Up with alarm at 6:40, Jess highly not amused. She kept asking Jer why it was that we should get up. Weather was beautiful, clear and sunny and still. Jer called the desk at 8:30 to inquire about kayaking, but the desk lady said that they couldn’t get a guide. Jer suspected that the guide wanted to spend Saturday night enjoying a fine beverage or ten, and had done just that. The fact that the group of Kiwis had claimed on Saturday that the weather was supposed to be good on Sunday, and bad on Monday, seemed to support this hypthesis. Eventually we made our way to breakfast, finishing around 10:20. Jer had muesli with yoghurt and fresh fruit, which was quite yummy and filling. Jess had bacon and poached eggs with toast and pesto. It was very tall, and lovely to eat, after it was unstacked. (What is it with Kiwis and stacked food, anyway?)
After breakfast, we went for a walk along the beach. After a while, Jer became curious about the multitude of little holes on the beach. Jess suggested that they might be clams. Using a mussel shell as a shovel, Jer began to dig at one of the larger holes. After a brief while, Jess said that the hole must be empty, but with a final flick, Jer uncovered a little round, brown shell, which quickly sprouted legs and scuttled sideways from the hole. Seeing that it was a cute fiddler crab, Jess started squealing for Jer to put it back in its house. Jer managed to scoop it up and put it back in the hole, loosely covering it with sand, then putting the mussel shell over the enlarged hole to provide some shade for the crab.
We headed off around/across the tidal pool in the Awaroa Inlet, looking for the remains of the Venture (a ship that wrecked here some time ago). Suddenly, Jer realized that we were on the wrong side of Venture Creek, which flows down the hillside, past the tidal pools, and into the sea. While very shallow, the stream is quite wide. Jer found a place where the stream was split by an island, and was able to jump across with only minimal wetness, but Jess would not make it. While she surreptitiously removed her socks in preparation for some wading, he wandered upstream in search of a suitable crossing point. Eventually he found a place with some logs and a multitude of islands, and crossed back to fetch Jess. She protested that she was neither leapy enough for the islands, nor balancy enough for the logs, and tried to remove her shoes. Remembering how hurty the granite sand was the day before, Jer decided to carry her across the islands and stand in the shallower bits to steady her across the logs. They got to the other side with she dry and he only slightly damp.
Victorious over the 6 inch deep stream, we marched over to the remains of the Venture. They were a few rotten sticks poking out of the sand. We then headed up to the Sky Track. The views were quite good, as promised, but we had to hurry, as nature was calling to Jess. Midway through, we took the very steep shortcut back to the lodge (down some difficult stairs cut into the hillside), and both freshened up a bit.
We snacked on some reconstituted dried noodles that we brought over, and relaxed for a bit. Feeling refreshed, we headed out over Tonga Saddle, the hill that lies between Awaroa and Onetahuti (aka Tonga) beach (map). Despite being very up- and down-y and a bit muddy, it was a lovely walk through the forest, with a beautiful sandy beach at the end.
As at Awaroa, Onetahuti beach is crissccrossed by a stream heading into the sea, and Jer again carried Jess over the water, so she could enjoy the beach. There were cute gulls and long orange-billed black birds feeding in the surf. Trying to avoid crossing the stream repeatedly, we picked our way over rocks and under spiky gorse bushes along the edge of the beach, near the deepest part of the stream. While Jer suggested that we turn back and ford the stream in the shallows, Jess (uncharacteristically) insisted that we continue on over the rocks until we regained the path.
On the walk back, we took a detour that led us around Awaroa’s regenerating wetland (which the Lodge is regrowing to its pre-European state). Jer was quite taken with it. Further on, we tried to find the glow worm grotto, but apparently it was too early in the day, so all we saw was a sandy little stream. Back into the wetlands, Jer insisted that we walk along the boardwalk that led out into the marsh. Having shooed several birds off the bench, we sat in the wetlands for a bit before returning to our room for a nice cuppa.
Ventured out again for dinner. We split the lodge bread and dip as an appetizer. The dips were good, but it came with more olives, which were excellent. We both got entrees instead of mains, so as to have room for desert. Jer got the grilled tofu with soba, and Jess got the lamb. The lamb was excellent, the best lamb we had had so far. Bits of it were undercooked to Jess’s taste, and Jer happily dispatched them for her. The tofu was good, though not as good by far as at Capers. Jer had a cabernet sauvignon which was quite drinkable, Jess had a méthode traditionelle sparkling wine, Lindauer Brut, which was very good, sweet at first taste, then becoming dry on the tongue. For dessert, Jess had double nut chocolate torte with fresh vanilla ice cream, berry compote, and cream. It was excellent. Jer had a cheese plate with Kapiti camembert, blue, and cheddar. The double cream camembert was lovely, with a lot of flavor. The blue was tasty and creamy, like the camembert with less rind and more mold. The cheddar was excellent, approaching Vermont’s Grafton Village and Canada’s Black Diamond cheddar. The cheese was served with a fig paste and plum jelly, which were great together. The only downside was that it came with a selection of crackers, instead of bread. Jer managed to stick to the less-flavorful ones, though, and had enough wine left over to make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Dashed through the rain back to our room, and in to bed sometime like 10:30.