By the numbers
13.80 kms
19,905 steps
The morning looked like it might rain and I had an
interesting night as it had gotten cold at one stage where I needed a blanket
on and then again became warm so all was good and think it was just the cloud
cover cooling things down I hope. I let myself sleep in a little bit as I had
been getting up around 7am nearly every morning. When I did walk out of the
hostel the sky decided right then was the time to open up and splatter me with
rain. Luckily I had my wet weather gear with me and I put my brolly up so that
I wouldn’t get wet since there was no shelter for a little bit. The rain came
down hard and I had been lucky with my gear being on my person at the time. I
had a feed that I needed before heading off again.
The weather had turned nasty while I had eaten and
it was now pouring though I now had on my full wet weather gear as I did not
want to get caught like I had been in Waitangi with the rain driving into me
and everything I wore was wet. I headed for the information centre where I
wanted the local heritage guide and came out with that and the Bridge to
Nowhere information. I also came across my mystery friend from last time the
mystery wifi that told me I could renew. I now had mystery wifi from the
information centre that would connect me in Palmerston North too. I travel
through tomorrow so should be interesting as it is a meal break though I don’t think
I will be that hungry. Visiting the loo, I found they have a little museum
display in there too of objects that had been found when they had done an archaeological
dig somewhere. I found this to be different and not seen before.
I walked out still contemplating going up the hill
by elevator to see the Durie Hill memorial tower. I took the elevator up like I
did last time I was there though I wanted to do that again although this time
it was wet. I had to pay $2 for the pleasure of going up the hill without
getting wet and the plan was to stay up there for a little bit. I did not last
as long as I thought I would as I pulled out my main camera and it was windy
and rain was hitting the camera. I was worried that it might get broken if I
left it out. I still have not had to change the batteries even though I have
taken heaps of pictures while I been away. I was not going to walk up 175 or so
steps up the Durie tower as I did not know how slippery it would get with the
steps being wet. Durie tower is one that was for the Durie Hill residents who
wanted their own memorial. I ended up walking down the steps and being careful
as I did not want to slip in case the rain made them that way. I made it down
to the bottom alright without a problem even though it was still raining.
I wandered back to the information centre to have a
coffee and wondered where I could go next. I headed towards the tram centre to
find they were really closed for the foreseeable future as there was a flood in
2015 that damaged their equipment. I just thought their website had not been updated
so found it was true. I ended up having a look in the river boat museum to get
out of the rain as it seemed like it was coming down again. The museum was
interesting though I could have gone on the boat ride later tonight at 5pm, but
it had drinks on board. It was the MV Wairua that goes out of tours. There did
seem to be plenty of work on the water before roads came to be and they
mentioned the Bridge to Nowhere as a soldiers settlement and people walking
away when things failed. Pipriki did once have two redoubts and a Pa nearby so
that could be something interesting to look at again. Inside they did have the
MV Ongarue that is just a display now. They only need a donation to enter
though I did give them some money and I was thanked for doing so. I think there
was a lot o activity that was not shown that went on in the water though there
was mention of the Waka in the area, although very few exist anymore in the
region. There had been plenty of books written about life on the water and they
did show examples.
I wanted to find some plaques that I had not seen
before as Queen’s park with the museum, Library and Sarjeant gallery are all
located. I had found the plaque as I had only seen the war memorial before. The
park had once been the Rutland Stockade during the early 1800s with soldiers
and nearby in the Cook’s Gardens was another one called the York Stockade all
defensive positions. Rutland had also been a prison at one stage. They did find
evidence that had been buried of the stockade. The weather had actually cleared
up by this time though I was ready to head back to the hostel after I wandered
over the Cook’s Gardens. The gardens were named after Captain James Cook and
not a cook of some sort. I did have a good wander around.
I went back to the hostel where I spent the rest of the
afternoon having a rest and sorting out my gear for tomorrow when I head to
Wellington. I am enjoying the book Unearthly Landscapes, which is about cemeteries
in New Zealand. It kept me indoors for a little while and I was happy to be
there to read something interesting. I hope the weather is not too bad on my
walk to the bus, but at least I know where I am going, which is good. The last
part of my journey will begin from there.
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