We asked in the local RD1 for directions, and lucky we did! The Toy Wall was well hidden from the main road, and formed a part of a driveway of a private house. But very cool to visit, it was a way with countless toys cemented into it! PB loved it and we spent a good amount of time exploring the wall before he said "Let's start again!" So back to the start we went.
It was pouring down as we passed through Patea, but we took a sodden shot of the waka, and spotted the Patea Maori Club HQ.
In Hawera, we hoped to climb the water tower for a great view over the town, but as it was raining and the promised view was likely to be of rain clouds AND because they wanted to charge us AND because we had to find our way to the Info Centre to be charged, we went off the idea.
On to Whanganui! (Or Wanganui, I have no preference...) What a great little city! We stayed out at Castlecliff Beach, which is a short drive to the city centre.
On the way to the camping ground, I noticed a chap changing a lock on a house with the whole front boarded up. Thought it a little weird, but put it down to someone renovating. WELL! In the NZ Herald that I read later that day, it shared that the house windows had been smashed to scare the woman inside because one of her family members was charged with killing a gang leader. What the? (No wonder the campsite was lovely and cheap!)
We went to Durie Underground Elevator. It had a long white tunnel leading to it, which provided excellent echoes! We went up the elevator ($5) and popped out on top of the city! It was so neat seeing the river wind through, and we even climbed a tower for an even higher view.
The next day we went on a ride (8km) from town, alongside the river to a MARVELLOUS kids playground. Complete with dinosaur slide, pirate ship, octopus and more. We started to find the painted rocks that our friends had told us about and had heaps of fun finding, then hiding them again.
We found a skateboard bowl and rode the BMX bikes around it.
We visited Virginia Lake for lunch, walked right round the lake and visited the aviary to look at the birds.
What a marvelous stay, Whanganui! Thanks!
On the way out, we stopped in on the North Mole. Because with a name like that, how could we not?
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