the same price at 173 Victoria Ave. Hard to negotiate the pavement after five days of bushbashing. Back here I awaited the end of the cycle and admired the work that had been done on the house in the last work. Hung the washing up, then made my way to PaknSave for the beer, some razors, a deodorant and an apple. With the major shopping done it was time to fire up the computer again.

Not much new in the way of emails, and everything else seemed to be in the green zone. Reviewing my itinerary I discovered that I had two days here before proceeding onto New Plymouth, so that was a bit of a relief because I had been unable to locate a garden hose to clean boots and pack with. Anyway will have to keep an eye on the weather for the Taranaki Circuit.

Writing a thank you note to Dave I found that all my emails to xtra.co.nz were bouncing (not my construction site!) and discovered that I ought to configure my server’s (!) DNS to try to overcome this (!!). Sent Dave his note via his contact form in the end.

Then it was time for the GPS tracks. Total: About 18 MB, including shuttles and everything downloaded fine. What a relief. Photos tomorrow. Cursory inspection on GoogleEarth reveals either a number of satellite losses or more track searching that I was aware of. Tracks also appear (at this resolution) to be 25-30% longer than the tracing tracks.

Interactive Map

Took in the washing (which was bone dry by now), shaved, and then it was off to the celebratory meal. I thought I could take no great misstep by choosing Stellar Restaurant & Bar, 2 Victoria Ave, if not for lamb, then for pizza. The place looked quite empty, but it was open, and I was directed to a front table close to the street, where there was at least something to look at. Lamb shank for $29.9 was huge, perhaps not as tender as what I’m used to, but it was advertised as “Merino”, with mashed potatoes, carrot, kumara and gravy, as usual almost too much, with a handle of Wild Buck Ale (“keen on a buck?”) for $6.5. You walk & you reap the reward of the just.

On the way home stopped in @ Countdown for a bottle of ginger beer and some ham for breakfast/sandwiches tomorrow.