Wahai to Gisborne
Up at a relatively early time for a long day because we had decided to go down the eastern coast back to Gisborne. We all packed in the car and had handed the key back when Andy, innocently asked if Sally had taken the fish he had caught that morning out of the freezer.
By way of explanation, Andy had got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing on the beach and had caught a fair sized red snapper. After the obligatory photographs of big male hunter with prize catch the fish had been gutted, a ceremony I was invited to attend and then placed in the freezer to make sure it was cold enough to travel.
Anyway, Andy thought Sally had packed it but she hadn't and if we had got much further the fish would have been left in the freezer.
We had to park the car and Andy raced off to reception in a manner similar to Usain Bolt retrieved the key and rescued the fish. Peace and calm were restored in the car.
The first part of the journey although interesting was fairly routine. We stopped for a pie in Opoteke and enjoyed both that and a cake afterwards. It is hard to believe that the national dish of New Zealand is the humble meat pie, which comes in all sorts of flavours. Steak and onion, mince, steak and bacon, steak and cheese to name a few. Interestingly we parked next to a cockroach control van and had a joke with him about whether or not he was often asked to park at the back of food premises. The driver had only stopped for his lunch.
The afternoon drive back along the coast was glorious.the sun shone, we had an ice cream and on the way home we stopped to see David and Zoe and Lee and Jane.
We only stayed there for a short visit as we had to shoot off to Gisborne to get fish and chips, the fish was enjoyed by everybody and we retired to bed exhausted.