Bus Trips
Yesterday was our 39th wedding anniversary. We decided to celebrate over two days by taking bus trips round town to see parts of Whanganui that we hadn’t been to before, and from the higher vantage point that a bus provides. This would also enable us to use some different bus routes from our usual ones in our exploration.
We started out on Friday morning by getting a bus into the main terminus in town at Trafalgar Square (no monument to Nelson, just a shopping centre). One of Nicky’s regular borrowers at the library got on the bus with a friend a few stops down the road. Both of them had forgotten both their Bee Cards and Gold Cards, but the driver let them on anyway. We had a chat with them before they got off to have a coffee and a walk.
We only had a few minutes to wait for the bus that would take us round East Whanganui. Some of the trip was on familiar roads and passed familiar places, and it was good to learn that we could get to them by bus if we needed to. We discovered the whereabouts of Whanganui’s mosque. Half an hour later we were back at Trafalgar Square, just in time to catch the 210 (known as Te Ngaru or The Tide) out to Castlecliff. This is the service that was introduced a little over a year ago to provide a regular (every 20 minutes) service that connects both sides of town on the west side of the river, and calls in at the hospital.
About 25 minutes later we were alighting The Tide in Castlecliff opposite one of our favourite cafés, The Citadel. We walked up to the car park and viewing area to find a bench and to eat our picnic lunch (smoked salmon and Philly cheese rolls with crisps and humus). There was no wind, the sky was clear, the sun was lovely, and the view was pretty good too:
We had about a 10 minute wait for the next Tide bus into town. The plan was to get off in town and then get the next bus to Aramoho home, because The Tide doesn’t come all the way up Somme Parade. It stops at Mitchell Street (where the community library is located) which is about a 25 minute walk from our home. However, as we were arriving at Trafalgar Square we were looking at a 30 minute wait for the next bus to Aramoho, so decided we would stay on The Tide and walk home from Mitchell Street. Churton School pupils were leaving after their end of day of studies, and one of them was being collected by a fellow crew member on the boat (Donald). He beeped and waved at us both times he passed us. We ended up being home quicker than waiting for the next bus from town, and had the pleasure of some lovely views of the river on our walk home:
We enjoyed a sit down with a pot of tea while Nicky quality tested the doughnut. It got the thumbs up. The buses also got the thumbs up as Nicky’s fare’s hadn’t cost us anything (because of her SuperGold Card) and mine had only cost $3.
After recovering with our feet up, watching The Chase and some of the news, we drove into town to meet up with Mike, with whom I work and Emma, a friend of Mike. He’d had invited us to dinner again because of the all lifts we give him, and had suggested a new Nepalese restaurant that has recently opened. The food was very good, but arrived an hour and a half after ordering. The decor could also do with some improvement along with having some additional staff, but we left feeling replete.
Overall it was a lovely day, seeing new areas of town, enjoying the gorgeous weather, and meeting and seeing people who we know and who know us.
Yesterday we used a bus route that only runs on Saturdays. Our usual 205 and 206 bus services which go into town by two different route, only run Monday to Friday. Similarly, the two bus routes that go up to St. John’s Hill from town also only run on weekdays. On Saturdays these routes are amalgamated into the 209 Combined Service. At the bus stop near our home we caught the 10.30 into town where we had a 45 minute wait for the next 209 bus which would continue the circular route. This gave us time for me to introduce Nicky to the felt shop in the Article Café. Back at the bus stop at the terminus, a regular user of the service engaged us in conversation about life in Whanganui (she has been here 40 years) and the bus service. Our plan was to have lunch at the Funky Duck café at Virginia (Rotokawau) Lake. Our new acquaintance announced clearly “this is the stop you need” as we turned the corner onto Great South Road just up from the Lake. As we alighted, she was explaining to the other passengers that we “were new in town”. We smiled with amusement but were again reminded of the friendly nature of many of the locals.
Lunch was enjoyable. Angus beef burger for me and Chicken, brie and cranberry pizza for Nicky. The pizza was larger than expected but they kindly provided us with a box to bring the “spare” half home. We had a good hour and a half before the next bus so wandered down to Sandy Lane. This is a pleasant cul-de-sac where we saw an interesting but precipitous section four years ago. It is still not sold and a neighbour who was cutting grass came and told us what had been happening over the last four years. The problems he outlined with the land being unstable confirmed that we had done the right thing in not purchasing it. The developer who owns it is probably going to have to spend around $400,000 retaining it so that the houses above don’t start sliding down the hill.
We decided to start walking the bus route home as it goes along Virginia Road where there are some very nice houses. It’s a posh bit of town. The bus finally caught up with us and brought us home to another welcome pot of tea.
It wasn’t long before were were due to go out again. Danny, our quiz “captain” had asked us to join him and Melinda on a quiz team at their St Anthony’s R.C. church. Having had a good lunch we didn’t feel like dinner so just took some snacks with us to share and had tomato soup when we got home. The quiz had a Wild West dress theme. Most of the participants were dressed up in appropriate costumes. Many of the questions were in the same theme, and even though it was an enjoyable evening, we found the increasing rowdiness and noise level difficult for communication. The cigarette smoke blowing in from outside was also not welcome. We came 8th out of 12 teams, but felt we had contributed more to the fundraising than the question answering. This didn’t detract from feeling that our two days of tiki bus tours had been a very enjoyable way of celebrating our wedding anniversary.
The rest of the week has been much more normal, with a few additions. I have enjoyed watching some of the Euro 2024 matches. They are all been shown on the TVNZ streaming service, and some of them are being shown live on one of the FreeView channels. We have both enjoyed reading The Stellar Debut of Galactica MacFee by Alexander McCall Smith, the latest addition to the 44 Scotland Street series.
Wednesday was a lovely simple day with cool clear weather. We had a good chat with Maria, an Auckland friend. I nipped down to the laundrette to wash our summer quilt prior to storage. An amble over the railway bridge while the quilt was cleansed was chilly but good. Nicky weeded in the back garden and I strimmed. We had our afternoon pot of tea in the garden and finished the day by coming second at the quiz with 100 points.
While Nicky was at the library on Thursday I did the household washing as the weather was good (for winter) and it got it done before we embarked on our bus expedition.
Today started very wet but developed into a cool sunny afternoon. With having had two late nights in a row, other than Nicky going to church this morning we are having a quiet day. One can only take so much excitement.
Take care, Rick and Nicky.
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