Today we just transited from Masterton to Napier.
View Larger Map
The day started slow with a frustrating search for internet access (all searches for internet are frustrating). The rather elderly campground in Masterton had none, but we had taken a walk down the main street after supper last night. The street was absolutely dead at 9pm except for several kids with noisy cars criss-crossing town revving their engines. However, we noted several cafes along the street and figured at least one would have wi-fi. Also the town library offered it but wouldn't open until 9.
So at 7:30 we started driving slowly down the high street with a laptop open and found a hotspot at the nicest looking cafe. Went in, ordered flat whites and very nice pastries. Counter girl gave us the password to the wi-fi system ("sugar") and we logged in. And it was awful, couldn't do anything. Slow as an acoustic modem on David's machine, while Marian's couldn't connect at all.
Finished our nice coffees, went out, filled the van tank with diesel, and it was time for the library to open. Went in there and were able to get done what we wanted to do, mostly, except that system would not allow FTP access so Marian couldn't upload her Stanford page. This often happens; the filters and other wacky modifications these hotspot vendors put in place frequently screw up FTP, which is only the oldest, simplest protocol in networking.
All right, enough of this, let's start driving. Yesterday's weather had been lovely, the first day in weeks when we had been able to walk around outside in shirtsleeves, no extra sweater or jacket. But overnight the dreaded Southerlies blew in, bringing chilly air and rain from Antarctica. So just out of town we notice that the local hills have powdered sugar on them.
The rest of the day was a 300km run across mostly flat country, as usual charmingly green.
The sky was dramatic with showers and hail alternating with fast-moving sun shafts. And it was cold: by evening down around 5ºC (40ºF). Arrived in Napier and settled into a campground. Marian has a mild respiratory virus so took a nap. Then we went for a walk.
Napier was levelled by a 7.9 earthquake in 1931, and they rebuilt the town center all at once. There was plenty of cheap labor around in 1931. They used the then-trendy Art Deco style and today they are very proud of their Art Deco buildings. We took a walk through the town center, which was quiet as a cemetery at 5pm on a cold weekday. The only signs of life were away from the center, at the supermarket and the take-away fish'n'chips shop.
Anyway, maybe just a jaundiced view but the famous Art Deco center wasn't very impressive to our eyes so we cancelled our tentative plan to go on a guided walk in it tomorrow. What will we do instead? No idea. It's an adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment