The ship was still loading and the regular thunderous claps of falling lumber combined with the waves and morning birdsong meant I was out running as the sun came up. On my return from my sandy excursion we breakfasted and headed out of town. Our plans of a morning shop were curtailed by everything bring shut as it was good friday so we continued North.

The road twisted and turned, descending into the bottom of the meandering Waioeka canyon. We paused mid way along to walk to try and see the river and to share a timely Kindersurprise. The toy was a slightly creepy rabbit Chinese lantern type affair, he became our mascot for the day. We passed swiftly through Opotiki and Whakatane, failing to book accommodation or a trip to the White Island. We arrived at the sand dunes of Matata to be given the last site on the plot and were very grateful for it. The beach was just 10 metres away and we settled down in the sunshine with the travel guides to plan our final week.

It was very unusual to see the Kiwis next to us sitting still without a forest of huge beach rods. The only time we saw them move was to stop a pair of saddleless Maori horsemen cantering over what appeared to be crab lines protruding from the front of their quad. All was seen revealed when they started winching in what turned out to be a 2km bread and butter line! There must have been 100 dangling lines, at least a dozen of which were wriggling with substantial, meaty fish and all of this apparatus had been towed out by a plucky little remote controlled boat! Ingenious!

A little later on an ominous fin appeared in the shallows, right in the breakers, a 2m long shark could obviously smell where the lazyline had brought its catch ashore and had arrived too late for a free meal. It was very cool but unsettling to watch it cruising up and down the shallows, the Kiwis continued swimming... We had crisps and beers on the beach followed by pasta with courgettes and tomato sauce. A quick walk over the dunes after the washing up was done showed an army of lazy lines out to sea along the coast and the full moon lit up the gently cresting waves.