Wednesday, February 13: Quite cool to begin with, somewhat cloudy, becoming hot & sunny
Arawa Lodge
I was in no rush this morning and arrived at the tail end of the little girl’s breakfast. I helped myself to some cornflakes with apricots and milk, some toast, about two glasses of orange juice, and a coffee. With Jo and her granddaughter out of the house I was free to pursue some planning.
This seemed to go fairly well and by 10:00 I was ready to go to the supermarket for the shopping spree. On the way a couple of gas bottles were picked up from the hardware store, and at the end of the New World spree the small backpack was already filled, with the beer having to be carried extra. Unpacked the shopping onto the kitchen table to contemplate for a while, then went back into town, first to see the swimming pool, then to find some lunch (no hot sausage rolls in the supermarket) and went to the Sweet Pea Cafe (19a Goldfinch St) across the road which had a sausage roll with sauce to eat in for $4.5. Thus strengthened I took the walk to the carrot-themed playground (along the way a brick commemorated the fact that Simon & Sue had paid for it – the brick or section of the path) and then back into town. Here I discovered the laundromat on the main street – so washing could be done here, if not at the lodge.
Back here I reconsidered the shopping & packed away the largest camping gear for deposition @ Yeti. In the course of the morning I had been unable to get much sense out of the bank concerning the credit card. Seems like a daily limit of €600 (which would be more than $1000), but apart from that nothing else (had then withdrawn $300 which should see me through to next week). Down at Yeti there was another guy Julian who is also starting at Taumarunui tomorrow. Gavin took us through the show, then it was time for me to sign & pay, and deposit my stuff in a dry bag in the back office/kitchen. Gavin gave us a tip of using flyspray to make sure that the boat and tent were free of biting critters, so some flyspray was duly bought. Made a deal to meet Julian outside the i-site @ 7:00, then took off back here.
Jo had returned from work, and her granddaughter was there as well. I made a move to get the washing done – I could use the washing machine here, Maytag as well, so a little time was gained. First, though, had to take a shower to ensure that there was enough to wash, then set the machine going. While that was going on I was charging the final batteries, and trying to boil some eggs, which I had made some icecubes for this morning. Eggs cracked again, let’s see how they are on the inside.
I had made a list of place and bus times from Whanganui in the direction of Stratford that I could go to and be picked up from, then started looking for places to stay. Not much in the way of BBH or even other hostels, but airbnb came up with a place for $41, in the middle of nowhere, so it looks like a canned dinner (or reheated fried rice), but at least breakfast is provided. Emailed Carol with a request to book the shuttle to the Trains Track after a night @ Manutahi, so early enough for me to start the track and get to the first hut in good time.
And time was wearing a little thin. After hanging up the washing, I had arranged all of the remaining stuff into about half a down piles on the floor and started packing the suitcase. Received an OK from Carol that I will be picked up on March 1, but Windows wanted a reboot and this I had no time to put a booking through to Manutahi. Dinner was on the program.
Magic Chilli (68 Clyde St) is an Indian place, so I chose it for the start of my Chicken Tikka splurge. A half portion was four pieces, and very much only chicken with mint yoghurt, so naan and mixed pickles had to be ordered as well. This was completed by 6:45, and in a few minutes Julian had joined me for a beer at Mountain Rocks (53 Clyde St). He is a cook from Bamberg, doing a year wandering around downunder. Towards the end of our chat a Maori woman next to me struck up a conversation – she was from Adelaide Hills and home for a bit. Then it was back here to try to sort the last things out, so that they work tomorrow.
