I got up to find Hazel busy in the kitchen making preparations for dinner; veges were chopped, meat was prepared, everything! All the breakfast things were laid out for me as well. I felt awfully as if I was putting her to extra trouble, but seeing as it was all done thought the best way to make all her efforts worthwhile was to utilise their fruits to their fullest extent, so I had toast and cereal and fruit and tea for breakfast.
Happily my clothes had mostly dried overnight and after breakfast I was able to dress and we all set off in the car to explore Blenheim. Stewart drives a shuttle part time so he knows all the roads intimately. He took us out down a long stretch of road lined with loads of new subdivisions (niether Hazel or I could believe how many) down to a park at Te base of the hills from which numerous walking and mountain bike tracks set out. I however am having a zero today so we stayed in the car and drove on, all the way out to a honey shop in the middle of nowhere. Bees were buzzing through the air as we crossed the carpark and went into the small shop. We made a bee-line (pun intended) for the tasting stand where, I was surprised to find, my favourite honey was the cheapest, and hat for the record, I'm not a fan of manuka honey. Give me the sweet, clear and nectary honey every time! I guess that means I'm no honey connoisseur. Oh well.
While we were there a local guy came in and filled up a pail from the handle-pull honey dispensers on the wall. Hazel settled for a small jar of her favourite and I bought nothing at all...fortunately saving both weight and money! While Hazel was paying the phone rang, and then a couple of guys showed up that had 'potential foreign export customer' written all over them and the poor woman behind the counter--who had the air of a PA rather than a shop girl--was obviously torn between serving local customers and giving the potential business clients the welcome they no doubt expected. I pitied her a bit. Happily the phone call was easily dealt with, we didn't dawdle about paying, and she was then free to take the clients through to see the boss without leaving them to long. The demands of a growing small business...
After the honey shop we checked out the aerospace museum (a place to go back to when I've got more willing museum feet) before heading back into town. We went to the Railway Station Cafe for lunch; it's a combined French-Kiwi affair offering traditional French food with a Kiwi twist. The staff all had French accents and as you might expect, the food was delicious! The patrons seemed to fall into two categories: locals out for a nice get-together lunch (the minority) and backpackers of all shapes and ages but each toting one or more large backpacks. A few more were milking around outside and I hazarded a guess we were in the middle of intercity coach and coastal train arrival and departure times.
After lunch we went shopping for groceries and I swung by the chemist to try and get some cream for my ankles. They've been coming out in red blotchy hives for several days (ever since I last strapped my feet) and don't seem to be getting any better. I'm hoping it's simply the glue I'm allergic to has spread through my socks and that washing them now will solve the problem, but just in case I thought I'd try getting something to put on them as well. I've already exhausted my limited supply of antihistamines just trying to get to sleep without scratching the skin off my feet, which have been dangling out the end of my sleeping bag for days as the heat inside only makes the itching worse. Fortunately the lady at the chemist was able to recommend a cream to put on them. I'm dubious but I hope it works! I also restocked my supply of Aquatabs; a lot of people on the trail are getting by without treating their water but personally I think treating water on trail is a definite case of it's better to be safe than sorry!
Back home we had a cup of tea and Uncle Stewart had a nap while I tried in vain to catch up on some blogging--it just gets away on you so fast! Even using Stewart's computer to type it proved to be a slow process as I still can't type up my journal verbatim but have to process the notes as they jog my memory and figure out what an earth to write. I hope you're appreciating this Mum ;)
Around 5 o'clock the dinner guests began to arrive. As well as Judy and Duncan, their daughter Caitlyn, and their crazy boxer Belle, friends of Stewart and Hazel's, Ngaire and Graeme also came. They are super-keen hikers and were extremely interested in the trail, where it goes and my experience of it. They've walked a lot of the South Island sections before and were able to get me suitably eager to walk them myself. I'm a little apprehensive about the next few sections as parts of them are supposed to be quite difficult, but we'll see how we go--one step at a time!
Hazel out did herself with corned beef and veges for dinner and I gladly went back for seconds even though I don't normally like corned beef. Then while Hazel was distracted with conversation Caitlyn and I muscled in to so the dishes; I'd tried the night before but Hazel wouldn't let me. Caitlin's a senior at high school and it turns out loves travelling and last year went on a council-sponsored trip to Japan. Naturally then we had loads of non-trail stuff to talk about as we washed and dried, shortly under Hazel's discerning gaze.
After an evening of great conversation all round everyone headed home or to bed. I packed up my things as best I could to help streamline the morning and finally flopped into bed around 10 o'clock. Mmmm bed...I'm going to miss you! It's going to be worth it though--bring on the Pelorus River!
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