Tuesday, March 3: Very cloudy at first, becoming fine in the course of the afternoon

Tramping: 1.4 km

Hikurangi StayPlace, 1 Mount View Rd., Whanganui 4500, tel.: +64 6 343 3333. Single room with shared (1x) bathroom & toilet (BBH, $40 + $3)

• Topo
• GPS

Couldn’t sleep the last hour or so, so I was up at 8:00 and had a very frugal breakfast of muesli bars, crackers and coffee. The car had to be properly organised for the rest of the trip and that took up the next 2 hours. The case was reserved for the rest of the books and fresh clothes, the pack takes on the computer and diaries in the main compartment, and the vanity bag in the bottom one, the chilly bin is packed full of spoilable food and other stuff that needs to be kept cold, and there is a shopping bag with non-spoilable food and the large shampoo etc. bottles. The camera bag is now loaded with batteries and cards; one A470 is ready to go in the glove box, and the SX120 is in its pocket in the pack. A notebook with pen is with the glasses & ipod in one of the open compartments on the passenger side. Almost 100% ready to go.

The cotton clothing washed last night was still wet despite my attempts at getting it to dry faster, so it had to dry in the car. Just before 10:00 I was ready to leave. Discovered later that I had forgotten my universal sink plug in the hostel, so that will have to be replaced. There was a stop at a service station to wash the windscreen and the rear window, and a longer break in Stratford to get a new map from the isite and have a look at the dollar shop for a small plastic container for the filters, the one I had with me having been crushed in the suitcase. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong place, a soap container might have the right size.

From there I went to Dawson Falls for a bracket and a time lapse from the view point, which I entirely missed the last time. But a good view of the falls. Then it was time for lunch (yesterday’s other sausage roll). After lunch I took the road to Manaia and then along the Surf Highway to Hawera. Further along I stopped in Patea, which was the site of the 2010 pictures of the waka and the freezing works. Then it was one long slog through to Whanganui. Missed seeing the bank I stopped at in Waverley in 2010 to enquire about an ATM (there wasn’t one for miles).

In Whanganui I went straight through town and over the bridge to try my luck at this place. Very extensive grounds and otherwise very well appointed, and I couldn’t make sense of what the building was originally designed for until I asked – it used to be a retirement home. That would explain the spacious communal areas (living room, kitchen/dining room, games room) which are far more extensive that anything else I’ve seen. The sum of the areas of the communal rooms may well be larger than the size of the residential areas – the single room I have is quite small, but functional enough. Everything is in good nick, including one last inhabitant of the retirement home, and there is a refreshing lack of signs telling you what to do. At the moment this is an absolute insider’s tip and the price is reasonable. Let’s see how long it lasts.

After a nap of about an hour I took off into town hoping to find a pizza place for dinner. Finally after a longer walk I stumbled upon La Strada, 13 Victoria Ave., for a pizza carne for $18 and a Tuatara Lager from tap for $7.5. Pizza was crispy at first, then firm, so good rather than excellent. After which I bought some peaches & lemonade.

Wifi at the hostel is free and quite good, so I was able to book an airbnb place for Palmy, and enquire about a BBH place in Hamilton where the airbnb places were a bit more expensive. Wrote Robert a review and will see what kind of walks I might do tomorrow.