The Road to Taumarunui – Day 36

We are making our way to Taumarunui which is the start of our Manawatu-Wanganui district journey. So basically it’s a epic drive from King Country to Horizons Region.

So today we are leaving King Country which is the area where Waitomo and Piopio are and we are heading to the lovely Horizons Region.

We’re going to Taumarunui which is the gateway to the Whanganui National Park so who knows what will be in store for us then. Now the great thing about heading on the road early morning is that you get to see the country waking up. you see the sheep starting going on the field to graze. You see the cows emerging from the darkness. You see the fog still wrapping around the mountains all the vegetation is still wet and damp from the night before. And our campervan is damp from the night before too because it’s a shit campervan. It’s an amazing drive it’s really enjoyable.

Today we are crossing borders. Well, we’re not crossing boarders but we are crossing regions and so this part of the drive is through the King Country of Waikato which is characterised by its farmland and mighty mountains and more farmland and we are going into the Horizons Region which is part of the northern end of the Manawatu-Wanganui region. We keep on driving toward Taumarunui so Taumarunui is a lovely little village. Taumarunui used to thrive on all the logging and the mining operations that were going on in the area. Now it is in the middle of something called the Forgotten World.

And while we are at the Forgotten World, I may as well look for some forgotten world items. I am a big fan of op-shops. I am always looking for some new board games in op-shops so I see a couple of op-shops in town so Laura and I are making our way over there and try to look for some games. There is nothing much – a lot of jigsaw puzzles which I’m not a big fan of but we kind of scavenge around and basically kill a very rainy afternoon by checking out what is on offer there. We are also taking the time to make some plans for the very next day but this is not going to be on camera because we don’t like to put a camera right up the nose of people while we chat to them. So meanwhile, watch us shop in op-shops and making jokes about a ton of items.

What I should have read before buying our camper.

This is not a gun.

What? I used to play those things to much. I loved it. This is the one I didn’t know how to play the game but I just collected them anyway.

If you don’t know where to stay in taumarunui and have a couple of dollars to spend, you can stay at the bin inn. One bin per person, no sharing.

We need to go to the Post Shop because I have some delightful postcards to send.

We are going to the Forgotten World Adventures and they are going to make a little plan for us to see the amazing Whanganui National Park in the best way they know how which is by going on a bicycle rail track thing a rail bike – it’s an old railway that they’ve made these buggies into bikes and they use the railway to bike along. I’ve never been on one of these things before but it sounds pretty fun.