McCrackens Rest

Great start to the day - I conquered Monkey Island.  At low tide the island is accessible so after coffee #1, off I went.  I think the ascent took me about.........40 seconds!  At an altitude of (at a guesstimate) somewhere between 5 and 10 metres it was a tough workout ;)  Back to base to celebrate with coffee #2 :D

The drive to Tuatapere was slow (no surprises there) with a few stops.  I wanted to make another attempt to capture the fantastic crashing waves at Gemstone Beach (extras) and found myself doing a little people watching too.  On to McCracken's Rest - a layby with a great viewing platform overlooking the waves and beach below.  As I had earlier at monkey Island I found myself playing with some ICM shots (Intentional Camera Movement).  The wind was quite strong and very cool so after that stop, next stop Tuatapere where a hot Jimmy's Pie and a cup of tea was in order.  Whilst enjoying this (what was by now) mid-afternoon snack I read a few reviews of campgrounds in the town.  Sadly they weren't great and so I opted to continue on to another freedom camping spot and will treat myself to a campground at Manapouri.  I'm a little sad to be leaving the coast - I've really enjoyed being close to water this last week or two.  Still, I'll have a few more coast days when I hit the West Coast on my home run.

In COVID news, there were 17,522 new cases today; 696 are in hospital and 13 in ICU.