5/17 - Man on Beach

I woke up and gave Jona(Yo-Nuh) a call to see if he wanted to hike up the river or maybe trek to
a beach. It is Jona's last day so I thought is would be fun to find some adventure. He recommended a beach called New Chums Beach in Whangapou. I walked up to his Aunt Petra's pottery studio and Jona, Petra, Holly, the dog and I all hopped in the car and headed east over the hills. You have to park at a beach and hike about 300 meters along the rocks and through some bush to reach New Chums. Passing through the beach front bush, I couldn't help but scout the trees and open areas to see where I would build my shelter if I was a castaway. The trail opens up onto an amazing beach with great cliffs, white sand and a nice break. There were four peeps sitting around an acoustic guitar so we said our "g'days" and walked up the beach to find our own plot. The women stripped down to their bikinis(eventually less, for Petra) and that's when I realized I had forgotten my shorts. I wasn't going to let whether or not I had the appropriate wardrobe stand between me swimming in the ocean or not. I stripped down to my knickers and swam in the big blue. The beach was amazing and to ourelves, and it made me glad I was here during the off season.

I got dropped off at the Cafe just as Mehow was setting up for movie night at the cafe. He sets up the white wall and projector and seating for the community come and eat dinner(Dahl) and follow that with some cinema. Tonight it was Man on Wire. You've all seen it and liked it so I don't have to talk about it. I enjoyed it as well and appreciated the passion Dude lived with. I wonder what additional loss he feels after the towers were gone. Seeing that he had a life long emotional connection and personal relationship to those structures.