Paradise Found

It was a bit of a rough morning, I was tired as all get out, and there was a particularely windy stretch of raod through some mountains that made me feel a bit queasy. We took the South Highway 2, which goes up towards Napier (on the east coast), to Masterton, where we bought some food to have a picnic: salami, ham, cheese, bread, butter, juice, bananas, and some chocolate covered almonds. Masterton is a quaint little town, in the east and middle of the southern part of the North Island (heh say that five times fast!), famous for it's wine and vineyards, my kind of place. We joked about tasting some wine, but we moved on as we still had another hour and a bit before we would arrive at our destination. It was down a twisting gravel road that passed through some massive sheep stations. Maa'aan those sheep were everywhere! At one point, there was even one running down the road, scared for it's life. We sang songs (The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Disney, etc.) and listened to Kieth's stories to keep ourselves entertained on the drive, stopping for lunch at an old station house/shack. I managed to snap a quick picture of the door, turquoise paint peeling, before, rather unfortunately, my camera died. There was a stream running through the property we were on, which Kieth's friend owns I guess. It was a great little stop for lunch, and I saw some wool hanging off a bush across the creek, and me, being ever a collector of odd mementos, jumped across and retrieved it.

We packed up our picnic and jumped back in the van for another twenty odd minutes, until (at last!) we rounded a bend and laid eyes upon the most breath taking place I have ever seen: Gropu-Pahau. I will try to use words, but I feel pictures are probably the best way to understand what I'm talking about. The sunlight glinted off the waves crashing onto the sandy beach that stretched between two outcrops of limestone (?) rock. Due to tectonic movements, these rocks had been thrust up through the sand, and there they sat, like a poorly stacked deck of cards, absorbing the sheer and awesome power of the sea. Like kids, we ran down to the water, then tried to sprint away from the foam that washed up with every wave. It was a hopelessly fun excercise, to say the least. I got to play photographer while Ann climbed the rocks further away, and from where we were standing she looked about an inch tall, while Hilary opted for the rocks closest to us. They were able to see a seal out in the water from their respective vantage points, although I was able to catch glimpses of its head. I went for a wander down the beach and found a sweet piece of dried seaweed that I seriously contemplated taking home to use as a beard when we dressed up to support the home team. However, I wasn't sure if you're allowed to take things from beaches, or if I really should be removing it from the environment, so I left it. Ah well, I took some pictures to remember :). So yeah, we just hung out at this beautiful spot and took in the beauty of it; the blue water, the white sand, the bleached driftwood (there were massive piles of it), and the green of the hills behind us was so intense, I almost thought we should be in Ireland! Of course there were sheep there too. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to talk about the fishing! I took a few casts, but we didn't end up catching anything, not that it mattered because just to have been there, to have seen it, was enough.

We left around 3pm and made it back to Wellington by about 5:30 or 6pm. On the drive home, both Hilary and Ann passed out, so besides their snores (especially Ann's!), it was a quiet one. Kieth invited us over for dinner, however we decided to decline because we had to get our poop in a group to be ready to leave early the next morning for Napier, and the Canada-Japan game. After a couple loads of laundry, a sandwhich, and waiting for my camera to charge while pratiquer mon francais avec une fille qui vient de france, I called 'er a night around 1am.