Not to waitianka, but to Wanganui

From Napier, I continued on to Palmerston North, changed trains, and then went to Wanganui. I actually thought that I was by the sea, but I am by the river, oh well... on the 29th of December, I will continue on to Wellington and then straight to Picton, the first stop on the South Island...

In Wanganui, I arrived in the evening at 8:00 pm, my hostel is a bit outside the city, but that's always the case the first time... as soon as I walked around the city a bit, the distances don't seem so far anymore...👏

So, once I arrived, I had to crawl into the top bunk for the night, but it was just manageable... the worst part is not climbing up, but rather the thought of having to go to the toilet at night 😩, but everything's fine... the next day, I had the bottom bed 👏

At first, she didn't want to give me the bottom bed because she had already made it, even though I offered to do it myself... 😁But after an hour, she came and said... because it's Christmas, I could do it...👏👍so now I have the bottom bed...

Okay, in the evening I went to the 'city', I found a restaurant... la Quattro... Mexican... okay... I ordered a salad, but honestly, I've only eaten out three times so far... and the only place that tasted good to me was in Pahia...

I prefer to cook my own meals... when I'm in one place for a few days, it's also easier, I have to carry everything with me...

Well, the next day, I went into town to make some bookings... and to ask what there is to do, but here too, it's the holidays... on top of that, it rained almost all day yesterday and it was quite chilly, but in the morning, I was still able to do my tour to During Hill... it's a tower from which you have a complete view over Wanganui...

You can either walk up the stairs or go through a tunnel to an elevator, go up... and then walk up the remaining 176 steps in the tower, of course I did that... and then I walked down all the steps, going down is easier than going up 😁👏... and after that, it was time to go shopping again... and visit the town... and cook... that's enough...

I booked for Monday and Wednesday... on Monday, I'm taking a tour with a paddle steamer up the wanganui River... and on Wednesday, I'm riding along with the postman, then I change to a jet boat and go to the Bridge to Nowhere... then back to the postman with the jet boat...

This morning, it rained at first, but now everything's good again, I did a bike tour to the beach, went to the Farmers Market, did some shopping... and did my laundry...👏👍and now it's break time until the day after tomorrow... and the sun is shining 👏👍😁

So, I find it quite difficult to sit around here and do nothing... but today I will do just that....

Oh yeah... and my train journey... transalpine... is booked... and everything else until January 6th 👏👏👏👏😁....

So, I wish you all a Merry Christmas... I have a sunny one 😁👍👏