To our surprise + mild dismay, we weren’t the only ones who had decided to take a day off from walking + laze around Awaroa hut. One set of companions, accompanying us from the first hut, 3 mothers with 3 daughters, had left 4 of their number behind. They were nice people, but overwhelming, + tho’ they shared their food with us, we would rather have had the hut to ourselves + no food. Still, it was a good day, a lazy day. I read, + finished my book, P G Wodehouse’s “Performing Flea” + then set to work on a macramé bracelet, the first for months, + we sat + drank tea. The only other day-stayer, a young Dutchman called Caspar, contributed some flour + yeast, + one of the ladies baked some bread. And for most of the day, the place was ours. Of course, as the estuary waters rolled away, the people trickled in, but at least they were new people, different voices to listen to. One of these voices was loud + brash, an extrovert young Canadian lady, + tho’ a little of her would go a long way, that little was welcome. Andy turned up too, with Kirsten, his young German lady. Half our hopes were dashed straight away tho’, for altho’ he had offered us a ride out of the park, Kirsten had offered a ride to 2 Germans they had met. Our rivals were noble, as were we, but our nobility was stronger, + we demurred while they got the ride. For the other, + more important side of our hopes, there was better news. We fixed a definite time + date to meet Andy in Nelson. The evening we spent pleasantly, playing crib… even tho’ we did lose. Crib by candlelight is a whole new game.
Various encounters and lazy activities, but culminating in a game of crib – what could be more splendid? Moderately unusal to find others who know the game, so this was an opportunity not to be missed.
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