Whangarei wanderings

The day didn’t get off to a good start.  As I started to eat the first spoonful of muesli, there was an “explosion” in my throat and it seemed got stuck on the way down.  I couldn’t swallow without pain and was at a loss to know what to do.  I Googled it, of course, and asked hubby to thump me on the back and also perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre, with no effect, probably because whatever was stuck was in my oesophagus and not my air pipe.

We eventually went out for a browse around the outside of the Hundertwasser Art Centre, which is wonderfully quirky, and also wandered around the surrounding area, known as the Town Basin, and then ventured into the city centre.  I popped into a chemist shop and asked for advice.  The chemist was of the opinion that something I’d swallowed had damaged my oesophagus and all I could do was suck anaesthetic tablets for a sore throat. After a couple of tablets, the pain did seem to diminish and I was able to eat half a muffin very slowly and sip on a hot chocolate.

We drove out to the area known as Whangarei Heads, which is directly opposite the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. The refinery will no longer refine oil, but only accept deliveries of fully refined fuel. Whangarei Heads is a beautiful area with wonderful views. We had dinner at a very nice restaurant called The Quay.  I chose the line-caught fish on a mash as I thought it would be soft and easy to eat, which it was.

We will go inside the Hundertwasser Art Centre tomorrow, when rain is forecast for the entire day.

The main blip and extras show various images of the outside of the Hundertwasser Art Centre and our wanderings during the day.

There are 11,464 new community cases today, and the seven-day rolling average is 9,710 compared to 7,591 last Tuesday. The number of people in hospital is 729, including 18 in ICU. Today another 29 deaths have been reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,737 and the seven-day rolling average to 19.