A Coastal Sojourn

We drove over the hill, a route we know well, pleased that there was no gale on this sometimes treacherous road, before we dropped down into the Wairarapa, dropping again into the Martinborough valley plains, full of dairy farms and olive groves and grapevines, where we stopped at a vineyard with a food truck, the Gnocchi Bros, offering a delicious sage and gorgonzola gnocchi, that we discovered paired perfectly with the vineyard’s Sauvignon Blanc, before we piled back into the car, this time in a convoy of friends, driving east towards the coast and the Pacific Ocean, along winding farm roads, then more slowly along a gravel road, some of it high above a river, erosion cutting into roadside, before we arrived at the coast, a small settlement, and a comfortable new bach (holiday home) with spectacular views of the ocean and the rocks and the hills to the north and the south, where we promptly unpacked and took off for a walk, taking advantage of the unusual lack of seaside wind to clamber around rocks, disturb sleeping seals, take selfies, chat, wander through a grassy paddock right on the seashore, listen to the waves and the rolling stones, look at the unique rocks and collect some of them for our gardens, and later, relax, chat, drink wine, and in a fit of enthusiasm, move the dining table out onto the expansive deck where we ate dinner, watched the sunset and the sliver of a moon that rose and set and, by now wrapped in blankets against the night’s chill, drinking warming tea in the dark, the stars appeared above us – oh, the stars; they twinkled and some fell, there were more than these city-dwellers could have imagined, and it was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

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