"Breadclips, bro" is what he yelled at me. Lio didn’t quite understand what he was talking about but I felt like Archimedes sitting in his bathtub and yelling out eureka! They had seen me stumbling around on my broken jandals. You know when the string between your toes gets pulled through the sole all the time. I had been pondering over a way to fix them, knowing there is one but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. When he gave the answer to the million-dollar question I couldn’t help feeling a bit stupid. Why didn’t I think of that?
In Trounson Park we met a Dutchman who invited us for a nightly walk around the park to spot Kiwi birds. We heard many, saw none but had a great night nonetheless. Must’ve been a comical sight for any night dweller seeing us stumble through the dark with just a tiny red light.
My friend Daniel was so good to invite us to his home in Pukehina, right on the beach, and treat us to the biggest mussels we had ever seen. In Belgium we call ours ‘Jumbo’ but they’re only peanuts in comparison with the green lipped mussel of New Zealand. Grilled or in fritters, it didn’t matter much to us. They were delish!
In Plimmerton we were invited in to the home of Koen & Bettina and their family. They moved from Belgium to New Zealand 4 years ago and although we had never met them before we were more than welcome to spend the night, have dinner, take a shower, do some washing. We had a lovely day with Bettina and the kids , having pizza at the beach and walking around the beach collecting beautiful Paua-shells. For those who don’t know Paua, it’s a dreamy, amazingly colourful shell. You can find lots of jewellery in NZ with Paua shell glitters in it.
The thing about travelling is that it gets you in touch with people you’d normally never talk to. We both enjoy the time we spend with each other to the fullest but sometimes it can get a bit lonely with just the two of us. Whether it’s a young fellow who sees you struggling with a map and points you in the right direction, an old man who suggests the less touristy hot pools you’d otherwise never find or an elderly woman who takes the time to ask you about your holidays and how you’re going, you get a certain feeling of belonging and it makes your holiday so much better.
