Day 60, in which Paul takes to his bed

Paul woke up feeling dreadful this morning and was largely unable to get out of bed, so we kept the curtains shut and spent the day snoozing and watching Jessica Alba in The Eye and Steve Carrell in Get Smart. Although these were both good choices, the twenty minutes we were able to stomach of Anne Hathaway's Bridewars proved significantly less rewarding.

For lunch I wandered down into the village and discovered that the food market in Hahei is pretty much sewn up between The Grange (where we ate last night) and a grim little place called the Luna Café. Since I only wanted a sandwich I tried the café, but when I asked the lady behind the counter if they did sandwiches to take away she pulled a face which implied she would have been happier working in a morgue where the customers don't ask questions. Alas, Adam Smith would have had a fit as the usual rules of competition have broken down and the Luna Café still thrives, simply because there are only so many times in a row you can eat at The Grange before you become weary of their menu. I certainly still bought us a couple of sandwiches there, once I overcame the waitress's absolute abhorrence of human contact.

By early evening Paul was feeling more mobile so we climbed into our swim shorts and wandered down to Hahei beach. I am running out of superlatives for beaches to use in the blog, so please just apply all those I used yesterday for Ocean Beach. The beach is soft and sandy – I mean really soft, your feet sink into it like snow – and the sea warm and welcoming. There are however very few big waves here, thanks to a row of tiny forested islands lurking far out on the horizon, so opportunities for wave diving were limited.

A dip in the ocean proved to be just the tonic and Paul was soon feeling his old self again, so really it's lucky we came to New Zealand instead of staying in London as god knows what a dip in the Thames would have done. Facing severely limited dining options we returned to The Grange and this time ordered from the pizza menu, sitting outside to create the illusion of being somewhere completely new.