Opito Bay is a beautiful crescent shaped bay with a white sandy beach and when the sun is shining very blue water. The "town" (Opito stretches the definition of town, since there are only a few houses, two obligatory sheep farms and no shops or any other businesses) is at the far end of the bay and most of the houses are holiday homes, many of which were empty. Opito got a little livelier at the weekend when there were lights in more of the houses and we saw 3 or 4 people during our 1 hour run on the beach.
At the weekend we also had the entertainment of watching fishing the Opito way. When we arrived we noticed that every house had a tractor, a big boat and an enormous outdoor BBQ. The tractor is used to launch the boat, since there is no marina. The guys in the house next to where we were staying would attach their boat to the back of the tractor and then pull the boat down to the beach, reverse out into the water and launch the boat. When they returned from fishing they would drive the boat onto the beach (a bit hairy if the propeller gets stuck in the sand), the tractor would winch up the boat and it would be driven back to the house. The BBQ would be lit and the catch consumed. It looked and smelt delicious and we wanted to join the party.
Apart from watching the neighbours' fishing activity, reading, going for walks and runs there was not a lot to do in Opito. We loved it for the total peace and tranquility.
When we left Russell the boot of our car was full of water. Ever since we have been keeping our luggage on the back seat. Our host at Opito Bay kindly offered to drill a hole in the boot so the water could have somewhere to escape. It was very tempting to say yes.
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