New Zealand 2022: Day 5 Shopping in Whangarei

By the numbers

8,770 steps

6.52 km

 

The day started off wet and windy. It had been predicted and it was something I knew would be happening. There was something I needed to do before going anywhere else as I needed some more clothes especially another pair of shorts, so then I wouldn’t need to wash my clothes over the next few days. I don’t pack that much in the way of clothing and every couple of days I do the washing. This trip my bag isn’t moving very far from home and is just sitting around.

 

Mum had to go out and visit a friend in Whangarei and the plan was to have a look around and do the shopping. The first place I actually found was the bookshops, where I ended up with some magazines and a book about back roads on the North Island, I guess that would be helpful. Not a clothing shop though. I ended up at Farmers and that is the New Zealand version of Myers or David Jones. Not exactly heap and I did find a pair of shorts I liked in the red spot specials for 50% off, the best price. I took a wander around a little bit of Whangarei wondering what to do as it was trying to rain on me. As I was crossing the road to the Town Basin, I got a message that I could be picked up.

Once I was picked up, we went to somewhere that was a little more reasonable at Kmart and the Warehouse both were more than affordable for clothing that I needed. It was great actually as I had a new jumper and more shorts so I didn’t need to worry about anything at all. We did drive back to the house where we had a little rest, and headed out to Maunu Cemetery in Whangarei. The cemetery is where my great grandparents are buried and where my grandmother is going to be resting since we have the celebration of her life over the weekend. That is pretty much the reason why we are in New Zealand now. The workers at the cemetery had included the plaque to the headstone and also cleaned up the stone too so we could read the writing.

 

After our wet visit to the cemetery as we didn’t stick around for too long due to the rain, we headed into Kamo heading for the bowls club, while mum showed me some of the places she had lived as a kid and when she was married. The houses were still pretty much there still and not really any changes that had been made to the houses. School was being let out and we arrived in Kamo with school kids walking in the rain. There was at one stage traffic lining up in front of the bowls club and a taxi did let us in. When we left no traffic. The bowls club is going to be where the function is taking place after the cemetery and there were several people at the bar drinking, although they were just the regulars and they all knew Claude, which reminded me of Cheers. I learn the undertaker who worked at the Kauri cemetery had passed away recently and was why their flag was at half mast. It was nice to have a drink and chat with one of the locals who was a club member. We were told about what was happening on the Saturday as to the bar procedures. They tally up the drinks at the time and then sort everything out afterwards, all recorded for prosperity. I spotted books and was told no books on the weekend. I think the get together on the weekend will be pretty interesting and be good to meet other family member that I havnt met before or even spoken to.

 

We don’t know what will happen over the next few days until the weekend as the weather isn’t meant to be that good until at least Saturday. We could end up at museums, but all depends on how bad that weather actually becomes. It is that time of year I guess so is a lucky dip as to what we get.