28 August 2019

Once again, a neighbouring unit kept me awake for an hour or so. D.C. got up at 3.00am to pop next door and when she came back, I became aware of the drone of an extractor fan. There are three switches in the bathroom on the same switch plate: light/extractor fan, light, heater. I didn’t think the drone was loud enough to be coming from our bathroom, but it was loud enough to be irritating. So I got up and checked.

It wasn’t ours.

This meant that, once I’d used the facilities, I couldn’t get back to sleep again until whoever had left their fan going had switched it off.

Then again, we’ve got the heater going at the moment and it’s droning. Maybe our neighbours got cold in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t have thought so. According to TV3 Newshub news, we’ve been having the same weather as Thames.

Today started with a shower. This is a very nice shower, with a large, but soothingly gentle, spray from the shower rose. The rose is detachable, which means that it’s easy to wash the soles of your feet. It’s also a walk-in shower (which is great!), with a curtain surround, and a fold down seat. (Not sure I’d want to put my bare bottom on a wooden seat where someone else has put their bare bottom…)

Anyway, as this is a walk-in shower, there is no shower tray, per se. Instead the entire floor of the room – beneath the shower head, around the toilet, next to the handbasin, from to door – slopes down to a central drainage hole. And it is slightly disconcerting to be standing on one leg washing the sole of your foot, and feeling the world tilt away from you.

Still, it is a very nice shower – with Rosemary, Melissa, Thyme shampoo/conditioner and shower gel.

We were sort of stuck for something to do today. There’s not a lot of touristy stuff in New Plymouth’s CBD to do. We did consider catching a bus out to Sentry Hill to see what remains of Uncle Fred’s houses, but the idea of catching a 40 minute(?) bus ride out to a truck stop, ohing and ahing over the outside of some buildings, and then riding a bus back didn’t really appeal. If we were going to be given a bit of a tour, then yes. But we haven’t contacted them, so we can’t expect that.

So we decided to do one of the heritage walks – tomorrow. You have to book 24 hours in advance, which must work well for the guides as they would be able to plan their days. So we, leaving the rain jacket part of our ski jackets behind, went back to the i-SITE (information centre) in Puke Ariki and booked tickets for 10am, and bought a $10 book.

Did I ever tell you about the time when I was on the committee of our local i-SITE? I came back from lunch one workday and my boss said: “The optometrist rang for you.”

Me: “Optometrist? For me? But I’ve never seen one and I’ve got no plans to.”

Charles: “She said something about eyesight.”

I cracked up.

Anyway, the day wasn’t cold, the skies were clear, but starting to cloud over, and we had several hours to fill – so we decided to do the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway.

It was lovely. We started at the underpass by the Len Lye Wind Wand and then headed east-ish. (Apparently, the mythological Mt Taranaki is to the south, so I’m assuming we went east.) The walkway is wide enough to cater for couples walking and chatting, maybe with a myriad of dogs, or perhaps being overtaken by cyclists. Everyone was very friendly and accommodating. We did our best to stick to the left to give everyone else the chance to have plenty of room to overtake us.

We just took it slowly. There were seats dotted all the way along, so we’d walk a couple and then have a sit and admire the view, listen to the surf, and take photos. This meant that we covered 1.5 km in about two hours. That’s how far I walk to work and that takes me 14.5 minutes, so we were really sauntering.

As it was, we walked the 2 km to the East End (so I guess we were walking east) Life Saving Club, used the public toilets there, then – as there was nowhere where you could purchase food – or anything, turned back for home.

I seem to remember doing the same thing last time.

We started walking about 10am and sat down for lunch at 1.45pm. We had just walked past Puke Ariki when my fitness tracker vibrated that I’d done my 10,000 steps for the day. Overall, I’ve done 13,401.

After being out in the fresh air, listening to the surf, watching the birds, dodging the (infrequent – and so light I didn’t really worry about my camera nor Kally getting wet), and sharing pleasantries with people and dogs, being inside a noisy, artificial, nature excluded shopping centre felt wrong.

But we wanted lunch.

After our pumpkin penne pasta (D.C.) and lemon chicken couscous (me) and carrot/apple/lemon/ginger drinks, we found Farmers and D.C. bought some handkerchiefs.

I discovered that the centre had a Merric. I once managed to score a couple of pair of nice slacks, in a style that I like, from the one at Sylvia Park, so I wondered if I would strike it lucky this time.

Two different styles for $28 each is nothing to be sniffed out.

After that we returned to the unit to relax and go through 128 photos. Was that all?

6.30 I went back to the Café Turquoise (They know me now and greet me with a big smile and a wave) and bought a falafel salad between us, some Turkish bread garlic and cheese bread, two apple teas, and (when I remembered after the initial transaction) some more baklava. Everything but the baklava was $31, but the gentleman who served me settled on $30, since I paid cash.

Once again it was delicious. If you’re ever in New Plymouth, and want a reasonably priced, tasty, healthy meal – Café Turquoise.

I set my fitness tracker when I went there. I was able to walk at my usual speed going there, but had to be a bit more circumspect, especially with the teas, on the return journey. In total it was 802 steps, 0.51km, took me 24 minutes (including sitting down and waiting), and I burned 30kcal. My heartrate was 89bpm and I can not work out what the 48’00” average pace means. 48 minutes per hour? That doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, I did my full 802 step round trip and then we had our dinner. After that I set up my computer so D.C. could see my photos slide show.

Kally pics

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D.C. pic. Yes , I did take more…