Ollie & Ruby were so excited, Ollie especially as Poppa had skyped the night before & had shown him the tyre swing in the tree beside us. It was the first thing they both raced for.
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| Panoramic view of the reserve |
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| Hubcap Heaven- cribs at the end of the road |
A woman had arrived just after the family in her horse float with two dogs & a horse on board and it turned out that Rachel knew her from work. Irene frequently came to this reserve to stay; she is friends with the neighbouring farm owners and rides over their farm & she told us that there were often sealions & seals on the rocks at the point. We didn't find any on this walk but we later saw a sealion pulling itself out of the water and up into the dunes on the far side of the estuary near the mouth. The tide was on its way in so we weren't able to check it out, plus it would have been another long walk back across the soft sandflats.
Looking back across the tidal sand flats towards the camp. The estuary reaches around the trees in the middle and would be another 3 rimes this size. The sand was fairly firm to walk on although there were a few soft patches.
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| Poppa leads the way around a rocky patch |
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| The estuary mouth & Haldane Bay, Catlins |
At the rocky point there was plenty of bull kelp growing on the rocks & swirling back & forward in the tidal surge.
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| Heading for home |
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| But not before a slide in the sand |
By mid-afternoon the sun made an appearance & after a bite to eat we took the kids down to the water for a swim. Well, a paddle & a play on the boogie boards. Dad got a good workout running back & forward skimming them across the water.
Back at the camp & getting ready for a BBQ dinner we
were in for another lovely surprise. The family from the farm had been on an
outing to Curio Bay for the afternoon & especially to get a fish 'n chip
dinner from the well-known caravan that plies it trade there during the summer.
They called in for a visit on their way home. And so once again, as well as saying goodbye to them yesterday, we said another hello!
And secondly, I forgot to mention the wonderful freshly baked bread that Rachel ha made for us many times while we were in Invercargill and as if to reiterate this fact she sent us away on Monday with a lovely warm loaf to enjoy when we got to camp. There's nothing quite like the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the house and it's intensified greatly in the small space of the fifth-wheeler so every time we opened the door on the way up the coast we got a promise of things to come.
After the BBQ there was a discussion on who was going to tidy up with David saying to count him out as he had cooked the sausages. This provided me with the opportunity of fishing out this little item that I have kept for many years on a scruffy sheet of paper in my keepsakes. I had actually lost it for quite awhile and only came by it again when I was packing up the house. Never a truer word said!
A Mans Barbecue-
Definition of Outdoor Barbecuing: It's the only type of
cooking a "real" man will do: when a man volunteers to do the
cooking, the following chain of events is put into motion.
1) The woman goes to the store.
2) The woman fixes the salad, vegetables & dessert.3) The woman prepares the meal for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensiles, and takes it to the man, who is lounging beside the grill, drinking a beer.
4) The man places the meat on the grill.
5) The woman goes inside to set the table & check the vegetables.
6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning.
7) The man takes the meat off the grill & hands it to the woman.
8) The woman prepares the plates & brings them to the table.
9) After eating, the woman clears the table & does the dishes.
10) The guests congratulate the man for his excellent cooking & he takes a bow.
11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed "her night off". And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women.
