Of Laundrettes, Jet Lag and Driving
Monst braves the laundry room tonight. Only a cold wash option and the dryer is dreadful. To the extent that when all are asleep the drying elf comes out and goes and does a last cycle of drying on the clothes that remained damp. Marginal tech hitch is that te reason the others are asleep is that old devil called jetlag. I wake up an hour later sat on the stairs outside the laundry room. Still the clothes are dry!
Cal is up at five, so he's getting better on the sleep front. I read him another chapter of 'How to Train Your Dragon'. Monst mutters dark things about the hour of the day but rises at about 6.30. We load the car and go for breakfast before checking out. Drift up to the Bay of Islands today.
Drive up is uneventful other than it rains. We stop once for a cuppa and a slash but arrive at Piahia around 11.30'ish. Locate the folk who are meant to be taking us to see dolphins to give them the dosh. A harder task than you'd think because there are loads of people at it. Once in the office they warn us that the weather is due to be rougher tomorrow than today so we opt to go on the afternoon trip. Quick sort out of things, lunch of good homemade veg soup for me and we're off on a dual tour round the islands in the Bay of Islands and to find dolphins. The dolphins are having a laugh and aren't about but orca are. Absolutely amazing seeing them in the wild doing their own thing. We learn among other things that the Killer Whale tag is a nonsense, they are in fact dolphins with a mean streak and are at the top of the food chain. Round here they hunt ray in pairs, ripping the things apart and not eating the liver which is poisonous to them. I watched one of the Beebs inumerable nature programmes with Bill Oddie in which he said the world would be a much happier place if people saw whales and marine mammels more often because a boat full of people who've seen them just smile, he's right, happy household. So fail to swim with dolphins but do see orcas, fair trade I'd say.
For Cal though the trip was also about speed. He stands at the front of the boat as we scoot along at a fair lick, jumping up and down every time we hit a particularly big wave, yelling 'Woo Hoo'. Nice to see him happy. The down side is that its still pissing down and one of us has to stand with him for safety's sake. I draw the short straw and get soaked and learn that travelling at speed through rain is like having someone throw fine gravel at your face. Good trip but.
Locate the hotel and dump the stuff and get changed into dry togs. Warm up with a quick shower and then head for dinner. Opt for a chinese. Portions are huge, about double the size of a portion at home but we have beef in a black peepercorn sauce and chicken in black bean sauce with garlic, topped of with a special fried rice. Too much food but it is excellent. Top stuff. Back to the hotel an early night.
