A week in Wanganui

Well, our week in Wanganui is finally coming to a close. We arrived here on Sunday night and are taking a bus to Wellington in a few hours. I must admit that my journalling has come to a bit of a halt since we've been here because we've really just been in a holding pattern. My days tended to be filled with long sleeps, book reading, wandering around the small one street downtown (though it does far surpass the size of Williamstown's downtown) and hanging out at the hostel. In that time I have managed to do a few productive things - the most productive of which was probably getting a New Zealand phone. Now I'll be able to get in touch with Ben, trail shuttles, the states and other friends.

The phone is particularly useful because I am about to be without Big Ben for the next month. The whole reason for stopping in Wanganui was so that he could get his broken wrist looked at and it turns out he's going to need surgery on it :/ That surgery will keep him off the trail for 3 weeks and happens a week from now. I'll be sad to be without him, but it will also be good to do some solo hiking and figure this trail out for myself. I might, however, not even really be solo...

Within an hour of finding out that Ben would be off the trail for a while, we ran into some American friends he had made way up in the Northland. I got their contact info and am planning on joining up with them when the get to Wellington.

My plan for now though, is to head to Wellington today with Ben, go to the Jim Beam Homegrown music festival tomorrow, and then hike and hitch back up to Wanaganui to meet Ben for his surgery on Thursday. That's enough about future plans for now.

Over this past week, Ben and I have been hanging out with two girls that work at the hostel right now: Venus, a girl from Florida, and Esther, a girl from Germany. It's actually been really nice to stay in one place for a while and make some new friends. Yesterday, the four of us went to Castlecliff beach at the base of the Whanganui River. It was an awesome black sand beach with some awesome dunes.

Unfortunately, that's really the only adventure we've had. The rest of the time has been some pretty carefree relaxing. It's liberating to be able to take a whole day to do nothing and really not be worried
at all about what I could or should be doing. In the last few years, I've certainly felt the current of the rat race trying to drag me along with it and me struggling, seemingly in vain, against it. I think when I get back I will be happy to jump back into the "real world" and travel downstream on a more traditional path, but for now, these carefree days are exactly what I need.

Parents, I'll post a selfie in the next blog. Here a couple pictures I like.

Until next time,
G