It\u2019s hot.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m 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\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
After that we went back to the house to lock up, and took the hour long drive to Taumarunui. I don\u2019t remember ever spending any time here, but it\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
We checked in to our motel, and then walked up and down the main street, looking for information on good local walks (\u201cwalk beside the river, but don\u2019t go too far\u201d), 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.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got no photos unfortunately and it\u2019s time I woke Samantha up, so I\u2019ll post this now.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s hot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3hu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10426,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/17\/paris-aug-17\/","url_meta":{"origin":12616,"position":0},"title":"Paris Aug 17","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My first 24 hours in France have been pretty successful. I had a reasonably good night\u2019s sleep considering jet lag and residual COVID symptoms including a persistent sore throat. This latter is annoying but less apparent to others than some more flamboyant symptoms such as coughing, sneezing or sniffing. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_8666-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3859,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/12\/23\/cruising-the-end-of-the-affair\/","url_meta":{"origin":12616,"position":1},"title":"Cruising – the end of the affair","author":"Interloper11","date":"December 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Day 7 continued We blobbed out for the rest of the afternoon. It\u2019s true, we briefly flirted with the idea of physical activity, as it was so hot and we hadn\u2019t tried the swimming pools or hydro slide at all, but when we eventually got up to deck 12 in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/04\/in-which-we-visit-highgate-cemetary\/","url_meta":{"origin":12616,"position":2},"title":"In which we visit Highgate Cemetary","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Jesus was more in touch with his feminine side in the old days. A bunch of drunken Russians were singing loud songs in support of the workers in front of the tomb of Karl Marx. Surreal. Better for whom?? Let the conspiracy theories begin! Yes, some lady died, blah blah\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E7A9D0DD-DC47-4B08-B63C-73E24B437121-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5204,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/28\/scented\/","url_meta":{"origin":12616,"position":3},"title":"Scented","author":"Interloper11","date":"July 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The cemetery smells delicious at the moment, due to all the daphne that flowers in winter. The daffodils are also flourishing. Beats me why there aren\u2019t more visitors.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/86D7EC50-4CD2-4579-8EF6-8A2452694674-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10233,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/16\/what-the\/","url_meta":{"origin":12616,"position":4},"title":"What the\u2026","author":"Interloper11","date":"June 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing these on my rather damp morning constitutional with the hell hounds through the neighbourhood cemetery, I was reminded of that old music hall standard \u201cWhy do all my girlfriends spontaneously combust?\u201d","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/IMG_8169-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3841,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/12\/19\/day-5-cruising\/","url_meta":{"origin":12616,"position":5},"title":"Day 5 cruising","author":"Interloper11","date":"December 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Lovely night\u2019s sleep, woke up in Port Chalmers. Allowed to walk off the ship and through the port into town here, which makes life much easier. We decided just to explore locally rather than take a bus into Dunedin, as the girls have been at Uni there all year. 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