Day The Fourth

Spent a very strange night in Wanganui, for a number of reasons. After finding that Daisy had steering head bearing problems I decided that it would be a good idea to see if I could find some new ones in Wanganui. What with using the iPhone to look up the size on www.f650.com, then iPhone again to use the yellow pages to find bearing sellers, and then the TomTom GPS to lead me to one, I was in travel tech heaven. The Honda/Kawasaki dealer said they could do the job there and then and come back in two hours. I went off for a stroll, and two blocks away I came to an Irish bar. With Lee on her way to Ireland at the time it seemed like the gods were telling me something! I made a glass of Guinness last at hour while I read my book.
Getting back to the shop, they told me all was well, just the head bearings were too tight (my fault!) and the new ones were the wrong size. Don't know what went wrong there, but got my money back on them.
It was after five so I decided to stay in wanganui. I decided to stay in The Grand Hotel. I'm sure it used to be but at $75 at night, incl breakfast, you'll get some idea. It was only after I'd settled in, thrown my junk around, and done some laundry in the basin, that I found that both layers of curtain were of the see-thru type, and one only covered 3/4 of the window.
Whilst investigating the curtains , I noticed two skinny tatooed guys in the carpark below, discussing something about the window next to me (on the 1st floor). A bit later they were my neighbours, ferrying lots of gear into their room. To cut a long story short, they played the TV on LOUD until 6.30am, ran water all night, banged about and opened and closed the balcony door constantly and were out looking at the windows again this morning as I left! I'm thinking P lab? Dinner was also a diaster at The Mongolian BBQ. That will teach me to take pity on a place that has no patrons!
The run from Wanganui to Hamilton was spectacular. I have not been that way for a very long time. I copped out and took the quick way thru Stratford. Stopped at Mikes Brewery near Inglewood to sample the wares and discovered that the source of the horrible burning stench was the sheepskin seat cover that i had looped over the pannier to dry that had slipped over the exhaust!
Lunch was by the Awakino river and I stopped in Otorohanga and caught up with two old friends, Peter Kerr-bell and Stephen Pascoe. I hadn't seen Stephen for 25 years.

Ratings:
Me: 8/10 jaded after a very weird night

Daisy: 10/10 and back to her usual self

Pie: 7.5/10 Steak from the Mokau Café and whitebait shop. Baked by Le Dejaniur Bakery, New Plymouth. Slightly too salty and too deep to stay together when bitten, but a great meaty treat.

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Location:North Taranaki