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Published: February 23rd 2009
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18th February 2009 - A REST DAY AT LAST!!!
I woke up at around 8am and had slept a little better after finally admitting defeat and taking a painkiller or 2 for my shoulder!! I wrote in my journal for a while when I woke before having breakfast and reading my book outside in the sun. I had special k for breakfast and it really was the perfect start to the day...such a treat!!! It was a very nice day too...no clouds or wind...just sunshine!! I also did a shed load of washing too...all by hand of course (Nora Batty would be proud) and hung it out to dry. Nat got up and out of bed at around 9.30 and we both just milled around the hostel all morning doing jobs that had been piling up, relaxing and generally enjoying the fact that we had nothing planned for the day and nothing to rush about for!! It was the first day we had stopped since we had been in New Zealand and it was a welcome break!
Following lunch at the hostel, we set off on our way. We had wanted to hire kayaks for the afternoon as Wanganui has
a really long river but Nat wasn't too fussed and I thought it would be best to finally rest my shoulder for a day or two as I did not want to aggravate it further. Instead we had a nice walk around the town, I bought my mum a birthday card finally (no Clintons equivalent out here), and we called in the info centre for advice on what to do with our afternoon. The lady recommended a couple of things and we set off on our way.
Most towns and cities in New Zealand are nothing like England. The cities are tiny and not at all built up. They are more like towns where as the towns are more like small villages. It's brilliant!! Wanganui was a cross between the two. Not a lot cracking off but had everything we needed and was very picturesque..like everywhere else in NZ.....we had come to expect fantastic scenery!! We used our afternoon to go up in New Zealand's only underground elevator to see the views of Wanganui. It was built in 1919 and to get to it you had to walk through a very old tunnel. Pretty cool especially for the school
kids...they got to ride for free if they rode a bike to school, all the other kids had to trek up the steps. Worth getting the push iron for in my opinion!!
Once at the top and our $2 ride was over we had to climb some spiral gratey steps for a better view. Nat hates steps like that and was not happy at climbing them. She got a bit panicky but with a few deep breaths she made it up and we took some photos whilst we were up there. Lovely to see the long river running through the town and you could also see the mountains and the sea in the distance. once again...the views were amazing!!! We then walked a little further on and climbed some more steps up another tower for an even better view. Nice!! Once we were viewed out we went back down to the river bank via the steps this time rather than the elevator) and meandered along the river until we came to the park. We laid in the park for around an hour just watching the river and chilling out with some music and chatter. So relaxing and it was
nice to know that I was not putting further strain on my shoulder for a day.
Once it turned 4.30 we decided to head out of the park and back to the hostel. On the way up some steps I fell. My good arm was carrying my bags and so it was my bad arm that I put out to break my fall. Brilliant!! All the force went through my bad shoulder and it brought tears to my eyes it was so painful!! I wondered if I would get anymore bruises from my new fall as I seemed to have bruises all over at the moment and looked like I had been beaten up by Popeye!! So much for taking the strain off my shoulder .....looked like I may need another painkiller or 2 to get me through the night!!!
Once back at the hostel we checked our washing, picked up our journals and headed to the library for the use of the free internet. We got the timings a bit wrong and only ended up having 20 minutes as it closed at 6...oh well!! Back at the hostel we had tea and got chatting to a couple
who did a lot of biking around New Zealand. they were really nice and gave us a lot of hints and tips which was cool. he did warm that we would get very sore bums though (gel seats and padded pants are a must) and warned of the dangers of saddle sores...nice!!! Not excited at the prospect of having to wear lycra leggings either but they also came highly recommended!! Oh dear...think the people shots may decrease dramatically at that stage!!!!
For the rest of the evening we just chilled out and enjoyed doing nothing which was made even better by a brew. It was then a case of painkillers and bed!! Fingers crossed i'll get no more injuries or bruises...I think I have had my fair share of late!!
19th February 2009 - GOODBYE WANGANUI!!
I woke up at 8ish again and had another perfect start with a bowl of special K...just can't beat it!! I had kept a close eye on the box at this hostel and the thief that stole my last box whoever it was didn't get a look in!! It was then a case of shower, changed, packed and a short drive to
the library for some of the free internet that we failed to get the previous night!! We both managed some good blogging before setting off on the road towards Wellington. I was excited for Wellington as we had been told that the atmosphere there was really nice and that it was a bit of a party city. I was looking forward to having a night out as we hadn't been out in NZ yet so again I was excited!! We stopped a couple of times on the drive...once to have lunch and once for an ice cream...scrumdidleyumptious!!! Once the ice cream was demolished we continued on our way to Wellington!!!
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