Surf's Over

A banana sufficed for breakfast as we wanted to get out for the third and final day of surf. The weather was a complete contrast to yesterday's dull start and was beckoning us down to the beach. K took a pass, so it was just me and the pro. Sadly, when we got to "Shark Alley" (fortunately no sharks in evidence), the sea was largely flat with only a few half-foot tall waves languidly rolling in.

We backtracked further east up the coast, but conditions weren't great there either. However, after a reassessment, the pro decreed that we should go in "for a paddle". This turned out to be a foresighted decision, as the waves, though gentle, gradually picked up as the tide started to flow back in. With two days' experience on which to build, balancing on the board started to come a bit more naturally, and I even managed to catch a few unbroken waves and ride them standing up (in between eating the seabed). I hadn't imagined I would be able progress this far by the end of the weekend and owe everything to careful and patient instruction.

To celebrate this fleeting success, we lunched at Provodores "Urban Food Store". It was rather a grand title for a café, but the food was delicious and, especially after a couple of hours in the sea, most welcome. Both K and I chose the vegetarian brunch of poached eggs, slow-roasted tomato, mushrooms, and halloumi on toast.

The cakes in the café looked divine, but I had been generously bought an even better ttreat in the form of a giant Lamington - a typically NZ/Australian cube of sponge whose outside has been infused with a thin chocolate syrup and coated in dessicated coconut.

Lamington

We accompanied our host on a trip into neighbouring Tauranga - whose correct pronunciation I have signally failed to master. While she ran a few errands, K and I walked the "Strand" on the waterfront in the sunshine. Sadly 'Brew' - home of Rotorua's Croucher brewing - was closed.

We whiled away our last evening in Papamoa with our hosts around some good New Zealand wine, kumara chips - made from the starchy sweet potato brought by the Maori from Polynesia - and some more veggie sausages.