Wairoa

Monday morning we returned our rental car and briefly rendezvoused with Rafik, another Wairoa locums doc on his way out of town, who gave us the medical practice car we will use for the next month. He also gave us the keys to the rental house in Wairoa, invited us to eat anything he had left in the fridge (lots as it turned out), and suggested we shop in Napier before heading north. We know why now.

First problem was that the car was a manual shift. Fortunately, Mark had driven a manual shift car now and then in Oamaru so he was undaunted. The problem for me, of course, was learning to shift with my left hand. Not something I wanted to attempt in a big city. We made a shopping list and hit the Pak’nSave grocery store.

The winding drive up the Hawke Bay from Napier to Wairoa takes a full 90 minutes and is full of turns requiring downshifts!! Our handheld GPS unit brought us right to the doorstep of our new home for a month. The single story house is roomy, has 3-bedrooms, is quite dated (built in the 50’s) and has been well used. Pros: plenty of room, washing machine, covered back slab with clotheslines, yard rotating hoist clothesline, a dishwasher, and good kitchen area. Cons: no central heating, a leaking roof in the back hallway, no reading lamps, and a long dark trip in that leaking hallway from the master bedroom to the toilet room (remember: separate from the bathing room) which requires the use of a torch/flashlight in the middle of the night. Oh, more pros: several space heaters, a solid sliding door between the front of the house and the back of the house allowing me to toast up the living space during the day, AND thankfully an electric mattress pad. (This morning it was 10 degrees Celsius/50 degrees Fahrenheit in the bedroom.)

A word about Wairoa. When we had mentioned to Kiwis we met that we would be going to Wairoa for a month the reactions were invariably negative. The reality is that it is a small, poor, rural town of about 4000 people. It is well off the beaten track for any kind of tourism, its two small grocery stores close every night at 5:30 PM, and the only cinema closed about a year ago. At one time it had some trouble with Maori gangs but that seems to be under control and we have not ever felt uncomfortable or threatened.

Tuesday morning, Mark reported for work. I sat home watching the beginning of a 3-day long storm of wind and torrential rains. Happily, I have books, projects, the computer, a violin, and an adequate kitchen.

One other happy thing for me. There was an old Raleigh 3-speed woman’s bike in the garage. On Mark’s lunch hour, we took it to Angus Gemmell’s, the local hardware and bike shop, and in minutes the clerk had the tires pumped, the chains oiled, a few screws tightened, and gears checked--all for no charge. I immediately went on a 40 minute bike ride along the river and out to the ocean. I’m jazzed! Oh, must also report that the owner of the rental house came out to fix the leak in the roof although since the storm most days have been sunny anyway, and I have learned to shift with my left hand.

Welcome to Wairoa!