Miller's Ark, Pakiri Beach

Tucked away between the bush (native forest) and green hills, and smack dab in the middle of 12-mile-long Pakiri Beach, is Josephine and Paul's house. Josephine runs and Bed and Breakfast there, and there are lovely fruit and flower gardens in addition to a small vegetable garden, which Josephine drowns in compost since the soil is completely sand. They also have 120 olive trees, which will be harvested in May. A 10-minute walk through the bush, and I was at the nearly-private beach, where Josephine and I had great fun on boogie boards, keeping an eye out for sharks and crabs. The water has a completely different color nearly every hour of the day. At Miller's Ark I learned how to slice bananas (very sweet, little ones grown outside the house) in order to get the most surface area for dehydrating, and when I was not making compost, watering the gardens, making cucumber relish, or picking gooseberries, I was reading The DaVinci Code in the outdoor bath or watching the sun rise on the beach.