A final day of holiday for Tom

One of the crucial pieces of local information you’ll learn when you move to Featherston is where the swimming hole is. Once you know that, life is golden.

Yesterday as the thermometer hit 29 degrees Tom and I headed to the river to cool off and to have an outing on his last day of holiday. We explored the trails into the forest, which were wild and rambly and full of great picnic spots – we tried to work out the place that we thought our friends Ellen and Campbell were getting married in soon.

Coming back to the swimming hole we took a short detour. By crossing the river you can get to a more secluded spot with less people – the water was freezing cold (I took ages to get in, squealing as I did) and deep. Shortly before we’d left for the river I’d downloaded Roundgraphy for my phone so set about taking some nice round river photos.

Freezing cold I lay on the river bank in a blanket reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami – Tom chose a sunny reading spot on a warm rock and we whiled away the hours in happy contentment.

This weekend we also spent some money Mum gave us for Christmas and got two new park benches. They sit nicely with the table Tom made from an old door and are much better than our old painted-over dining chairs, which would occasionally disintegrate under you.