Well, what a busy day!

We started off the day with a Skype call with Louise’s Mum and Dad, Uncles Doug and Dave, Aunties Pauline and Barbara and family friends Jack and Shirley. After saying “Hello” and giving them an update of how we were getting on, Louise gave them all a tour around the house and garden. Alex, the landlord, was out in his garage and Louise introduced him to everyone. It was lovely to see everyone, and it was also good to hear that Margaret’s meal and evening was going well too! There had been a deep low weather trough passing up through the islands over the last 24 hours (a “little bit of rain” and winds gusting up to 140kph – about 80mph!), luckily it had just about cleared up by the time of the conversation and there was sunshine all round!

Now that my chest is just about all-healed-up, we had started looking for a motorbike. I’d seen a few online and we thought we’d go to do some window shopping………it has to be window shopping today, as New Zealand don’t just have a Bank Holiday for New Year’s Day, they also have one for the Day After New Year’s Day. That has just got to be something instigated by the early Scots settlers – not that I’m complaining!!

We stopped off on the way through Paraparam to take some pictures of the New Zealand Christmas tree (pohutukawa) to show you. They look gorgeous at this time of year:

We had decided to go up the coast to Levin (one motorcycle shop), over to Wanganui (two motorcycle shops) and then back home via Palmerston North (four motorcycle shops).

We headed up the coast chasing the weather that had left us early this morning. Passing up through Levin, we stopped to have a look for motorcycles – very disappointing collection – and stopping off at a cafe we’d visited on our first visit to NZ for coffee latte and crepes. This time we both had a dessert crepe – mine was strawberries, cream and ice cream with a white chocolate sauce, and Louise had banana, cream, ice cream and marshmallows with a white chocolate sauce. GORGEOUS!! And only $7 (about £3.20) each, although that didn’t include the bowl of latte………

We journeyed on via Bulls, which is a strange town who have taken their town name to heart. You see signs advertising Rent-a-Bull properties, Afford-a-Bull clothing, and schools promising to be Knowledge-a-Bull and Educate-a-Bull. To see more, feel free to visit their Bulls website, strange and unforgett-a-Bull…… In a word, Unbeliev-a-Bull……!

We arrived in Wanganui about 2 1/2 hours after setting out. Lovely looking place, once you get past the industrial site! There’s an oldy-worldly Steamboat running trips up the Whangaui river – unfortunately, the lunchtime trip left about 20 mins before we got there, so better luck next time. The picture below was one I pinched off the Internet, as we didn’t stop in town long enough to take a photo. Although we did manage to find the bike shops!!

One thing we did notice about the Wanganui township, more than any other town we’ve visited, on the way through was the plethora (good word, and I didn’t even have to look it up!) of family/wife hostels and signs indicating that family violence was NOT a good thing. Louise did start having a rant about my treatment of her (with a smile on her face I add quickly) until I pointed out that the odd smack on the backside which resulted in a laughing fit on both sides is not really tantamount to a regular beating!

After leaving town we headed to the coastal “resort” of Castlecliff – advertising itself as some sort of Surfers Paradise. If you think of a cross between Splott (Cardiff), Hele village (Torquay) and London dockside – all before any tidying up and fresh building took place – add windswept dunes, disused and broken piersides and a river mouth open to the tides (with what looked a completely deathly undertow) and you’ll have some idea of what we thought about the “Surfer’s paradise!!

We did park up here for a short while, having caught up with the windy conditions of the morning. I had to take off my sunglasses and tie everything else into place to go for a little walk – more like a slog at a 60 degree angle so that Louise could take a picture from the car. She very sensibly decided to stay with the car, even though it was rocking about quite haphazardly!

We didn’t stay too long after that. I’m fairly sure my hair was twice as thick as it was before I got out of the car and I badly needed a shower to remove the salt and sea foam from everywhere else! Though we did see a pair of complete and utter idiots with a death wish, sorry body boarders, park up, get changed into wetsuits and head across the beach to die, sorry surf!

We headed back over to Palmerston North, a place we had previously skirted a number of times, but which actually turned out to be quite a lovely place to shop, providing you weren’t too bothered about finding your way out again! The bike shops here were pretty good, although lots of chrome everywhere from the glinting Harley Davidsons which seem to almost outnumber the citizens!

We stopped at the local Four Square (a bit like the local Spar shop) in Raumati Beach to pick up some tuna and rabbit food for some very healthy sandwiches for when we got home. This healthy eating was going really well until we added crisps and a little bit of chocolate for a follow-up!

I had a pretty late night today as well, logging in to a company back in the UK to do some troubleshooting during the UK daytime hours. Didn’t finish it, but need to do a little bit of homework and planning before getting back in touch………….

Finally got to bed about 5.50am NZ time. As I said at the beginning, a VERY busy day!