After waiting a few minutes I got through to reception to find they don't take appointments for casual patients, you just walk in...but there was no one there yet so if I got there soon I'd be waved straight through. In ten minutes I'd paid for a second night at the campground and was in a taxi to the medical centre.
There were two or three people there when I arrived, and two or three more by the time I'd filled in the first time patient forms, but the lady on reception gave me an appointment slip to put on more urgent pile at the triage desk and soon enough I was in with the triage nurse. He soon put me down as an ACC claim and after another ten minutes in the waiting room I was in with the doctor. Five minutes later and she'd determined my bones were fine so it must be muscular and referred me to a physiotherapist. Happily, as well as a doctors surgery the centre houses a physio, a chemist and a cafe, so I paid for my visit (fortunatelt only $34.50 under ACC, not $50!) and popped next door to the physio. He was fully booked but was fairly sure he knew what was wrong and it would be a quick fix, so told me to grab a coffee and he'd fit me in between patients.
I had time for a sandwich and half a hot chocolate for breakfast before the cheerful physio's face was at the window waving me in, signalling I could bring my half-drunk cup if cocoa with me. So I ambled into his office, cup and saucer in hand (with the amused approval of the cafeteria attendant). A quick check confirmed the physio's (Wayne's) suspicions. Basically, repetitive movement and splaying of my foot on a flat or slightly cambered surface is straining all the muscles around the base of my toes. Makes sense. Grabbing gauze tape and strapping tape he first put the gauze tape on my foot as several people, including me, are allergic to the adhesive on the strapping tape. He then showed me how to strap my foot so as to maintain free movement but prevent splaying of the strained muscles. It worked! After ambling in with a slight limp I was able to walk purposefully out again, limp-free! After paying for the visit, buying some strapping tape (apparently it's insanely expensive at the chemist) and slurping down the last of my hot chocolate, I headed over to the chemist to get some more gauze tape (I have some but not enough) and continue what is proving to be a vain search for DEET-free insect repellent (I'm so gutted the really good stuff I had got washed down the Whanganui River--it's proving very difficult to replace!).
Less that two hours after I arrived I left Radius Medical, strapped, equipped and fully able to continue the trail--stoked! Fortunately the heavy rain shower that had pounded the roof while I was bouncing between medical professionals had abated by the time I walked out if the chemist, and it was through only light rain that I walked the few blocks to the square, making a B-line for the Bivouac store. I was appalled to find that a half decent stove was going to cost me more than all my medical visits and supplies combined, but was determined to get something decent, and in the end got a stove that's better than my old one. An added bonus is that it is lighter and, unlike the old one, packs down small enough to fit inside my pot set rather than having it's own separate container. Happy hiker!
It was still barely 10am and I had nothing else that needed to be done today except buy food supplies for the Tararuas, so I asked the guys at Bivouac for directions to the nearest cinema. This proved to be just around the corner, where nothing much really took my fancy but I bought a ticket for the next movie to start: Dad's Army. My own father used to enjoy watching the TV series so I knew the characters well enough. The sense of nostalgia attached to the series helped to buoy me along through a movie which has a good cast but is no classic. Still, it was a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours sitting down out of the weather.
Afterwards I found my way back to the square and the mall. I had lunch at @ Bowl in the food court, taking the time to admire my new stove, and pack up the spare accessories to post home. Finding the post shop killed another quarter of an hour, and then I headed off to the supermarket. I took my time browsing each isle, even though I ended up buying the same stuff I always do for trail food: quick oats sachets, wholemeal wraps, cheese, salami, pasta snacks, milk powder, tea, museli bars, chocolate, cookies and scroggin.
Next to the supermarket was another chemist, where miraculously I found two options for non-DEET insect repellent. Both were scary expensive but I went with the less expensive of the two, seeing as I was now pretty much out of pharmacy options.
Notably poorer than I was at the start of the day, but now reassured and fully equipped to take on the New Zealand wilderness once again, I set off through the now blazing sunshine on the longish walk (not hobble! Yay!!) back to the campground.
Once there I found my also tent-bound neighbour sitting against the fence watching what I assume is a movie on his phone. He's not a hiker but a backpacker...but seems to spend all his time lounging around the campground rather than being out and about. I left him to it and commandeered a kitchen table in the empty kitchen to pack down my food (= remove excess packaging and put tiny pinholes in all the packets so you can force the air out and they take up less space in my pack). While there I got talking to a nice Kiwi lady named Jill who invited me to dinner in her caravan. I happily accepted and wiled away the hours in between by doing as much as I could of a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in the lounge (there was absolutely nothing on TV...honestly, NZ television!), before demolishing it all at 5pm, grabbing my bag of cookies (being about the only thing I can contribute to a dinner) and went to knock on Jill's door. I was a little delayed by having found my hydration bladder to have leaked through my pack (it doesn't respond well to being upside down when still half full, apparently), so I hastily laid everything out in the sun or on a line strung between my two hiking poles rammed into the ground. Fortunately no more than 10 minutes late I was soon welcomed into Jill and her husband Chris's shiny new caravan and breathed in the smell of homemade bolognese. Yum!
Jill and Chris were very interested to hear all about the trail, being keen and experienced trampers themselves. They listened with disapproving expressions to a re-telling of mine and Taylor's misadventures on the Whanganui River, but happily they did approve of what I'd said I'd learned from the experience. Jill had already told me a bit about her work as a kindergarten teacher that afternoon so I asked Chris about his job (recently retired from) being a food technician. It's one of those occupations that I've heard of but don't really know what a person doing it actually does (much like most other people and 'geologist' I suppose).
After dinner I helped with the dishes, thanked them very much, and exchanged email addresses before retiring to my tent to ring Mum for a chat, stopping to replant my tent pegs which had blown loose in the growing wind. I spent the remainder of the evening in the TV room catching up on my journal while first the Simpsons and then the Graham Norton Show played in the background.
Then it was off to bed. I'm looking forward to heading I to the hills tomorrow. It's going to be great to get off the roads and do some proper tramping!
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