April 8 - Brook - I think this morning must have been the latest I've slept-in in the last 4 years. I think I've figured out this "rest" thing. After a lovely breakfast I had a nice slow morning. We were planning the afternoon around low-tide and Tuatua gathering. A Tuatua is a New Zealand shell fish that lives just below the sand at the low tide water line. So at low tide 2:30pm today we were all prepared in our "togs" (bathing suits) and buckets in hand we walked the beach to the secret location of the Tuatua's. Each person collecting can only harvest 50 but there is no license or permit required. We all were having a great time wiggling down into the sand with our feet, then feeling the hole with our fingers until we had a handfull of tuatua's. Since we are only allowed 50 each we would throw the smaller ones back. This was going well and was quite fun, occasionally getting soaked by a rogue wave. Then.... I picked up what I thought was a hand full of tuatua's but I couldn't figure out why they were squirimg in my hand. I had learned that the tuatua's have a tounge that sticks out when they are first plucked from the water and sometimes they spit water out, but this was different. As I picked it up I realized I had got a crab!!!!! I think I must have sounded like a child when I screamed and threw it back and jumped out of the water. Oh well, after that I'm sure it wasn't seaweed I kept feeling around my feet, all of a sudden there were crabs everywhere, or at least that is what I thought. After a while I got my nerve back and dug right back in there until we had reached our limit.

My afternoon was completed by a lovely nap. Then it was off to another one of the host families house for a lovely BBQ. It was a clear and beautiful night.