Goodbye Whanganui...just for now....

 We managed to get three groups of friends together...some hadn't seen each other for a while...and others made new friends!....we booked a table for eighteen!!

A wonderful sunset...which of course doesn't come out properly...but you get the idea!

Then this morning a quick look at the Searjeant Gallery on the Quay as one exhibition was being cleared... mostly local work, a brilliant selection.

And some pavement art..

First saying cheerio to our hosts

And on the road to Bulls for fuel...

Then Pirate got the camera in Levin..

Before we hit the new expressway...which in parts has a cycle lane on the hard shoulder!!

And now we are in Waikanae, having a rest before tomorrow's ferry

Upokongaro

 Pirate decided that he would like one last ride on his borrowed bike, so I took the chance to drive to our lunch stop café in Upokongaro..Behind the Door on 4....on State Highway 4...and have a wander around with the camera while waiting for him to come up the Mountains to Sea Path from Whanganui and over the new bridge...and the timing was perfect , we arrived at the café at the same time!

A beautiful Rimu tree

And the village school

With matching postbox

And Kauri trees in the grounds

Pupils' murals on the fence.

The old village stores..now a gin distillery

We have never seen the hotel open in all our years of visiting...but it looks as if it does open sometimes!

And the café..

One car full of ladies...Nain means grandmother in Welsh!

And there he is!

Lifesize models of the now extinct Moa..the equivalent of the Rea or Ostrich

And off he went back over the bridge

Gifts

 

Ten years ago, when we first met Jenni at her pottery in Matangi, I made four bowls...

Three she has fired then glazed.

One I left with her to go in a Raku firing....so  I need to return!!

The little jar is now with our friends and hosts here in the Stayplace in Whanganui.

The brown bowl with longstanding friends..a friendship made in 2018...and the little berry bowl colander with cycling friends who have been giving us heaps of garden produce and preserves to share...

Good to see a bowl in use! We met their granddaughter too.

We have an outing to Fielding velodrome this morning, for Pirate to have a ride around before this afternoon's local carnival (race meeting)...weather permitting....

It will be good to see a few people to say goodbye...but just for now!

Whanganui wanderings

 Back in Whanganui...busy getting the washing done..and dried....not an easy job as it has been humid even when it wasn't raining! 

It's good to be back here, fitting in with all our friends.

We had a short walk up Victoria Avenue and around today.

The old post office now...a good café.....and then.....

I started using those pavement patterns for patchwork, on our last visit three years ago....I must finish them when I get back to Scotland!!

Victoria Avenue street furniture..imported from Scotland, made in Kilmarnock in the mid 1800s...

This Bedford bus is from about 1949 to 1954..

And camper vans old and new!!...the Toyota about twenty years younger....what a difference!!

We have booked an overnight two thirds of the way down to the ferry...and so far our booking is ok...at present only one ship is working and there should be six between the two companies.....but there is hope of more coming back into service.

It feels most odd that we only have just over two more weeks here. It feels wrong to leave....but we don't have a choice.

Watch this space as they say!

This weekend Hawkes Bay, Coromandel and Auckland are due to get more Weather.....as if they hadn't suffered enough already.