Goodness, it’s gone quiet in the New Zealand book world of late. Maybe folk have been shocked into silence at the news of Rachel Barrowman (pictured) nabbing a cool $100,000 from Creative New Zealand, winning the Michael King Writers’ Fellowship to write a bio of Maurice Gee.

Maybe it’s the calm before the storm of the impending Montanas. Perhaps everyone’s gone on holiday, like we just did. Or perhaps no-one reads books any more ..?

To explain that sudden, sweeping generalisation: we have just spent a few blissfully sunny days at Matheson Bay, with offspring, relatives and books for company. (I tackled the second half of Chad Taylor’s Departure Lounge; Kathy ploughed through Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler's Wife.)

The high point was a visit to Ascension, one of the less snooty Matakana vineyards. The food was as good as the wine: the platter of locally produced farmhouse cheeses - accompanied by a nut confit wrapped in vine leaves – was sublime.

Today, we broke the journey home with a treat for the kids: a trip to Waiwera hot pools, or the ‘Infinity Thermal Spa Resort’ as it’s now known. And this is where I wondered if people still read books. Because there were hundreds of people in there, of all ages and shapes, and not one was reading a book.

Granted, many of these folk were small ones, happily splashing around in the water. And many others were watching those little ones with that curious parental mix of pleasure and apprehension.

But many, many people were simply passing the time of day, or watching the film in the movie pool, or chewing the fat, or doing a crossword.

Doing anything, in fact, but read a book. I was so shocked by this apparent illiteracy that I had to go for a 15-minute ‘Hydro Capsule Experience’, ensconced inside a massage machine that simulates the feeling of being pounded by jets of warm water.

Now that, I can say, is absolutely the most fun you can have with your clothes on – perhaps even better than reading a book.