Dinner and drunk for NZ$20
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Sunday 10 July 2005
We are finally getting the hang of not doing too much at all!! Today we got up around ten, that’s quite good for us really, I tend not to sleep past 7 or 8 but the more you’re in this climate the more you sleep in and have longer nights.
Today so far we went for a two hour swim at the pool, and reading – I’m reading Neither here nor there. By Bill Bryson and is an account of his travels through Europe. For me reading 15 or so pages is hard work, and it was off to the bar for lunch I ordered the club sandwich and Sarah the beef burger. Now that I write that it almost seems the wrong way around but I’m really getting into the club sandwich over here. It was a bit pricy but we decided that we didn’t want to work anymore as we had been down most of the main road to find this little quant bar that had some westerners in it (this is generally prerequisite when it comes to food). When it arrived I was shocked to see that I had quite a big job on my hands and it took me about half an hour just to eat the dam thing… needless to say by the end I was ready for a siesta. Off to the hotel then!
After a lazy couple of hours reading, writing emails etc, it was time for… you guessed it! Sunset. I decided to oblige Maarty’s photo taking obsession and go parasailing so he could get some good shots. It’s something I have wanted to do for years & I thought what better time to do it than now, when it’s only a few NZ dollars! So within about 2 minutes of getting to the beach I had someone come up to me & say ‘you want parasail?’ For a change I actually said yes to something the hawkers were offering which was quite nice really… & within another 2 minutes I was harnessed up & being told to run till we took off! Maarty did manage to get a couple of photos as this was happening, then I was up, up & away! To be honest, it’s not very comfy being in a harness like that, but the experience was amazing! As you take those couple of steps, the guy that’s going with you jumps on the back & scrambles up above you – no harness, just holding on 100m or so above the water. Once up, he told me to let go, which was something I hadn’t even thought about! But it was a really neat feeling.
The ride lasted about 5minutes or so, then we headed back to land – the coolest feeling of the whole thing was when we suddenly dipped down. It was about then that I finally managed to locate Maarty in his ‘SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT’ t-shirt on the beach & we started heading down. After a smooth landing, I was un-harnessed & free to go. What a rush! And what a perfect time to do it –as per the attached photos you’ll see the gorgeous sunset in the background. From here we decided to go & have a drink while the sun went down – so we went to Lai Mai Restaurant (which seems to be the favourite of everyone here) & sat at their outside bar & ordered a drink. And another. We had a few actually, with a yummy pizza in between. Well when a Long Island Iced Tea (about $12 in NZ) is only $2.80 & a Southern & Coke ($7 in NZ) is even less, wouldn’t you?? So we were rather tipsy by the time we left at the modest time of 8.30! Drinking in this hot climate hits you hard so it didn’t take us long before retiring for the evening!
posted by Maarty @ 9:53 pm,
