Out of Dodge

We left Rotorua after another sketchy breakfast. Watched the Chinese tourists outside, waiting for their tour bus, smoking, smoking, smoking. They take it so seriously! It seems almost an art form: how will I hold this cigarette? How deep will I take the smoke? Shall I do a James Dean? Inhale or let it drift slowly through my nostrils? All the males getting their fix before boarding the bus.

On the road, stopped in Taupo for gas; looks much nicer than Rotorua. HUGE lake, very beautiful. Motored on, drifted in to a small town to see the “swap meet” which in this town, turned out to be a classic car show (ed. note: See photos) and parts sale.

One fellow was selling T-shirts for Route 66 and, if you can believe it, T-shirts for “The Road Kill Café” where we had lunch with Scott and Ria one month ago today! Lovely vehicles, nice to stretch the legs. Then onward.

Our next stop was Foxton. Drawn in by a sign advertising coffee and free wi-fi at the Dutch Windmill. I don’t quite know how to describe this. A little town with shops, a huge windmill dominating a space that also advertises the information centre. Instead of going to the windmill, for some reason we walked into an adjacent coffee shop and pulled the young girl working the counter away from her cigarette break to ask, “We saw a sign for the Dutch Windmill advertising free wi-fi. Where is it?” To which she gestures with her hand but says in her mind, “It’s right f-ing, there, you knob! Can you not see the giant freaking windmill? If it were any bigger, none of us could walk around!” “Oh,” says Geoff. “Do you have wi-fi?” (ed. note: The building where the question was asked was almost 9 feet behind where this photo was taken).

At the windmill-- which is a real, modern, 100% functional Dutch windmill, used to grind grain every day, which is then sold to the likes of us—Geoff goes on the free wi-fi while I take the $5 tour. Pretty incredible. There isn’t a beam that’s less than 4” x 4” and most are much bigger than that. I have never seen a more substantial building. Two sets of millstones that weigh tons, block and tackle, ropes, ships wheels that turn the sails into the wind. Quite something.

So I return from my tour to find that Geoff has booked us into Wellington for 4 nights! He clearly had a brain fart as the whole point of coming all the way south in one day was to add time to the trip on the south island (ed. note: We have a ferry reservation for Wednesday morning. I am in big trouble now - just found out the hotel reservation is non-refundable.). Still we are here and the hotel is nice. Who knows what we might find? We are planning to take a little wander out and about to find a pub, perhaps, for a meal a little later on, then tomorrow, do the museums, galleries and other high points of the city. Geoff has discovered that we get a free round of golf with our stay so we may do that on Monday. I might try and find a hairdresser open tomorrow as I’m feeling quite desperate for a colour, especially. Those grey roots are showing! Otherwise, I am looking younger every day; gotta love retirement.