Manutahi – Returning to Te Ika-a-Māui

21. Waitotara Road End – Trains Hut (TMM 1)

Friday, March 1: A bit cold to begin with but soon becoming warm & sunny

Tramping: 13.2 km

Trains Hut (Doc, $10)

Sleep was very intermittent last night and I was up way before 7:30. The proximity to the highway was not helpful. Anyhow I had plenty of time for breakfast (cereal, toast, coffee, and two cans of L&P in the fridge), took out some rubbish, packed my stuff together (hopefully a little better this time) and just after 9:15 went outside to await my chauffeur.

He – Dave – was there pretty much on the dot of 9:30. Among other things he had been a fire investigator with the voluntary fire brigade, which, of course, was right up my skeptical alley. And Howard had been right: He was the guy with the “golf carts on rails,” which I could make no sense of yesterday evening. Read more…

20. Whanganui – Manutahi

Thursday, February 28: A sprinkle of rain in the morning, becoming fine & sunny, wind a little cooler

Howard & Catherine’s (airbnb, $40.6)

The place was pretty full last night with the German couple (Timo & Chris) in the one room, and a woman in the other. My breakfast was the usual two helpings of cereal followed by eggs & cheese on toast, then the question of packing had to be addressed. There were also two painters present today who were sanding and painting the right side entrance so to collect my washing I went through the front door. Everything was moderately dry.

Managed to pack everything up and vacate the room before 11:00. To fill out the time until we were to be picked up for the bus I decided to have a look at what RawTherapee will be doing to the pictures. The aim here was to get the largest sized image out of the RAW file, without borders, and what level of preprocessing would it be reasonable to have it do. Read more…

19. Whanganui

Wednesday, February 27: A bit overcast to begin with, but warm, cloud becoming lighter in the course of the day

Dave’s/Brennagh’s

After the excitement of yesterday, today was a bit of a day for odds and ends. I set up VirtualDub to do a run through of a timelapse sequence – in the end it didn’t work particularly well. The Play_0 button doesn’t seem to do anything, and even downsizing the image was not really effective, as the exclusion zone didn’t seem to work. Put a couple of minutes together for Rayna to look at, though.

First shopping stop was Mitre 10 for a new gas bottle (will use up the old one on this trip and see how far I get with the new one). That was quite a hike across town. Next stop was the supermarket. Will be trying out a couple of new muesli bars this time, as well as some cheaper dried peas which will take 8-10 minutes and will be cooked with the rice. A dollar store yielded an ice-cube tray, which will be needed later for the egg cooking. Lost my shopping list somewhere after shopping, and that had the Whanganui River Adventures’ phone number on it, who I had been meaning to call to confirm that they will be picking me up, giving me a bunk bed and have something to sell me to eat. Read more…

5. Ohakune

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. Read more…