It’s hot.
I’m lying in bed trying to have a late afternoon nap. The fans in all the rooms should have made me suspicious when we checked in. The one in my bedroom is on but only serving to blow the hot air aggressively around the room. I’ll give up soon and then we plan on a walk beside the allegedly flooded river before trying to find somewhere to eat. From what I saw of the town earlier, MacDonalds may be our best bet.
I woke up early this morning to get the Ohakune house cleaned up before we left. We went to visit my in laws at the local cemetery while the laundry was on. The cemetery is in a beautiful spot a short drive out of town. It is on a small rise amongst farmland and native bush, with a small lake in the valley below. There is a panoramic view across to the snow topped mountains, which you can contemplate whilst sitting on a bench dedicated to Jim (or maybe Bill, I didn’t look closely). It is far nicer than the huge characterless cemetery out towards Makara where a friend of our daughters was buried a decade ago. I wonder if Simon is onto a good thing when he mentioned wanting to be buried here? Although, he has also said he is going to live forever, and I have no reason to disbelieve him. Plus, surely I need to be somewhere near the sea? Here is a conversation that needs to be had, clearly, that we may never get around to. Samantha caught her grandparents up on all the family news since she last saw them and there was much to say.
After that we went back to the house to lock up, and took the hour long drive to Taumarunui. I don’t remember ever spending any time here, but it’s where we would have started our canoe trip of the Whanganui river. I think I stopped off here briefly as a school kid on my way to or from our school camps which were somewhere down here on the volcanic plateau. Not skiing, I hasten to add. It wasn’t that type of school. I seem to remember lots of tramps, and one memorable trip to a hot pool. The bus driver played hits from the sixties which were new to me and I loved them. It would be like a school kid listening to music from the early 2000s now.
We checked in to our motel, and then walked up and down the main street, looking for information on good local walks (“walk beside the river, but don’t go too far”), and somewhere to have lunch. It was starting to get hot by then, so we dawdled our way back, dropping into an art gallery and a second hand shop, doing our bit to support local artists. By then what few food places there were had shut so we bought some short dated sandwich supplies at the supermarket and ate at the motel.
I’ve got no photos unfortunately and it’s time I woke Samantha up, so I’ll post this now.