At the end of the Bay

 Collingwood

Saturday 20 January

Once again, I am first to awaken. I quietly made my morning coffee, trying not to disturb Saffy as it was barely 6 am. When I had drunk all my coffee and used the loo, I decide to bravely venture down to the beach and watch the sunrise. I gently sneaked out the door of our motel unit and walked towards the beach. The whole town was sleeping apart from the staff in the Courthouse Café which was, as Saffy declared on our arrival, “ a new café in the old Courthouse, how quaint.”  “That will be OUR café,” I added, “ after all, it is just across the street.”  And much to our delight, we did look directly on to it from the back door of our unit. There delicious aromas of hot bread, warm cake and either meat pies or sausage rolls wafting towards me as I scurried past to get to the beach and my longed-for sunrise. Would there be anyone else at the beach, I thought to myself. Or would I be the lone watcher of a fiery sunrise?

I was the lone watcher on the beach but after half an hour, with my camera ready in my hand and several false starts from the sun attempting to pierce the heavy clouds, I admitted defeat and decide that there would only be a sun-glow not a rise this morning from the sun. Undeterred, I took some photos and a few short videos that would later be made into a vlog, then  I had a quick paddle in the slightly chilly ocean. The hills were still shrouded by impenetrable clouds but I captured a few shards of a rainbow so that gave me hope for the coming days. I continued to walk along the beach once again murmuring to myself, “where am I? where am I going?” (the Saffy Donut mantra) as I truly did not know, but it was warm and the glow of the rising sun threw a marmalade hue upon the sand as I made my way towards a lush outcropping of native bush. I eventually found the end of a different road that would lead me back to town but from a new direction. I strode along this road, singing good morning to the local residents who were just emerging from their houses, sitting on decks or benches, enjoying a morning beverage or breakfast. I managed to grab a shot of  the gorgeous dahlia bed trumpeting colour against the glowering early morning skies. I was beginning to feel  a bit hungry so quickened my pace back to our unit. People were moving around outside the other units when I got back with some people packing their vehicles and preparing to leave. I shared my sunrise disappointment with Saffy whereby she chuckled and suggested that maybe the next morning might prove more spectacular.

After our breakfast, Saffy set about studying and writing her final assignment for her Masters in creative writing. She had taken over the whole top floor of our unit, setting up her “office” on one of the beds. I was relegated to downstairs as I woke up so bloody early and I needed to be close to the kettle for brewing my morning café. I went off in search of a proper coffee plunger from the hotel manager and was delighted to find a big red one.  After a few hours we decided it was now time to visit our friendly neighbourhood café where we were told by the server that they were closing early because today the annual A & P Show was being held in Takaka and the staff were being given the afternoon off to attend. We were delighted to hear they were having the afternoon off and wished them well at the show. Besides which, we only wanted  cake and coffee. I chose a large slice of apple and rhubarb crumble cake which we shared along with very strong but delicious coffees. For me to find coffee “strong” is most unusual and I felt that I had met my match and looked forward to drenching myself with this strong brew the next day. The cake was delicious, with both of us wishing we’d gotten two pieces and bugger sharing.

The rest of the day was spent lazing around in our motel unit with me deciding to resubscribe to Netflix so I could binge watch some decent dramas as the TV  in our unit provided only a handful of dismal channels. Before dinner, I went for a walk up the steepest hill in town to see if could find a lookout point with a panoramic view of the Bay. It took me some time to discover where the track was to the lookout point and by then I was tired and hungry but at least I now knew where to go on my next exploration. Saffy and I enjoyed dinner by the estuary that evening, and also a glass of rather nice wine from Nelson.  The sun was now a roaring ball of fire and is it sank behind the dark and towering hills that guarded the estuary, we raised our glasses to us and the end of our third day in the Bay.