We survived the night! 😉 The top 10 things to do in Whanganui as per TripAdvisor and the Guest Info book in our room include local markets, a paddle steamer ride (out of action for maintenance), national park walks (Aunty Beck says no…), and a Bridge to Nowhere (quite literally) which is in the National Park and accessible by kayak! There is also a historic church called Putiki covered in intricate Maori carvings – which we drove to but did not enter as it looked like private land – and NZ’s only underground elevator which takes you up to a lookout and tower to climb.

We couldn’t find the elevator entrance, so drove up to Durie Hill and climbed the 176 steps to the Tower lookout and 176 stairs back down to the bus. There we discovered the elevator ride was $2 each way to get down to the city ground level, so after enjoying the views (and catching my breath!), we returned to the bus to head on to Waitomo.

We stopped in a small town for lunch but found every cafe and bakery full of people. So ROSS suggested a quick stop at McDonalds (capitalised to show how important that was coming from he-who-hates-Maccas-and-never-suggests-eating-there). The poor thing was then rewarded with the knowledge that it goes down in history as our worst McDonalds experience EVER. Service was slow, the store understaffed, and we waited 40 minutes for our meals and then had to show our receipt three different times to show them what part of the order they had got wrong!!!!! Beck had to put on her cranky face and speak assertively (which the rest of us enjoyed watching).

Beck’s face didn’t change a great deal when we arrived at our accommodation at Waitomo – a farm stay that Ross had booked in “rustic” cabins…….not quite The Castle of Wellington!! The owner was lovely and has stocked the fridge and pantry very well for us, providing a continental breakfast as part of the deal. A restaurant was recommended to us for dinner but couldn’t fit the 13 of us in, so we went with the second recommendation of the Thirsty Weta Bar in Otoharanga, which was a great choice. Our waiter enjoyed teasing us about Australia losing in the cricket World Cup, and even gave me a free cappuccino as we left! (I had ordered one because I have a headache from no coffee all day, but we were ready to leave before it was ready so Ross just got him to take it off the bill, which he did and then made me a small takeaway one anyway – I have found someone new to enable me!)

Our kids played Scattergories with Ross and Luke for hours after we returned to our cabins. I hope they are up in time to help the owner feed her animals as promised in the morning!