The weather must be superstitious, I suppose. Overnight it rained + rained + rained. Our tent, not being up to such things, leaked badly, but fortunately we have our wonderful sleeping bags. Supersacs, they’re aptly named, to keep us warm, so we were still able to sleep well. Val went off to work at the usual hour, of course, but there didn’t seem to be a great deal of point in me doing so – I can’t very well work outside in pouring rain. So I remained where I was. Though not for too long. My soggy state finally got through to me, so I pulled myself out from Supersac’s warm + wet embrace (I can think of a voluptuous simile, but perhaps I’d better not use it), pulled on some dryish clothes, bundled everything together in the middle of the tent, away from the dripping wet walls, + went down the zig-zag path to the kitchen. There I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, + then read. “An Indecent Obsession”! by Colleen McCullough, author of “The Thorn Birds”. Very good it is. Strong. Make a good film. I sat there reading for the rest of the morning. I did consider going to work at 11 when the rain stopped, but then I thought there didn’t seem too much point, as lunchtime had nearly arrived. Besides, the book was very good.
Val returned in due course, + we decided to use the afternoon to go to Paihia, + attempt to buy our tickets for Australia, using the MCOs we’d bought in Costa Rica as part payment. Walked first to the Cascade to collect our wages. Fortunately Frank, the nicest of the 3 policemen staying there, gave us a ride to town. The young lady in the travel agency annoyed us at first by keeping us waiting by chatting away aimlessly to a couple before us, but she turned out to be helpful enough. The situation with the MCO was wait + see tho’ – she had to send it to Air NZ to have it approved.
We performed a couple of chores + then were lucky enough to secure another lift back, with one of the more or less permanent residents of Twin Pines. Cascade work in the evening, of course. But a quiet enough night – no hassles, no problems. Julia had made an apple strudel for the sweet trolley, + I had a piece of that warmed up in the microwave. It was wonderful.
I do have a tendency to avoid work if the opportunity seems to present itself, and today was a good example of that – I could have put in a couple of hours work, but chose to use the rain as a get-out clause. And then chores in Paihia, in particular trying to deal with our till thought-out purchase of MCOs, way back when in Costa Rica.
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