Bathtime

Potty training

Wales play the All Blacks

Barnham banana

Well, we made it to Om and Half Moon Beach and another one still further away and can confirm the malign influence of Gokarn extended well beyond the town boundary. Although it seemed to be the people rather than the topography that caused this, even without people something unpleasant still hung in the air.

This is all subjective, of course. We know a Frenchman who spent a couple of his formative years in Bognor Regis and remembers it with incomprehensible fondness.

Jul. You didn’t actually mention Om beach or Half Moon beach, just Gokarna itself. I hope you actually made it to these places?!? Gokarna itself is nothing special – just a village to walk to from these beaches in order to procure fresh supplies.

We spent a month on Om beach not in Gokarn itself. It was most classy.

Hail. Oh well, at least we can now ocnfirm that Slightly is the odd on out – or perhaps he perchased a pair of these bags and actually likes them!

Jul, have you tried Hampi? Nice if you fancy free romeing round some temples – the food is also good as far as i can remember. Have you been to fruit stalls/markets yet to get fruit? well worth it.

liv – these pics should be in colour you fool – they look washed out and quite francly add to the wishy washy colour of the site – why not something bright and lively to catch the attention rather than dead fish colour?

 

Well, two highlights I remember from your neck of the woods are Hot Water Beach, where you need a spade to dig a hole in the sands, and then you can wallow in a delightful hot bath, and you could – though this may no longer be possible – swim out to some mussel encrusted rocks and peel off your supper material; and a little further south, in Tauranga, where there is a campsite on the right hand side just before you cross the river/estuary leaving town going South. It has a fantastic thermal pool, where once again you can sit and wallow. This is especially good at night when the air temperature is low.

Clearly, New Zealand isn’t limited to wallowing, but I found something deeply soothing about it.

 

So, the Gokarn question has been settled! I trust you saw the massive wooden chariot that looked as if it had stepped out of an animated film? As for the trousers, their utter ludicrousness defies analysis.

Try switching your phone settings between automatic and manual. That may give you coverage. I did this in Spain and it worked. According to the Virgin ‘map’ you should have been okay in Goa although out in the sticks it’s patchy. Also, try the Fresh sim. Being able to send and receive texts is definitely worth it, so maybe if you find a cheapo Indian sim. Apparently, you can call overseas on them for the cost of a lassi.

Just in case you’re missing them, here is a photo of the pigs. They demolished the house we built, so I had to construct another one with the last of the hay bales.