Alyse didn't seem to be up yet either so I went in search of a cup of tea, and since I was there, quietly did the dishes. Soon enough Alyse emerged and I informed her that today "body says no". It's two more days' walking to get to the end if the North Island and rather than slogging it out to get it done I'd rather enjoy it. As Alyse pointed out there's no point having a day off with only incessant to go, but two seems a bit more reasonable (especially since I've already overslept!).
After getting ready Alyse and I headed down to the Newtown Bakery for breakfast. I had french toast with bacon and maple syrup which, for the price, was amazing. The only improvement I might have made would be to use a more interesting type of bread than sliced plain white French stick, but then I've never been a fan of French sticks (random synapse fire--remember when the French were doing nuclear testing in the Pacific and NZ bakeries did their bit to boycot France by renaming their bread sticks Kiwi sticks? Anyway...back to the present).
After breakfast we went by the Manners St Post Office to collect my Poste Restante parcel to myself containing my maps and notes for the South Island (incidentally Poste Restante is a great and often free service for posting yourself stuff to towns all over the country as required. Just show them your photo ID and they'll produce the parcel you posted to yourself at their address--easy!). We next stopped in at the Department of Internal Affairs for Alyse to pick up a copy if her marriage certificate. Then we headed out to Trentham to hang out for a bit. Alyse had a bunch of paperwork she needed to do re: marrying, moving and job hunting, and I sat on their make shift mattress-come-couch to go through the maps and notes of the South Island in detail and work out logistics. There's not as many towns in the South Island as the North so resupplying is a bit more difficult. Most hikers seem to send themselves three or more bounce boxes to save extended hitching trips off trail which, if I'm going to do, I'll need to organise fairly soonish. I also used the time to catch up on my journal.
We'd left the door open and at some point their neighbour George, an army captain, poked his head in to say hello. He was interested to hear of my exploits, but was thoroughly unimpressed by my tumble in the Tararuas (I'm not sure why that story sprang to mind but it did). Turns out George knows quite a few sections of the trail (he's run Burtton's Track for example...!) and is organising a trip next week for joint forces personnel to go on a bit of an outdoor adventure in the South Island. There will be tramping, rafting, 4WDing, mountain biking, flying foxing and other shennanigans. I jokingly asked "where can I sign up?". He just as jokingly replied "enlist". Hmmm, tempting but perhaps not the best reason to join the military.
I spent the afternoon going through the South Island maps and notes again. Let's just say, it's going to be tough.
After Pete finished work we had a late lunch (I also bought a cheap post-4:30 sandwich for lunch tomorrow) and did some shopping. Back at the barracks we chilled out in the lounge and watched Monsters Ball, the best of a bad DVD situation purely because none of us had seen it (it proved to be an unusual and fairly tragic film that earned Halle Berry an Oscar; don't watch it Mum, you'll hate it).
George recommended we try the Mess Hall for dinner, meeting the local off-site pub, rather than the on-site cafe, so off we went in search of dinner. It turned out to be a nice little well-patronised pub. Everything was as you might expect of a military themed but family-friendly pub, however women's cage fighting was unusual TV fodder (I thought).
As last night we went with mains over desert, tonight we went vice versa, sharing a bowl of wedges and shredded pork for an entree and then having desert. The waitress recommended the chocolate brownie and it was good. Also, in an unprecedented performance Pete was beaten by the cheesecake and unable to finish it, even with Alyse's help.
After dinner we returned to the barracks. Alyse and Pete managed to get permission for me to stay; apparently the powers that be were surprised by the request but grateful for being asked, and granted it happily enough. So here I am, settled into Room 4. The whiteboard on the door reads "Lt Peter Campbell & wife". I was tempted to add "& wife's friend" but didn't think it would be appropriate!
I feel bad though--my air mattress is still at Bex's house so Alyse has given me hers back. It looks like I'll being staying here again tomorrow though so I am resolved to return both mattresses to their proper owners as soon as practicable.
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