Lazy morning and mid-day hike to Cleopatras Pool.

Today is uniformly grey with a steady light drizzle in the morning. David takes an early morning run back in the direction from which we kayaked yesterday, passing in front of a number of private houses and up a quickly rising hill. From the top, he sees the sweep of Torrent Bay and the numerous solar panels on most houses below, continues on over Glasgow Stream and Kirby Stream for about a half-hour, and returns along the same mud-slick trail. After breakfast, we decide that the hustle of loading and unloading canoes was not worth 45 minutes in rain.  So, we are having a lazy morning and plan to hike to the spot on our own.  Tomorrow is a long day of kayaking or hiking as one chooses.  We will go by sea.

In the afternoon Cynthia and David hike an hour or so south down a lovely wooded path that skirts a tidal inlet, winding up at Cleopatra’s pool. The hike is just the two of us, which is nice, but the trail must be a popular one because we see maybe 50 people coming and going … greater numbers than we’ve encountered on ANY trail yet in either island.

When we return to our lodge, Cynthia realizes that her phone is dead and attempts to find a remedy.  It is a slow process offering little encouragement.  We will arrive in Nelson Saturday afternoon after stores and repair shops are closed.  The only Apple repair store in the region is closed on Sundays and after Sunday we will be two hours away.  Our last night with the group is somewhat clouded by frustration.  But, we pack for the next day and get some sleep.

Travel can oft’ times be confusing, even for the most organized and thoughtful tramper. We forgot to mention … because it seemed of absolutely no importance at the time … that David in bare feet stepped on a rock just under the sand beneath the stairway to the Meadowbank Lodge as we arrived. It hurt, it bled a little from two cuts right in his arch. He runs up mountainous tracks the next morning, goes hiking, kayaks a bit; everything seems fine until three days later when we’re about to leave our second Abel Tasman lodge. David’s cuts are slightly pink and burn a bit. So we get some antibiotic spray and antibiotic cream and large bandaids from the lodge staff and David lies on the bed while Cynthia goes into the bathroom to wet a towel so she can spray the arch, wipe it clean, apply the cream and slap on a bandaid.

The cuts are tender as she wipes away the spray and they sting when she applies a green gel from the tube in her hand and firmly stretches the bandaid across the gel-covered cuts. David is slightly concerned and goes to the lodge’s bar for a G&T. As he’s waiting for the barmaid to assemble ingredients, he ponders on the color of the still seriously stinging antibiotic gel underfoot … and has … another epiphany (though minor compared to his previous five).

He walks back to his bedroom and looks at the sink in the bathroom. On one side of the spigot is the tube of antibiotic cream, on the other is Cynthia’s tube of Prevident extra-strength fluoride toothpaste, which has that designer-green gel.

My Florence Nightingale!