..of a traveller..

Today is Thursday, 18 Feb and I got up in Napier, leaving at 9 am on the Naked Bus* to Wellington New Zealand and breakfasted in Hastings down the road half an hour.

I am able to use my bargain Naked Passport bus ticket (30 trips between towns for just $246 or £123!) to get around and do even quick journeys on main routes like today. Having stayed in Napier two nights after all, even though the Art Deco week festival means accommodation is booked out already in Hastings too; I usually only book 1-2 days ahead, I am leaning here I have to be more organised ahead of time. Its easier to just decide to go or stay, but this is the first time Ive had to do this so it’s new to me!

So Ive wandered the centre of town, not much here as I gathered frim the bus drivers smirk and comment to ‘enjoy hastings then’…I said I was only here the morning before moving on to Palmerston N on the 3.35 bus to Wellington. We just pick it up as it goes through, collecting passengers here and there at arranged stops so you have to know the full route really. This one is not all the main highway from Napier, but crosses over to the Western highway half way leading into Wellington’s main route via Levin too on the west coast. I might end up there in Airbnb rather than a hostel, if I can sort it but I need wifi access for that to send request, then receive confirmation or otherwise, when I have to try again!

I ate egg on toast for breakfast in a cafe, got myself a bottle or orange and ice lolly to wander the shops with, and found two great bargain tops to increase and vary my wardrobe that is looking decidedly limited for tops and even a little tired being worn and washed so often!

My hair was looking wild this last week so having time here, I popped into a hairdressers for a dry trim. Looks ok but not as goos as I hoped, but thats the chance you take – something my daughter commented on before I left England, ‘what if they make a mess?’ Well, it grows out, no-one knows me and I don’t need to impress here, and it looks at least tidier than it was probably. It feels lighter a d easier to manage and no frizz again which is the best bit! We chatted about travel, surprisingly (!) and I was encouraging to think positively about his wish to visit England and Europe, amongst others; from Fiji he is here in N Z so already moving around in the world.

This is Charlie’s in Napier where I ate –  at the only Art Deco restored restaurant in the town, all black and chrome, wooden and decorated (the building above is the outside f it) with staff dressed the part too

I am sitting in a mini park in the town centre, not far from locker and bus stop, just relaxing, reading, playing games on my iPad (Im obsessed with Solitaire and Scrabble) and chatting to an olde lady sat next to me who is visiting her daughter in hospital after a serious accident. You never know who you meet or why, and hope that you make even a small impact on their life as they do on yours…

Im not hungry again, so will eat. next at dinner and have decided maybe I eat too much when I am not really hungry; I am generally back to two meals a day as in Asia, as in Australia I’ve been eating lots and three meals, drinking more than ever there too! Just breakfast and dinner or lunch and dinner, depending on where I am and convenience and how hungry I am. It is also costly to buy meals out but I have only occasionally ‘cooked’ in hostels to date or created meals from bits and pieces Ive bought, like cheese and crackers, fruit, or meat pieces. That’s what I like to do, so will do more in the coming weeks (weather dependent, accommodation facilities, local stocks and stores).

Got the bus to Palmerston as planned, iSite staff sorted out my $10 overdue demand for the locker whenI went to get my bags, and I luckily asked them for change.

The bus was noisy with people chatting and a very noisy Maori child who made noises all the time, with an occasional screech thrown in, and mum didn’t even try to occupy her! This time though no ‘personal’ music to be heard, and hope mine was not too loud so others could hear it, as that too is irritating!

Te Manawa museum of not only Rugby, the national pastime here, but also Maori culture and how the River Manawatu forged the stuning gorge…

So lets see what Palmerston North Has to offer for two nights/days!

This is after all, what travelling is about rather than just being a tourist in hotels and key places…

…so one tjing was the museum, another shopping for travelling bits including a smaller wheeled rucksack for the heavier bits I seem now to have, and a treat to watch the NZ Police band practicing for competing in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Wellington tomorrow, Saturday!