Day 17 - Mapua, Golf, Massage

Great! Those who read regularly may have noticed that Cordula and I always write in turns without exception. After Cordula's final words from yesterday, it seems that the author battle has been declared. So be it. Let's state a fact: My contributions have been read 153 times so far, while my co-author's have been read 125 times. So! - However, I'm trying to attract readers in a very cheap way with the headline. "Sex sells!", but the story actually comes later.

Today, not much driving was done ;-), but we played golf at the Greenacres Golf Club. It's located on a peninsula in the lagoon and we had high tide around noon, which was very nice - rising water hazards - is that "temporary water" according to the rules? The third golf course in a row that has a driving range but cannot be used by anyone. Somehow strange. Before that, we had breakfast at Albertas and it was actually not enough. But we got full thanks to ordering more. Then off to golf, nice course, kind of in the links style, we played decently and didn't argue. That's it.

On the way back, we stopped in Richmond and had a snack. Cordula is still eating vegetarian, believe it or not. Hats off. On the way back, we also decided not to do anything else today, no hiking, no cycling, no sightseeing, no rafting, no kayaking... NOTHING. We wanted to hang out and relax at our cottage for three to four hours until dinner, just chill. When we arrived, we stopped at the host's house, because there was still high tide in our lagoon, and asked about the available SUP boards. So I went out on the water, while Cordula explored the washroom. After that, we met again in the house and each did our fitness workout. Relaxing and working out at the same time.

Later, we will go to the Apple Shed in Mapua for dinner and see what's going on there for New Year's Eve. If in doubt, we'll be home at 9 p.m. and chill (?).

By the way, two anecdotes:

1. You can see a "fire danger" road sign in the photos. They are everywhere here, but we haven't seen anyone adjusting them; however, they are set differently every day. Furthermore, there are no "end of town" signs here - so you never know when you can speed up again and just rely on the others or a sign eventually appears.

2. At some point during our trip, I wanted to treat myself to a massage because my broken ice hockey arm was hurting so much from all the rough play. We happened to come across a shop with "Chinese Massage" and Cordula said it must be great, they do a lot with pressure points and such. So we went happily inside and were greeted by a lady, apparently Asian (so far so good). But it was more like she was scrutinizing us. She was very well dressed, maybe a bit too fancy with the extremely short dress and all the makeup. Cordula then asked for a massage for my arm, to which she simply said, "No," and gestured for us to leave. In other words: If I had been alone, I probably would have been very welcome and they would have found all the pressure points (!). Well, we just left —— both of us —— together.

Tomorrow we will leave the South Island and take the ferry to Wellington. We wish you all a wonderful transition into the new decade.