We had breakfast aboard the Rock, haven't had Porridge for yonks, and transferred to the day boat for island hopping on 2 of the 144 islands that make up the Bay of Islands. I can't pronounce either of them, let alone spell them, but they were lovely. It was a bit cold for snorkeling and sea kayaking, but the others got on with it.
As I look round the boat on the way I think what a strange bunch of 18 we are. You've got the old Aussie couple, Max and Mitsy. An old Japanese lady who was travelling on her own and was up for everything. A young English girl who was travelling on her own and was very hard to talk to, I wonder if she's spoken to anyone since she's been away. Briggsy just reckons she doesn't like me. Then we have the Ice Maiden. Then the Gobby Manc and his equally gobby Kiwi bird. Then a young kiwi girl who was very easy to talk to, there wasn't much there. There was the obligatory couple who were married (yeah right they were having an affair). They had been everywhere, done everything and complained about everything. She was a pain in the arse and then when we got to the view at the top of the second Island and she started to her Yoga/Tai Chi excerises in a 'Heh everyone look at me' type of way. She looked like something off the Karate Kid. Her husband/lover said that she does this mental shit sometimes. Briggsy and I could only laugh at her. Next we have the obligatory American couple from Colorado who just took photos of everything. I think they had a barney through the night as they didn't speak during today, in a Briggsy and Bloo kinda way. Next were 3 Jap girls. 1 of them fell down the storage. 1 minute she was on the ladder the she wasn't. It was lucky we had such a thorough health and safety discussion. Basically it was you're all adults oh and the lifebelts are stored under the luggage so I hope we don't need them. It was very funny. As all Japs they know how to pose for a photo. Has they ever been a race of people who go so far out of there way to make themselves look totally unnatural 4 photos. There was the pub guy from Cambridge who was a nice chap. Then some foreign bloke (apparently German). Finally there was this miserable twat.
They were good times, but Briggsy and I just had to look at each to burst into laughter. It helped us get through the day. We were the only 2 with any form of sense of humour and we were also the only one's who didn't make any friends. The tour was excellent value for money and the staff were excellent and despite slating everyone they were really a nice bunch.
Got back to dry land at 16.00 and couldn't find any dorm rooms in town, you see it's easter weekend. Briggsy very kindly offered me room on the floor of her tent. There is something about camping and I haven't done it for years. I even managed to fall asleep when Briggsy was in mid sentence telling me her life story. Apparently I missed all the juicy bits. Damn.
