Day 7, Wanganui river road and Wanganui snoop

Day 7 Wanganui river road mail run

The day started early with myself getting up around 630am. I am still getting used to the early starts and NZ being two hours ahead of Australia. I think I am getting used to it though and I did have food to eat for breaky. I had bought muesli bars the day before from Countdown and a pork pie for lunch. The van arrived at the time he told me to wait for him. The tour is actually done by the local postie whose job is to deliver the mail to the small communities out on the River Road to Piprki as the whole area is very isolated and there is only one road on one side of the river. A sign lets you know if the road is open at certain parts. The postie delivers to some unique mail boxes. Several are old fridges and there was one microwave that was a box. He does not even have to leave the vehicle in some places at all, just lean out the window. People get him to do stuff for him like will call him to deliver cigarettes or even some fuel. They are pretty trusting and you would not want to get on their bad side. They do pay for the stuff too. NZ is looking at totally banning cigarettes by around 2025.

The original road for this area was actually the river as the Wanganui river was used to bring supplies to the towns that did not have a road. The road did not appear until around the 1930’s and this bought about the decline of the river traffic for trade. Many of the homes are accessible by road, but the ones, which are not have a cable car to reach them from the other side of the river. One along the road is actually a resort owned by the mayor of Wanganui. Her husband manages it while she has a town house to work out of during the week. There is only one school along the road and this only services the primary school and the secondary schoolies are actually sent to boarding schools. Many of the people n the area are related and have the same names so it might be hard if you do not know the area to who lives where. In New Zealand the farms have a unique numbering system. The numbers for example 1968 is actually 19kms point 68 from the nearest town. I can be wrong if it is the biggest town like Wanganui or one of the other towns.

I was actually the only one on the trip for that day and it was explained that it is usually quiet at this time of year. This was the reason I was not able to go on the jet boat to the bridge to nowhere. He wasn’t going to wait for one person. It is understandable and I was not very worried at all. I did have the front seat and I was shown some unique sites like the Flour Mill which is a historic site that has been rebuilt. This was one of four in the area and was reconstructed during the 1980s. Along the road there are fossils of the ocean floor with oyster beds poking out of the rock wall just above the road. Amazing to look at and interesting that something like this is actually there. Another is the original river bed, which was diverted when several hundreds of years ago a volcano erupted and changed the river flow to its present path. Closeby is actually a building with the year 1980 written on the side and these were flood levels of that year. The river can rise rapidly with rain from any part.

The townships are pretty unique as many were missionaries located along the river. The names of the towns have English and Maori names. I think this is another way to recognise them. There are the towns of Athens, London and even Jerusalem. I can say I have been there for lunch now as I had morning tea of muffins and coffee in Jerusalem. This place is where the Sisters of Compassion live and no they do not wear habits. I have already asked one of them. One of the buildings they are doing up for backpackers and others who are traveling in the area. Everyone needs a little bit of cash to do up their buildings and maybe modernise. They do have a church on the grounds too and it did look really nice once I walked in and had a look. I did notice two birds fighting on the roof of the church. They slid all the way down and landed on the ground while still fighting. I thought they were hurt until they both got up and flew off. The town of Pipriki was not as big as I thought it would be and was the last leg of the run for the postie. This was where the jet boat tour for the bridge to nowhere started. At this moment in time it was very quiet as everyone was waiting for summer to come out and enjoy the sun. There is also a ranger station out there too that will keep an eye on everyone. I did not see any hostel type places other than camping grounds being offered. There are several farms that are actually corporations owned by the maori and they run cattle and sheep amongst other things they do on the stations.

We stopped at one of the local Marae with a Tui bird pained on it. The postie was told that he was not allowed to being his dog out as his wife sometimes did the tour. This was our lunch stop and on the way back to town. The Marea had its own Anglican church as well and I took some pictures of the area and put some coins in as a donation to thank them. When asked if he did the weekends other than the week days when he went out on his run, it was explained to me that he would only take a minimum of 3 people to make it worth his while. This would pay for the fuel. There is talk of making the rural posties only work 3 days a week instead of 5 as there are not many letters being posted anymore, but there is an increase in parcels being ordered over the internet. Something that is pretty new to the area is a cycle track that has opened in the last few years. Part of the road has signs to say that there are bikes around. It is not very popular yet, but they are hoping that it would be. Employment in Wanganui is not that good for the young people as there is not much for them to do. There are people who go work in the mines and fly back to the NZ on their time off. Could work and could be a little crazy too.

What was left of the afternoon was spent with my realisation that the Hobbit coins had been released and I wanted to buy some and to find out how much they actually cost. Regardless I was going to price them and I knew they would be there at a post office. I wandered to where I knew a post office would be and did find a little booklet with the price of the coins and also Hobbit stamps. I wanted them also and bought them. I asked the post lady where I could get some she directed me towards the post collectable store that looked like a huge mail sorting centre. I wandered towards that place across the road from the police station. Before I crossed the road, I was distracted by a sign above a door to a building. Seems there is a bag piping group association in the town, nice to know I hope. I went into the post collectables shop and they told me the coins would be another two weeks away and she doesn’t know about them. I said thanks and wandered to a nearby park, thinking I should call the lady out on the Bullshit. Why do i know it is crap? I read the newspaper article that the coins would be out on the 1^st of November. I will ask in Wellington and grill Weta too, the mystery is yet to be solved.

The rest of the time I spent wandering and wandered around a park that housed the local archives, museum and art gallery. I cant remember the name at the moment. I was divided about walking into the library and archive centre thinking they would be closed. I did a lap, where I did go back and observe the sign that said the building was not earthquake compliant. I was lucky they were open as I had 15 mins left before it closed. I asked about the person I was after and I jackpotted. They had a brief outline on William Hogg Watt’s life and the location of the headstone. The headstone was a later addition and he died bankrupt through the depression around the 1890s. He had several children and I am going back tomorrow for more research. The museum is said to have quite a bit of info too. This place requires my undivided attention for further research and maybe an article or two. Wanganui is the sister town to Toowoomba, not that I said bad things about the town. I was really nice and said it was nearby, several hours away in fact. The same area had another WW1 monument and I noticed something, the Dury Hill Monument seemed like they both lined up or were nearly in line with a clear view of both. 

After my find, the Velodrome and the observatory were my next stop. I found another boar war memorial in the park and it was called Cook gardens. The area had a running track and very good acoustics as I could hear the bloke yelling at the people training very clearly. You are not allowed to smoke, have dogs, soft drinks etc at this park. I was wondering what the tower was at the top of the hill and found this was the original fire bell. There were four of them and had been placed when the town had first been settled. On one side of the park was an opera house and on the other end were the council buildings / chambers. I might go there and explain myself if I have time. Across the road was a church that had a monument I had read about earlier about the associate of William Watt. The child of Taylor had died after being dropped and downed. I will read more on this later. I was hungry so jumped into the local Irish pub that I soon found had an early photo of William Hogg Watt monument / memorial fountain. I thought it was neat and then back home where I had a load of washing and I was jokingly called a cheapskate for only doing a cold wash with detergent. I was asked about my bag and I said no it shrunk the last time I washed it.

Tip

The best way of exploring a town is just to wander and see what you find. Sometimes you will find something that may not be on the map. Make sure you know your way back to where you are staying too or else you would be lost. Night can be very different and turn you around.

Highlight

Having the lady in the library and archive centre tell me that the borrowing library was next door. I don’t know if I was to be insulted or not, but maybe it was what I was wearing. I soon set the lady straight by explaining what I was after and sat to read the info. Looks can be deceiving and people should stop doing that with me. Happen too often.

Day 6 bus trip to Wanganui

Day 6 To Wanganui

After doing some research into the Settlers museum in Dundin as I was looking for a notable Scottish highlander. The museum is actually being rebuilt and will be reopened in December. Not what I was expecting, but at least I know now and will actually look into jumping into the cemetery near the botanic gardens. I also found some long historic walks though the town. I think I will do that. This doesn’t stop my travels at all as there is always something to do. I did get back to my room and found a whole different group who were in the room. It seems they were travelling the area and were trekking around to some of the places like some of the local walking trails. Not bad really.

The trip to Wanganui by bus was not too bad at all and was a nice trip and it even rained half way through. This was on the desert highway after we had passed Mt Rhuapau. The mountain was covered in cloud and had snow as well. I did spy the army museum too as we went past. I think there are many places that I will eventually end up on other trips. I did get headbutted by a goat at one of the stops, but he hit my hand and I did hear a crack in my fingers, but I was alright.

Getting to Wanganui was interesting. It was a nice walk to the hostel from the bus stop and took around 20 mins. I could see the Dury hill monument and even passed the William Hogg Watt monument in Victoria street / Ridgeway street. This was something I was going to look for later, but found it by accident and will be noted as something to take a pic of later. The hostel is across the road from the river and in the morning going to be picked up out front and go on the mail tour visiting the small towns including Pipriki where the jetboats leave for the bridge to nowhere. The bridge was originall a soldier settlement after the first world war, but failed due to the high cost of bringing the goods back to the towns as there are no roads.

After finding the hostel and given a partial tour by the lady who said the owner would be back soon. I thought it would be a good idea to charge my computer, Phone and the battery for my camera before going anywhere. I was waiting for the bloke to come back and then decided I wanted to go out before it became too late. The first place I headed was up river and I found some strange artwork. One lot was actually pencils and I am going to have to ask someone to take my pic with them. I wasn’t sure if I should return to the hostel and wait, but the one thing took my mind away. I was looking at Drury Hill Monument that was dedicated to WW1. I walked to the city bridge where I found an info centre where I found was shut and no information where the tunnel was. I crossed the bridge and found the signage to the stairs and the elevator. I looked at the stairs up and then the elevator was the best idea. No way in hell was I going to do that. The tunnel was a long one and looking at the time, I realised I had at least 15 mins before they closed and I would have to use the dreaded stairs from hell. It cost me $2, but i was surprised there was actually a person with me. The elevator shook and shuddered all the way up. The view of Wanganui was spectacular and cold too. The monument itself could be climbed around a 100 or so steps and I thought no I have other things to do.

The walk down the stairs told me I would not have had the stamina to make my way up as they were steep. I liked the elevator as it was two different ways up the hill. The second stop was to head to the cemetery to find the one family I was looking for. It was a 20 min walk and I had two parts of the cemetery to choose from. I chose the part that did not have a fence. I was looking for William Hogg Watt and had no idea where he was located. I skimmed the fenceless cemetery with the headstones. There was not anyone I wanted there. It was not wha you call easy and I did not know what denomination they were from, although I do remember that the Wanganui council had the lords prayer as part of their opening, so could be Catholic? I was wondering how to get to the other cemetery and vowed to jump the fence if I did not find a gate. I found the gate and went to the hill as I thought the top dogs in the city would be there. He was not, but some others were. This meant I might have to skim a whole cemetery in at least an hour or so before dark. It took only 10 mins, but I found the grave and I think the headstone had been replaced. I was happy to find it and took my pics and had the thought to see who had made the headstone. I couldnt see that far back, but at least the inscription told me where he and his wife were originally from.

The walk back to the hostel was long and I was a little lost until I realised I was one street way from where I was meant to be. The William Hogg Watt Monument was something I was after next. I took pick of it and walked all the way around it to take pics of the inscription although I did not want to get hit by cars as it was in the middle of an intersection. My problem is if I see something that catches my eye I will wander off and have a look at what it is. I found the museum and I don’t know what the thing on top of the hill was other than the stairs caught my attention. Once back at the hostel the owner once told of my find gave me some more information. He told me to see a lady at the council office who would take me on a tour and show me the stained glass window explaining the history of the area. I am interested and will go and look. I did go get dinner, which was fish and chips and two pork buns. I did have my hobbit beer finally. I was nice and needed.

Books

I had finished reading Dune and now onto reading 1788 about the first fleet and the troubles they had. I find it interesting that Joseph Banks may have tattoos.

Tip

Know where you are wanting to go in cemetery as you might save time in your search. A whole cemetery would burn your mind.

Rotorua Day 5, New Zealand

Day 5 Rotorua

Today is the extra day that I was planning to visiting an uncle and aunt. It was a little chilly to start off with this morning although I was woken early by the hustel and bustle of the people in my room who are a family, but making loads of noise and thinking opening curtains were what they do best. Luckily I was meant to get up to go find food and I think I was that person you should ignore unless you want something like the power points.

The day before I had ordered a taxi to pick me up and drop me off at my uncle and aunts place. I had done this online and hoped they would. For some unknown reason they never picked me up as I was waiting earlier and until around 20 past the hour that they were supposed to pick me up. I went into the hostel to order the taxi, which did come. The amusing part is this is the exact same mob I had tried to order online 4 years ago when I was in Christchurch after catching the trans alpine line from Greymouth. They never got my order at all and I was lucky there were taxis then. They were the blue line taxi company. Seems they have not lifted their game, not impressive as they are a service that is depended upon.  The taxi driver was not that bad and we talked about what I was doing and that I studied history and he was happy that I was going and meeting my uncle and aunt at their place in the retirement village. He did want me to call him when I was finished, I told him I would.

Meeting with Eve and Phil went really well. They were happy to see me after so many years. I filled them in what was happening. I found they had not received my letter that I had posted around 3 weeks before. They were happy when I told them about getting into contact with Nigel my natural father. They had not actually been told that he was in contact again after so many years apart. We spoke about what were were all doing and I filled them in on what I could with my sisters wedding. We spoke about or research into the family tree and I pulled out what I had on my netbook and showed them how far back that I had actually gotten. The information on several especially the occupations were correct. I think I got a better view of the staiths as they were along the river in Newcastle in the UK. I did find out about some family members including one who seemed to be in Christchurch who was into Quantum physics and the Hadron Collider. I did have lunch and was given a lift back to town as it was raining and I was planning on the walk back. Still nice to be dropped off and back to my hostel and I will see them again next time I visit the town of Rotorua.

It only rained for around an hour or so before it stopped and the sun came out. That was when I decided I would take a wander and see what I could find before it became dark or I was after something to eat. The Rotorua Hospital was something I walked around on the outside, not the inside. I had been told this place had been built on a volcano that might or might not erupt in the next 20 or so years. I do not know how true this actually is, but I don’t want to be here if something like that wakes up. I think I found some Maori dwellings near the hospital and the buildings maybe nice to look at, but I was not sure if I was allowed anywhere near what I think is actually a Marae. It was something nice to look at from a distance. Today is my last day in the city of Rotorua and I am off to Wanganui in the morning.

Tip

When looking for accommodation, have a look at how far you are from the bus / train station you were dropped off. Dont want to be walking several Kilometres just to get to somewhere you are staying with a bag on your back or dragging one behind you. Many decent places are close by. If you know the area well then decent places can be found.

Day 4 Another day in Rotora, New Zealand

Day 4 Still in Rotorua

This morning I did sleep in a little bit around 8am as I did not have anywhere to be until around 11am where I was going to take an aqua duck tour from the information centre. The guy in my room found he couldn’t stay in the same room as he had to move since he paid for another night as the room was fully booked. We both discussed how the hostel has been really quiet and near void of people. I told him that I had found a decent bakery where they sell pies. He was surprised that it is kind of an Aussie thing to eat a meat pie, could be a kiwi thing too. Still the pie was my breaky and I was happy.

On my way to the aqua duck, I stopped off at the library cafe to have a coffee to go. The lady behind the counter asked me if I liked visiting Hobbiton as I was wearing the shirt and I told her what it was all about and that the Hobbit movie was coming out soon. She actually never heard of The Hobbit novel and asked if this book had came after Lord of the Rings. I said no it is actually a prequel, plus she didn’t have a clue what the Green Dragon was all about. It never bothered me as I mostly knew what the story was all about and was happy to explain, but being a cafe next to the town library might mean you would have to have some knowledge about books, right? The coffee was excellent so I am not complaining very much at all.

The Aqua duck was at the info centre and at the time I found there was not enough people to run the tour as there was three of us. We were going to reschedule to that afternoon, which was longer. Then two more turned up and the tour for 11am was back on. By the time we left another two people had turned up. They found I was Australian and didn’t let the fact I was born in NZ be held against me at all. The tour took us through the lakes especially around Sulphur Bay and Blue lakes. The driver did tell us that there was a lake hat had been cursed and anyone who swam in there without permission actually met death. It was pretty fun driving on the water of the local lakes especially when you find out how much some of the luxuary houses were for rent. One was around $10,000 a week I think it was and comes with butler, chef etc. He did tell the story about the pink and white terraces being destroyed and how long it had taken for the land to regenerate after the explosion from the mountain. Lakes had rose or even dropped and he did say the lakes were actually craters of volcanos. I am not going argue especially one is supposed to erupt within the next 30 years.

The afternoon I thought I would relax over one book and that was to finish reading Dune. I still have not finished yet, but I think a relaxing afternoon before going to dinner and seeing the theatre show called ‘Understanding Women’. I took my ipod with me as I knew I would have time to wait before the start as tickets opened at 7pm and show starts at 8pm. The theatre was a small one, but seem to be doing a decent job with what they have. I thought they might be sold out before I got there if I didn’t get there at 7pm. I was wrong, but it became crowded closer to the time. I was happy to sit and watch the three men talk about their lives on stage and how everything revolved around women problems. I thought the show was pretty good though. The night seemed to be another crispy one and got back to the hostel earlier than I had thought. The room is now full with other people and  while I was in there, there was a knock at the door from a lady. I think the girl sleeping in the room was her daughter and I never knew she was there.  Funny and awkward when I opened the door and I was not sure what to do as they obviously did not speak English. Still I did escape and leave my room for a little bit.

Tip

If you want to keep another itinerary in a safe place try to have an online email account so you can correspond with various people including tour operators. Makes life easier if you have forgotten and you need to organise family to send you the email. Make sure family have a copy of what you are doing too as they will be happy to know where you are. A blog does help too.

Day 3 Hobbiton and Rotorua Museum

Day 3 Hobbiton tour

This morning was the start of my Lord of the rings tours with the tour of the Hobbit village, which was the set or the Hobbit movies and that other trilogy Lord of the Rings. The tour guide picked me up at 8.30 in the morning and he was an awesome Maori bloke. There were two other people in the bus at this time. An elderly couple from Canada, who were really nice and had not seen any of the movies. We wont hold that against them at all. The bus driver told us on the bus that the tour prices had just gone up that day and that they expected large volumes of people to be coming through before the movie started at the end of the year. Today they were going to try something new and it was not until we arrived that we knew what they had planned from today. They were planning on doing tours in smaller groups leaving every 15 mins. We were would this would work, but they had not enough drivers to get them all to the Alexander farm.

 Turns out our driver was very knowledgeable of the area. One of the towns he pointed out had manufactured galvanised steel and that factory had closed down along with several others as it was cheaper to produce in China. The town used the steel to create their information centre which is a sheep and a dog head with the shepherd next to them. He spoke about the logging in NZ as the trees grew really well and they grew one lot and it would take around 10 years or so to get back to them and they would be fully grown. The geothermal activity meant you could tap into it only if you could pay for the free energy. The installation and material cost around $20,000 and only certain places would get the permit to hook up. Film crews were reluctant to film in the town as the sulphur played havoc on their software, which was the same with the traffic lights. One day they could be working fine the next working at random lights. Every 10 years it is necessary to replace the bridges as the ground conditions meant the metal eroded away. In the area where the Hobbiton tours are all the sheep you see are actually all the ones owned by the farm. So if you see white dogs they are sheep.

I knew what I was expecting when I entered the staging ground at Shire’s Rest, where we would be driven to the set location of the Hobbit Village. Last time I was given an apple, coffee and a scon as part of the package. This time no such luck and I was after a coffee and got a hot dog to eat. We were on a time limit waiting for the tour to leave and we were leaving within 2 mins when my dog came. I scoffed it down to the amusement of one of the other guys who had not seen anyone eat a hotdog that fast. Well, I was hungry. The bus was a nice bus called Gandalf. Gandalf took us all the way to the drop off point where our tour guide started the tour. I found the whole location had changed since I was there last. What once was holes in the hills with hobbit holes and white plywood is now fully laid out Hobbit village that had been extended and beautifully crafted. We were no longer able to go through into Bagend as it was now not allowed, although I did ask. There was another set nearby that you could enter and get pics from the open door. The area was well cared for as the labourers were clearing the long grass and doing what all workers do. I had heard stories of one guy who had a storm trooper helmet with him and looked like he was trying to break into Bagend, A 21^st birthday where the party boy never knew where he was going and was dressed as Chewy with the rest as Hobbits. Another one where all the ladies were dressed as Arwen and another guy who read LOTR in front of the party tree and heard nothing as he was listening to his Ipod. I thought about getting a chainsaw and looking crazy, but did see weed wackers that I could have used as my props. This might have gotten me into trouble or a laugh. A new addition that my group was the second lot to walk through was the still been constructed Green Dragon Inn. This included the bridge and the water mill thingy too that actually worked. I have no idea if the inn would be a proper working one or just a set. The tour guide said h would be getting a new script that day. At the end we did find the old signage that was at the entrance to Hobbiton, now lying against the hill area. The location is worth going to see and if you want you can feel the little lambs that are always hungry. Seems there are people out there that can recite word for word parts of the books.

Once we were dropped off at our accommodation, I sorted out my photos onto my computer and then went out looking for where the theatre I wanted to go see the show, Understanding Women. I actually found it after I had stopped for a quick bite. The bad news was it had closed around 40 mins before, so I was late. I was just happy to find it. I did see that fuel was around the $2.00 mark at Pak ‘n pay supermarket. This change of plans meant I wanted to visit something I was wanting to visit and that was the museum. I arrived into the museum with a surprise. I was in time for a guided tour with two others around the museum for an hour. We were in for a treat, especially when the lady took us into the maori section. She did explain the displays really well too. Maori could trace their heritage all the way back to the original group who arrived around 1350AD. Their whole family tree is oral and they teach those who have the memory skills in this area. Their carvings also tell the story too of their villages. The tour guide was not maori and her daughter in law was actually one and the guide actually corrected her on things she made mistakes on, which both find funny. One of the statues on display was actually housed in the Auckland museum basement for many years until all things maori went on a tour with maori guides from various tribes to America. When one was on display an elderly maori man actually recognised it and asked why he (the statue)had travelled there. Seems it was very sacred to Rotorua and is also displayed on the front of the 20c coin. His name eludes me, but I will get his name eventually. There was a Lady called Guide Hongi who was with Mrs Roosevelt and that supposedly surprised people in America at the time. What I did not notice, but the other people had were leaves spread out in the maori rooms. These were sorted out everyday with rituals.

After the guided  tour, I went on my own to tour the museum. The one tour, which i had been told was something that had changed was the movie about the buried village and the terraces being destroyed. What happens was when there was an earthquake the chairs would shake. I thought they shook a little violently this time around. Still it was something I had seen last time I was there. The bath house was about the history convalescence baths that had been setup, but ended up being expensive as pipes reacted with the soil as they were lead. I did have a tour down on the basement area where the pipes were and after 10 mins took off, although I had seen everything as it was getting really warm down there. There was a display about the Tudor Towers, which was a night club during the 1970s / 1980s. Then it turned into the local museum and was slowly being renovated to what it is now. Interesting history though, I was wanting a shower and had to do one load of washing before I ran out of clothes. I might have been able to hold out for one more day I suppose, but I think it needed to be done regardless. I did contact an uncle and aunt and we did agree to meet on Saturday at their place in the morning. I will have to find a way to get out there and it wont be too much trouble.

Tip

Always claim your bed in the hostel by making it or putting something on it. You may end up being bedless and stuck on the top bunk.