No Jokes About Foul Wind, Please!

REEFTON. 13 NOVEMBER 2024.

We enjoy breakfast outside the chalet in the sunshine. We drive to Cape Foulwind then walk to the seal sanctuary. Can you spot the seal basking on the rock at the bottom of the photo?

We walk back to the car and meet a group of year 9 students planting trees as part of their Environmental Studies course. We stop at Donaldo’s cafe in Carter’s Bay for coffee. The cafes in NZ don’t have toilets for the public. But there are plenty of public ones. A woman is cleaning one nearby. She tells Rosie that she is a volunteer supporting the weekly council cleaning.

We’re staying in a former nurses home in Reefton. We walk around the village and find a litre of wine for £5. So we sit in the garden enjoying a glass or two.

The hotel also houses workers from the local coal mines. One tells us of a local bar where the food is good. Rosie has a roast dinner and Paul fettuccine. It’s great value,

Before bedtime, we talk to a 83 year old tour guide who is driving three ladies around the island. Hope for all of us, yet.