{"id":12890,"date":"2024-05-17T22:53:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T10:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=12890"},"modified":"2024-05-21T10:04:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T22:04:54","slug":"birthday-2-a-wander-around-whanganui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/birthday-2-a-wander-around-whanganui\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthday #2 – A Wander Around Whanganui"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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May 17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Happy USA Birthday Mitch! One of the best things about being a day ahead is that you get to celebrate the great things twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those in the States celebrating Mitch\u2019s real bday started texting and calling when we woke up. So today was the second day celebrating his birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a great sleep on a comfortable bed and oh, those wonderful sheets. We awoke to the sound of peace and quiet. A good start to the day is breakfast at a B&B and going out for great coffee. We did both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenny, our B&B host, delivered our breakfast of poached eggs, toast, tomato jam and fruit at the prearranged time of 9 a.m. We ate at the table in our sitting room, grateful that we didn\u2019t have an awkward communal breakfast making small talk with total strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We got a decent Devil\u2019s Cup roast coffee at Article Cafe, once upon a time the offices for the Whanganui Chronicle \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s oldest newspaper. Filing and type trays still reside in the foyer, relics from the former occupants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Article Coffee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We took our coffee to go and browsed the artsy part of Whanganui. This town is beautiful, located at the mouth of the Whanganui River. Originally spelled \u201cWanganui,\u201d the name changed in 2017 because the word had no meaning in M\u0101ori, versus the current spelling Whanganui (\u201cbig bay\u201d), which has much more cultural significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Durie Hill elevator<\/a> was built in 1919 and is NZ\u2019s only public transport elevator. It\u2019s used on a daily basis by locals and visitors as a shortcut down to the town from the Durie Hill suburb. Access is through an adit, which is a long pedestrian tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We \u201cboarded\u201d the elevator, which cost 2 pounds a person, per ride. The elevator operator collected our money and pulled the door shut. She pulled a lever and the lift worked its way down as we traveled 216 feet below ground. We exited into a white tunnel, 650 feet long, with fantastic acoustics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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M\u0101ori faces on fence post<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We arrived at the street entrance to the elevator and saw the alternative way up, by stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We decided against taking the steps back up to the top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019ll pass on climbing back up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Instead, we took another ride in the elevator, which to me sounded much more rickety than the ride down. I was relieved when the doors opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Old tickets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Locals monthly passes stay in elevator<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The orange lookout tower sat atop the elevator shaft, so we climbed the narrow iron spiral staircase to the lookout for some good views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Next to the elevator is the Durie Hill War Memorial Tower, standing 104 feet high. The rock is estimated to be over two million years old. It was erected to the memory of armed service members who died in the first world war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mitch took one for the team and climbed the 176 steps to the top for panoramic views of the city and Tasman Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We had high hopes for the pizza at SourBros Bakery and Pizzeria<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bread came highly recommended by the chefs at Maria Lane Eatery, so we figured the pizza would be great too. While it wasn\u2019t terrible, it definitely needed tweaking: more sauce, less salt in the crust, more time in the oven. It was no Blue Pan pizza, that\u2019s for sure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We finished our night early and crawled into those divinely soft sheets to binge a few more episodes of Suits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow we head to Wellington<\/a> with a pit stop in Raumati Beach to visit friends we met on our first hike way back in January, The Queen Charlotte trek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 17 Happy USA Birthday Mitch! One of the best things about being a day ahead is that you get to celebrate the great things twice. Those in the States celebrating Mitch\u2019s real bday started texting and calling when we woke up. So today was the second day celebrating his birthday. We had a great … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-new-zealand-north-island"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_0445-1.jpg?fit=1500%2C2000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12581,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/16\/happy-nz-birthday-mitch\/","url_meta":{"origin":12890,"position":0},"title":"Happy NZ Birthday Mitch!","author":"Victoria","date":"16 May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"May 16 Happy NZ Birthday Mitch! \ud83c\udf82 Lucky for him, he\u2019ll receive celebratory wishes on his NZ birthday today AND his American one tomorrow! Happy Bday Mitch It\u2019s time to celebrate with a three-hour drive to the West Coast. We hadn\u2019t planned on spending three hours in the car today,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_0106-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_0106-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_0106-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_0106-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_0106-1.jpg?fit=1170%2C780&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":373,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/26\/cable-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":12890,"position":1},"title":"Cable Bay","author":"Victoria","date":"26 January 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"January 26 Cable Bay Panorama We started our day on a very winding road to\u00a0Cable Bay\u00a0just outside Nelson. Eyes on the road, Mitch! No sooner had I laid my towel down on the rocks, the\u00a0sandflies\u00a0started feasting on me. Welp that was the quickest beach day ever. Packed it all up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4279-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C276&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4279-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C276&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4279-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C276&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4279-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C276&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4279-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C276&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10111,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/17\/tu-tika\/","url_meta":{"origin":12890,"position":2},"title":"Tu Tika (RV Day 4)","author":"Victoria","date":"17 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 17 Happy Birthday! Zack in Munich earlier in his trip. Happy Birthday Zachary! We hope you are having a great celebration in Amsterdam! We woke up early to get everything locked down and topped up in the RV before our 9 a.m. tour. This included putting everything away that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_0459-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_0459-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_0459-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_0459-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_0459-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11438,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/01\/what-a-swell-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":12890,"position":3},"title":"What A Swell Day","author":"Victoria","date":"1 May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"May 1 https:\/\/youtu.be\/63BdlsaBbyk?si=w0ABS_J0Rs0nVqzD We received a text early this morning that our boat tour to Cathedral Cove was cancelled due to 8 ft swells. We rescheduled it for tomorrow. Not having a back up plan, we had a leisurely start to the day. We decided to head towards the town\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_6177-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_6177-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_6177-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_6177-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_6177-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13007,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/20\/wellington-walkabout\/","url_meta":{"origin":12890,"position":4},"title":"Wellington Walkabout","author":"Victoria","date":"20 May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"May 20 Sooooo our great dinner last night left both of us not feeling so great today. 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