Today started with long showers which meant I could catch up with my blogs but had to put off my run! The photo is a memory of our trek - the beach at Masons Bay - lots of clean golden sand. If people don't want to trek in they can fly - they land the planes on the beach - but you have to choose low-tide arrivals! The other memory -the sand fly bites required germolene during the night and were still itchy during the day requiring additional hydrocortisone cream applications - slow improvements throughout the day except when we went into town - the act of putting on socks and then walking generated intense irritation for both of us - the heat we produced must antagonize the bite! While in town we put petrol in the car, at the sole pump, to replace what we had used - the lady in charge of the pump empathised with the bites and said it was a hazard of Stewart island!
We visited the gift shop, then stopped off at the Creperie for a coffee and shared a lovely homemade fudge slice , one each would have been too much .....we learnt that apparently the hotel restaurant had been overwhelmed with visitors wanting meals - a 2-3 hour wait after ordering! Luckily we had everything we needed back at the cottage. We returned to the cottage and as it was still dry I decided to go for a 25 minute run around Horseshoe bay - 1.5km each way around the bay - it was quite refreshing and set me up for dinner. We spent the evening sorting out our stuff for tomorrow's departure, watching tv and importantly watching the Kakas come and go from our balcony - on their third appearance I did give them a few peanuts to share- they hold the nuts in their claws and are really, whatever the bird equivalent is to, dexterous and their plumage is truly amazing to look at, the colours should be the basis of next years autumn or winter fashions!