By the numbers
Distance 13.29 kms
Steps 19,249
I actually got up pretty early this morning to go for a
walk. I wanted to take a wander over to A.H. Reed park via Whangarei Falls
first thing in the morning before it became too hot and I ended up going
elsewhere with Claude as I knew we might be heading out towards the Quarry
Gardens today. I knew he had something on mid morning and I would be back early
enough when he had finished his chore to have a rest and be off again.
I had breakfast without my morning coffee *Shock, horror, gasp
and all that* as I just wanted to go out walking. I had done this full on walk
once before, but it was not in the middle of summer where I would be working up
a sweat. Several times on the walk I was surprised when I looked up and people
were walking towards me though some said hello as they went. I did see some
spider webs that I had identified days earlier as a Nurseryweb spider. Internet
is a great way of getting spider identities and these are natives. According to
the website they do bite, but are not poisonous so you never know. I made it up
to AH Reed Memorial Park and planned to walk down to one of the entrances via
the road as I did not want to stumble downhill from the bush track. I had to wait
for a truck to pass one of the barriers before I could go down further as I didn’t
want to be that close to one of them even though the road was not that busy.
One of the carpark entrances had me really interested as they have shoe
cleaning stuff for the Kauri dieback disease including an actual boot scrubber
though I never tested it. I didn’t touch the stuff since I was going back along
the paths, but the cleaner is not at the Whangarei Falls entrance. I made it
back to the house with plenty of time and there was at times the feel of rain
that I thought I would get caught in.
After a little bit of a breather and what looked to be a
distance of 8kms on my fitbit, I was off again with Claude taking me to the
Quarry gardens that we had seen signs for, but had never visited. All I knew
was that it was a quarry that had been rejuvenated to a garden a long time ago.
Along the way I did see that there were several walking tracks up into the
hills that could be interesting and Claude had mentioned that he had been on
one of those walks when he was younger on several occasions. That was years
before mobile phones. The walk through the grounds after our gold coin donation
was really wonderful and Claude did keep up with me as we climbed past the arid
garden with the cacti and some of the concrete ruins of the buildings. We did
see the lake that had no birdlife floating around and one of the tunnels did
show pictures of the quarry when it was working. We did stop for coffee where
they used flowers instead of numbers and I was being silly with my daisy by
putting it behind my ear. The lady who delivered our coffee needed the flower
back to use again. It was a great idea.
The other part of the Quarry a short drive away was an arts centre,
which also included walks to Pa sites along tracks, but we both had other
things to look at. The arts centre was a little quiet, but I think mum would
like to visit as some of the stuff looked like she would like in two of the
shops including the green stone things. We didn’t really walk that far around
though it was quiet. I had seen something outside the centre that had my
interest and that was a cemetery. The cemetery was the Mission Ground cemetery
and I don’t know when they had removed everyone, but the grounds were used
between 1840 to 1940, but nothing to say what happened. There was a headstone
on the far side, which were to the Rust family and a memorial to the people who
are / were buried there. I don’t know anything about this as I had not been
there before or heard of the cemetery.
After the cemetery we drove to get something to eat and
headed over to the Whangarei Railway station. The building according to what I
have read was a heritage listed building that was protected. The platform was
fenced off and the building was used as a Mens Shed and a training centre. I
walked to the other side and found the gate had been left open. As you do with
an open gate, you wander on through with the camera and take pictures without
being hindered by a fence in the picture. No one told me to leave and if they
did I would act dumb saying I didn’t realise with an added stutter maybe or
talk slowly. Think they would realise train enthusiast who is excited to be on
an unused platform not that I am sure if I could pull that one off. Claude had
mentioned the dam where the local water supply is held and I had said I never
knew about that. Out to the country, a short trip from town to the Whau Valley
Dam. It was like the other dams I have been to, but I did not actually walk to
the spillway. I found a memorial where someone had died in 1968 during the
building of the dam. I did wonder if mum rode her bike out that way when she
was younger. On the way home we stopped outside a house in Bedlington Street
where granny along with mum and her brother lived for a little while after the
divorce. I could have the information wrong, but they did stay in the building
there for a short amount of time.
Today was my last full day in Whangarei before heading to
Paihia, where I will be spending Waitangi Day at the Waitangi treaty grounds. I
wanted to experience this event for once so here I am. Apparently there will be
protests at the event and the waka Ngatokimatawhaorua will be on the water with
luck. Dont ask I do not even know how to pronounce the name and I have tried. I
shall see what tomorrow brings as it will apparently be very wet over the
weekend so the weather might keep me suspended for a little while. I know now
that bringing denim shorts might have slightly been a bad idea.
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