Middle Earth Tour Day 11: The great wanderings of Palmerston North

Middle Earth Tour Day 11: The great wanderings of Palmerston North

I wasn’t sure what the weather would be like when I first got up and I think I annoyed the two others who had arrived the night before. Though they were hunting a power point when I seemed to have the only one in the room. I wasn’t going to give it up, but it was just after midnight at the time so we all went to bed. They thought I was leaving until I said no though they were not bright enough to take their key with them everywhere as I had to let them in several times after I had left the room. They were however gone when I came back to the hostel at the end of the day. There was no sun when I left and I went for breaky before leaving for my long walk. It had started raining a little bit, but by the time I had reached The Square it was pretty dry so never really needed the brolly. It stayed pretty dry for the rest of the day and only had a few drops here and there while I was walking around I was lucky to have a sunny day where I could dry my clothes in the sun instead of waiting around even longer for the dryer. I did wonder what people sitting down to eat would have thought of my underwear with The Incredible Hulk on them and yes in colour as they would have seen a green being.

My plan was to head to the train station in Palmerston North though I could have taken a wander to the Kelvin Grove cemetery, but an hour and half walk means it would be a long one unless I catch the bus. I was going to leave the cemetery until the next trip though I don’t think I would have time unless I stayed an extra day. I didn’t want to be caught in the open if it began raining hard. The other part of the plan was to visit the museums. After that I had no idea where to go from there though I knew I would eventually come up with something as I had a fold out map. The train station once I reached it was nothing really special. The only thing that was of real interest was something about the electrification of the lines in the cities. The next part of my walk was to head to via a street I liked the name of as Seddon Street was after a Prime Minister or so I hoped. I found the end of Cuba street. I did pop out of a side street to see what I could find. I did find the building to the Maori Battalion and also the local sports stadium.  Was curious to see if there was anything telling me where the old fire station had been, but there were no clues unless I had grabbed the street name.

The museums were next on the list after I had a quick visit to the library. I wasn’t sure if the history and art museum along with the All Black Museum was in the same area. I learnt that the two museums were all part of the same complex and it cost money to get into the rugby museum. The rest was actually free though I wasn’t sure if they were all connected or more than one building. I was not sure about the first part of the museum as it had poems on one level and another part happened to have Pacific island stuff that had been taken when people were taking souvenirs. I had thought this was the actual museum until I had entered the next building.  The actual museum grounds had an old school building and it wasn’t just about local history from the white settlers though Feilding  and the Manchester Block. I forgot to head through the Maori section of the museum though I did enjoy looking at the local history stuff even though family members were not mentioned here. There was the nature part of the museum that I could search for Wetas, but I could not see any when I light up the area. What I found interesting was when I was looking at the water side of things, I was shown that for different purposes you could tell just by the sewer cap like say sewerage or storm water. Next up on the list was the Rugby museum that had the history of the game in New Zealand and that it was created in New Zealand by one man. He was Charles John Monro and known as the founder of Rugby in New Zealand, he is buried in the local cemetery. The Haka had been done since well before World War 1 and they did have pictures too about all this. I did read recently that the British had been complaining, but they can be dimwits when they probably should read up on the history of the game instead as they just have short memory. For an old country it is understandable that they have memory troubles. The size of the players did change too especially when I was taller than one of the original players though today players I am short. I am not completely interested in the sporting game, but glancing through the different memorabilia from the early 1900 to today is interesting. I found out the museum had moved to this new area from Cuba Street as they had out grown it, but still had heaps of items that were still in storage. They had been there for three years so now I know where they had moved to as the first time I had been in town it was at the old location.

After I had some lunch of baked potato I went looking for the old Pitt street bus station and found that it was a permanent move they had done and also one place nearby that I had thought to stay was the old railway hotel. I think I rather where I am as the hotels is on the main road so there might have been some road traffic. I like the people where I am too so the Railway hotel might have had problems. There was no way I could contact them either other than by phone. I was looking at the map I had that was something I thought would have a look at a park that was called Savage Reserve and I was wondering if it was named after the ex Prime Minister. The wind was a little annoying as I kept looking to make sure i was going the right way as I wanted to pop into a certain street. There was no statue though it only seemed to be an area that was pretty bare of anything other than a small playground. The next stop was the Victoria esplanade as I wanted to walk along the Manauatu river and then head home. I found some information along the way about the Savage area. Well Savage Crescent as it was a historic area that I had accidentally stumbled upon. I never knew that the Savage Crescent was known as a conservation are that shows examples of early state housing program by the labour government in the 1930s. The houses are actually built to a high standard and the people were selected of their need for housing. The surveyor designed the area to fit into the Palmerston North look so that it fits in.

The Victoria Esplanade had a miniature train station where you can go on rides on the weekend. There does seem to be a fair amount of track going through the park as I was wandering around and kept finding the lines. The Victoria Esplanade gardens were opened in 1897 and has been redeveloped ever since and it said that the last time was in 1997 so I guess thats when the train line went in. There does seem to be plenty to do other than walking as there is a bird aviary. I did see a wading pool that had been donated by the returned services people and I think when the cafe is open that it would be a nice place to drink coffee. They do have a conservatory there too with plants, but I did not visit it as I had other plans. I was wanting to take a walk down to the river and I do not know when I would get another time to do so. I went off on a bush track that led me to the water where I had a surprise that there was an actual river walk path for all people. I wanted to walk to the bridge that takes me if I wanted to over to the university. A little voice wanted to, but I thought better of it.

In the years that I had visited the city I had never walked down this far. I do not know why I had missed such a beautiful area and it was all sign posted to where you could end up especially if you were on a bike. I had seen other signs like near the shopping centre that encouraged walking including what I was doing though I doubt others had the same idea to spend most of the day wandering parts of the city. At least on the water front I was given choices of where to go like the exit I needed to take to Fitzherbert Avenue, which I knew could take me to the city centre or across the bridge to Massey University. There was a huge wooden marker that gave indications of previous floods in the area and they were pretty deep. Beside the bridge I found a curious reminder of the past especially part of the original bridge that had been built in 1877. The new Fitzherbert bridge was opened in 1935 by the local council so that was an interesting find that I never expected. I wanted to cross under the bridge and come up on the other side so then I would not need to cross the road. There was another find though that I was wondering what it was that had a sign to. I had found the remains of a wooden groin that was used to change the course of the water that had been built around 1908 or 1912. I love finding out information like this and I knew if only I was able to I would follow the path onwards to learn more. My time was growing short so I thought I better return back the way i had come so that I could get ready for the next part of my journey where I will head off to my next destination and that is National Park.

I have learnt since I came to Palmerston North that you could if you really wanted was to walk from Cape Reinga to Bluff. According to the walking trails book I picked up its called Te Araroa – The long pathway. It does pass through Palmerston North. I wonder how many people actually do this sort of walk as I know New Zealand is not exactly flat and maybe some ultra fit groups could come and train there. They would be crazy enough, but going up to the mountains would be interesting especially when the path takes you through the centre of both islands. I do have to say carrying a local map does really help you make decisions even though there are places that you would want to visit, but I think I do enough walking around new areas of the country. I do like making new finds to share with others especially locals. I think my bag becomes cumbersome with the maps I end up though I should refer to them in the future. I don’t pay for the maps though and it is always good to refer to the information you have been given especially when you are ending up in a new area like with bus stops changing. I have seen several new bus services floating around and one of those is the Mana Bus. I also think I have a small list of accommodations that I would recommend to others who travel.

Tomorrow a cold front is supposed to hit the North Island and that will change the weather especially for me when I am hitting the hills close to National Park. I do hope the weather stays good though I don’t know the area at all. I have today walked around in shorts with a light jumper on, but in Waiouru I was wearing a thermal as I was cold, but comfortable. All my gear is for light weather and not the heavy duty cold weather.