We left Tauranga and drove a few hours north to Auckland. There weren't many places open because it was another New Zealand holiday, Waitangi Day, pretty much the equivalent to the US's Fourth of July. It's the day that the Treaty was signed, the document stating NZ's partnership with the British Empire. After going to a mall, we headed to the Air B&B we booked. We were drawn to it because the description included the words "pool" and "kayaks". We got there and it was the cutest home ever. Our big room was downstairs, had its own bathroom, a big bed, and was tastefully decorated. It also had a coffee maker and double doors out to the patio and pool. First things first, we went for a dip. We laid on the blow-up loungers in the pool and soaked up the hot sun. Heaven.
Then we went down the road to a liquor store and bought our guilty pleasure: cruisers -strong mixed drinks in a can. Back at the house, I got the scoop about the Super Bowl that was going on from another one of the guests. Then the three of us girls ended up talking to another guest, she was an older lady from Washington DC and told us about her interesting life. We played in the pool for a long time. Cassela and I had a water fight with a few squirt guns and we continued drinking. Cassela, the professional shotgunner, taught us how to chug beverages with ease. More shenanigans in the pool then we went back to the store for tequila....bad idea.
Back at the house, we walked down to the water, which was almost at low tide (another mistake). We floated around in the inlet and were marveled at all the small clams that littered the ocean floor below us. We attempted to catch the sunset out there and then we tried to come back to the dock at very low tide... Our common sense was overtaken by our strong headedness and we were stranded out in the dark, struggling to get back, and on the slippery mud and the clam-covered ground that was now exposed. We fell many times and we were practically mangled by the sharp clams and finally, we came back to the house covered in mud. We rinsed off and climbed into bed.
