A wonderful relaxed night, then breakfast – bread, jam + coffee (marvellous.) Chatted briefly with Felix, our next-door neighbour, + borrowed a Jimmy Cliff tape from him. We then took the short walk to the point – a great place, huge grey lumps of volcanic rock all stacked up, a cool breeze to keep off the bugs, + patches of grass to lie on. Every so often, a really big wave would come booming in against the rocks, + throw up a huge sheet of water into the air. We sat there, naked, reading, writing, listening to music, + shortly thereafter Dave joined us – we’d told him where we were going. To our surprise (+ delight) he’d brought a lunch of bread + cheese with him, so that was where we spent most of the day. He left sometime in the afternoon to attend to some correspondence – he does a lot of that – + Val + I went down to the breakwater again for a swim.
When we returned, Bernadette was there, along with Ingrid, her daughter. B is a Swiss cum Canadian, + has been travelling round the South Pacific for 3 months or so. In fact, she immediately preceded us in our present camp-site – she’d shown Dave + he’d shown us. She is very adventurous, has travelled much, + just returned from a trip to the other side of the island. Ingrid is 5, + to my mind spoilt + precocious. They too, hopefully, are going to Papeete on the copra boat.
Collected some wood, + then supper, a wonderfully filling concoction of various canned vegetables, + then a tin of pears. After that, we lay around the camp-fire, and sang.
Life certainly did feel good then. Beautiful surroundings, lovely weather, good food, great companions, and freedom.
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