I can't not post this next photo, but to be completely fair, I totally set poor Amber up for this pic...forgive me, Am! :)
We decided to stay in Hahei Beach, where I stayed with my family back in October. This time we rented a cabin instead of camping in a tent. It was cute and comfortable.
The next morning, we walked straight from our beach to the trail that led to Cathedral Cove. It was a bit rainy, but still peaceful and beautiful. I loved walking and talking with Amber. We had some great talks over the course of our little trip. I consider myself generally pleasant when meeting new people, but I was impressed with how genuinely friendly Amber was, cheerfully saying "Hello" or "Good Morning" to everyone we passed on the trail. We stopped at several points along the way for photos:
The rain picked up steam once we arrived at Cathedral Cove, but it gave the whole scene a mystical quality:
We hiked back to our cabin and picked up some shovels (spades) from the holiday park office. From there, we drove a few miles to Hot Water Beach. Since I had been there with the family, I knew exactly where to dig this time! We found a great spot, with water so hot that we actually had to move around a few times to prevent ourselves from getting cooked. We spent a few hours in the warm water and visited with so many nice people from all over the world!
We were soaking in our little "tub", chatting with our new friends, when a man and his wife approached us, and the man said, in a thick German accent, "It's our singers!" He had been in our dining group from two nights previous at Mitai Maori Village! He bragged about us to everyone. It was so sweet. Later, at the holiday park, we ran into a different couple from Mitai as well, who recognized us. What can I say? We're sorta famous....amongst a small group of people from around the world that we'll likely never see again. :)
After all that hiking and hot-tub soaking, we were hungry. We ordered fish and chips to go, and spent the rest of the evening eating and reading and laughing and talking and relaxing in our cabin.
At sunset, we took one last stroll on our beautiful beach:
We set out for home the next morning, stopping along the way to see the temple (closed for sessions, but the visitor center was open).
After one last stop to see the glow worms in Waitomo, we arrived safely back in Palmy.
For the next few days before Amber had to return to the States, she jumped right in, helping me with all of my daily duties and tasks. We both agreed that if it weren't for the whole "sharing a husband" thing, having a sister wife might not be too bad! Ha ha. Amber was so cute with my kids. Luke and Landon fell in love with her and begged her to do the "tickle spider", and Emily immediately started declaring, "I love Amber!" (which has turned into "I miss Amber!" now that it's been a few weeks since she left). One thing we enjoyed doing together, when Steve was home or the kids were all at school, was running the stairs at one of our local parks:
Nearly 200 stairs to the top -- best workout ever! I was so impressed that Amber would often take two stairs at a time. Granted, she is several inches taller than me, but still. We worked our way up to doing several rounds up and down. Man, I'm gonna miss these stairs when we move.
I hated saying goodbye to Amber, but she has a busy life as a wife and mother that couldn't be put on hold forever. I'm grateful for the wonderful memories made with my treasured friend. Love you, Amber!
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