Waiouru (Zero Day)

I wasn’t very happy last night as I found my room rather below standard. The worse of any place I’ve stayed and it felt dirty. The towels were old and even frayed on the edges, and when I went to bed, the pillows, bed or blankets smelled like body oil. I don’t think I slept well because of that, and that made up my mind that I was not going to stay here another night!

I packed up and was heading out of the door at 8:00 and walked right into a cold strong wind, and sky looked ominous with black clouds rolling in. In the distance I could see the mountains were shrouded in clouds and the tops were covered in snow.

Wow, what to do? I surely don’t want to stay at the Oasis Motel another night, but I don’t want to walk in pouring rain and in the cold, and then be forced to camp out in just any spot. Besides, I understand there are no trees for wind protection in the desert for at least thirty kilometers.

I thought there was another motel at the end of town and I found it down the street. It was a nice looking place and I went up to the office but no one was there even though the sign noted it opened at 8:00 am. I want to take another photo of the mountains and walked a little past the motel and saw an accommodations sign on a fence, but no name or phone number. I went back to the motel and about 9:00 someone finally showed up. Unfortunately, all the rooms were booked for the night and I was depressed thinking I’d have to go back to the Oasis.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to walk back to the house with the accommodations sign. I knocked on the door and the owner, Ross, came to the door to greet me. Yes, he had a room for rent, with it’s own bath, that usually goes for $150 ($94 US) night for two, more than the $80 ($55 US) at the Oasis, but there was no comparison. But, there were two nurses that had the other part of the attached house, and they are leaving today, so if you want to make up the bed you can pick a room, and I’ll let you have it for $80. I’ll take it!

I had a nice conversation with Ross before I put everything away and it turned out to be very interesting. Ross is seventy-five and bought the place three years ago with intentions of opening an art gallery. He’s from Dunedin, where his wife still teaches at the university. He’s working on a PHD in theology for his own knowledge. He’s involved with the Maori here and was excepted into their tribe. Ross offered to take me to their meeting place on the military base.

At the time they bought the house, he also bought a 1966 Ford Thunderbird, with a 428 cc engine, the top of the line model back then. I asked to see it and he pulled it out for me and told me he would take me on a tour of the town in it.

I had to work hard to put on the four pillow cases and sheets, but it was well worth the hard work to have such a beautiful place to stay. I took a shower right away and washed away the dirty feeling I had from the Oasis Motel.

After noon Ross asked if I was ready for the tour and we hoped into the Thunderbird. He took me to the residential area of the base and showed me some interesting sights. There use to be about 5,000 people living on the base in the seventies, but now there are only about 800. There are streets everywhere with acres and acres of vacant land where there use to be houses. The driveways are still there and you could almost picture a booming neighborhood here at one time. Some old timers still talk about the old days. Ross said that most of the personnel were moved due to the change in culture when many of the women at the time were starting to work, but there was no employment in Waiouru.

Ross also took me to the Maori meeting place that is part of the base. We got out and walked around and he showed me the carved totem poles that represent the legendary canoes that brought the Maoris here. He had hoped to introduce me to one of their elders, but he wasn’t here.

Apparently many of the army personnel are Maori. Also, like him, all new recruits are excepted into the tribe as part of their training here. Hopefully I got it all right because he was telling a lot of interesting stuff about the Maori culture.

After the tour of the base, Ross took me to the military museum and we had lunch. As we pulled into the parking lot Ross spotted the Maori elder that he wanted me to meet. Funny thing is that I met him last night at the restaurant as I was standing there trying to decide what to order. He had mentioned that the spaghetti fettuccine was great. He remembered telling me that. He also said if I stayed another day he would give me a tour and information on the Maori culture.

After lunch I stayed and toured the museum. I really enjoyed it as there were displays of all the wars and conflicts that New Zealand has been involved in. For such a small country New Zealand has been in my conflicts and has lost a great number of people based on their small population.

It had started to rain fairly hard around noon and I was glad, no I was grateful, that I decided to stay, not just because of the rain, but also meeting Ross and getting the tour and education of the area and Maori culture. I had shown Ross the New Zealand jade stone I got as a gift from Kevin, way back on the South Island in Gore, and he said that stone had probably brought me here to him. Kevin had said it was a special stone for the Maori people, and that it would protect me and given me good traveling. I’ve got to say that I have been blessed in many, many, ways on my trek through New Zealand.

After holding up at the cafe for the rain to lighten up I finally made it back here by 4:00. It is raining heavily now, but I’ll probably don my rain gear and go out for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow? The forecast is for morning rain, so I may head out? Again, it sure would be a great place to stay another day! I’ll see how things are in the morning and will decide after a good night’s sleep.

Best wishes to all,

Ted

Please excuse the typos, spelling, grammar, etc., as I am typing this on my phone, and I am probably pretty tired.

The 25er