I should have mentioned in the last section that the day we went wine tasting was about 90 degrees outside. Initially, we thought this was fantastic, but as I continued to dehydrate myself in various ways, it soon became apparent that it was too hot for us, as well as for the pinots.

After the craptastic English pub (and I’m not being mean here––T agrees it was crappy), we went north to Havelock. We couldn’t find the place we wanted to stay, so we followed a road into the hills for approx 375 miles. When you’re only going 35 miles, everything seems longer. We arrived at a campsite that had a sign saying the owners weren’t around, but we should pick a site. We did, and then we went ‘sploring. Behind the campsite was the most beautiful clear river I have seen in a long time (though it is entirely possible it seemed this way because I was not only still a little tipsy, but also sweaty and dehydrated).

The owners were down there, basking in the waning sun and SWIMMING in the cold, lovely water. They also had not one but TWO English pointer dogs, but only one was interested in love, so the other was dead to me. They told us to swim. Being obedient, we did. It was glorious. Don’t get me wrong–it wasn’t warm, but on a day like that, warm is totally unnecessary. The only problem was the BUGS, which appeared in a new form: sandflies, which suck blood from your body as YOU SIT THERE AND WATCH THEM. Bastards!

After swimming, we enjoyed a delightful and romantic dinner of spaghetti O’s and hot dogs, and a game of Scrabble that I clearly won because I am Scrabble Mary. It should be mentioned that this campsite was very quiet, with only us, some Germans, two other sets of women, and a tent with two teenaged girls who were either high, bored out of their minds or socially stunted, because they played hide and seek and played skipping games for ages.