We hadn’t gone to bed all that late last night, but we still didn’t manage to get up all that early. We wanted to take a trip out to visit Mt Monganui, but item one on the agenda was packing up a box of gear to send home. We didn’t have any trouble at all filling really quite a sizeable box, with hats, clothes we wanted to keep but didn’t want to carry, + the usual pile of posters + photos + brochures. It’s going to take ages, (but should be fun), sorting all this lot out when we get home.
We got a ride into town again – we’re getting better – + spent quite a bit of time juggling the contents of a couple of parcels to get the best value out of stamps, + then wrapping them up, + waiting for the man to slap on all the different stamps in his book. This done, we were at last free to head over to Mt Monganui, an imposing lump of rock across the harbour from the marina, but about 15 miles around by road. We’d planned to go over by ferry, but discovered that we had an over-hefty wait, so decided to take the bus. A long + tedious ride followed, winding around the houses, but we arrived eventually, fortified ourselves with a yogurt + a chocolate bar, + then strolled over to the Mount. I had the impression that it was far later than in fact it was, so altho’ we started to climb it, I was very uneasy about the whole thing, since I didn’t want to miss the last ferry back at 4.20, + have to take the bloody bus. I was pretty stupid about the whole thing really, + since Val wanted to push on up to the top, I left her to it + told her I’d meet her in the teashop down at the bottom. The laugh ws certainly on me tho’ – when I got down there not only was it still early, but also the shop which advertised itself on its billboard as a teashop no longer was. So I went + sat at a picnic table outside, gazed up at the Mount, + let waves of self-pity wash over me. Just at that moment, I felt as if I had accomplished nothing, that I could accomplish nothing. Fortunately, I then remembered another teashop next to the Ferry terminal, so I cheered myself up by walking along there. It was excellent – I managed to get a pot of tea, with 3 cups worth in it, for 50c, + I sat + sipped + wrote my diary + waited for Val. She turned up after about half an hour, having successfully managed her climb + coming down again via a different, more attractive path. I think she was a bit annoyed with me, but after about another 40 mins the ferry came. We were the only passengers on it, + it was a real Spartan affair – all wooden benches in a wooden shack on the water. And it was so cold. During the day there had been some weak sunshine which had knocked the chill off, but now with evening coming along, it was freezing. We ran over to the library to see Jinty – Val wanted to ask her the local procedure for getting the pill. An archivist might seem a strange person to ask, but it seemed better to try someone we knew rather than a stranger. She wasn’t really able to offer any constructive advice, but she did offer us first, a ride home, + then, instead, fish + chip supper at her house. I accepted the latter, fish + chips being so attractive, thus putting off all the jobs we needed to do in order to be able to leave tomorrow, as we planned. In fact, the fish + chips were somewhat indifferent, but the evening was a pleasant one. Val played the piano a little, + the evening couldn’t be prolonged upon this occasion, since we hadn’t brought our marina key out with us, so like a couple of Cinderellas, had to be back by 8. As it turned oujt, we were driven back at about ten to eight, + tho’ the main gate was still open, someone had been a bit precipitous, + locked up our gate. David + JInty had to shoot out again to avoid being locked in, while Val + I had to peruse the problem of being locked out. In fact, it wasn’t a great problem – Val was able to swing round the outside of the burglar-proof gate, + fetch the key for me. Then bed.
So I managed to mess things up pretty thorough;ly, with my stubborn assertion that I was right… all the worse when it was proved that I very clearly wasn’t. Interesting that we were somehow managing such items as contraception – I have no idea how we (or more specifically Val) had been managing things all this time.
Seem to be using the word “pleasant” a lot at present, which does accurately reflect our life at this time. After the combined excitement and tedium of the past six months or so, we were happy enough for some pleasant domesticity.
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