Mme Awesome took off for the hot springs in AM. The short of it, I was told some hours later, is the long soak and the walk through bush was lovely.

Zeke woke up maybe when Mme Awesome was first slipping into the pools, and, after some of this and a bit of that, left for the ever wondrous beach walk. The waves, stated simply, continued to be just nuts.

I stood about 5 feet up on rock to safely take this photo. This was a 15 footer.

Later in the day, M J accompanied us back to Sugarloaf for packing. We sat on the picnic bench outside our cabin for who knows how long, unable to pry our eyes away from the waves which at times reached halfway up the sixty foot high island marking midway. Finally we tended to business, packed up and left, headed back to Sparkle Knowle.

En route, we stopped at Bev and Les’ place for a hello. These guys, like Gail, Winnie and Charlie, are true old timers who’ve seen and done what the rest of us may be lucky enough to read in books.

This time, we were treated with the olde tyme way of extracting the especially thick and sticky manuka honey, whose consistency makes the less laborious processes unusable. Les explained how the hives were made, the work involved in getting to the combs and how they were heated to blood temperature to let the deliciousness flow out.

The mega swells must have opened a way for Kaitoke Stream to drain: it had turned into an endless pool overnight. That said, we again made it to the green place, though with considerably more effort.

The Kaitoke Stream swim area.

Somewhere far removed from the hours spent swimming laps in a chlorinated pool, I figured out how to backstroke decently. Especially the kick, which is so similar to walking properly.

Then, back at the house and ready for supper, out of nowhere we were treated to a surprise visit by Winnie and Charlie themselves who even went and got those beautiful books on the night skies and landscape of GBI.

Our final evening walk showcased the waxing crescent moon reflecting off the receding waters and illuminating the beach, wiped clean and reshaped from those awesome waves.

We are exhilaratingly tired and sore from our month of daily activity.

Fun fact: we had no mosquitoes at all during our stay at Sugarloaf. Note that our hosts, perhaps 30 yards away, most certainly did.