Countdown to Christmas!

The race against time has begun. We were ahead for a little while there but then time pulled a swifty and put the brakes on us. I am trying frantically to have every home in New Zealand painted by Christmas and Karen is juggling her usual 14 balls and getting us organized for our trip to OZ. Our old friend, the Duck returned for a morning visit and had the girls captivated once more as they fed it bread and gave it a little pool to swim in. The duck must have been more in need of a refreshment than a swim beacause it drank it's pool. We've been having humid, cloudy weather of late and the girls decided to go for an afternoon bounce on the trampoline. Somehow, just bouncing on the trampoline isn't enough for ali anymore so she decided to eat an apple and fly a kite whilst bouncing! What would OSH (Occupational Health and Safety) have to say about this?

Sunday at Tawharanui

Crusty old barnacles.
We woke bright and early to the dawn chorus of tuis, bellbirds, stitchbirds and warblers. There is a predator proof fence around the park and they have eradicated most of the native bird's predators within the boundary. Some of the natives have been reintroduced from Tiritiri Matangi Island where Ali went recently for a school trip.
After breakfast we went exploring along the beach in the other direction. It was a bit drizzly but somehow never enough to get us wet :-) Just around the first headland we found this great tree to climb.


After we got back to the tent and had some lunch everyone (except Lily) had a bit of a snooze. When we got up it was time to pack up. We packed up everything except the tent because Ali was still asleep. Then we packed up the tent fly, and then deflated her mattress, and then we had to wake her up. She must have been really tuckered out from all the exploring. We got everything into the car then stopped for one last glimpse of the fish in the lagoon and the dotterels on the shore before heading for home.

Tawharanui

After dropping Buddy off to have his own holiday with Eve and Ron the dog-mad dog minders we drove down to Tawharanui. We set up our tent then went for a walk along the beach. It was a bit overcast but still lovely and warm . As you can see the girls had a great time playing in the sand, exploring the sea caves and paddling in the rock pools. In the afternoon we explored around the lagoon on the other side of the peninsula. Ali was entranced with the wee fishes we saw darting in the shallows. The beach on the lagoon side is all dark pebbles, quite different from the white sand of Ocean beach where we were camping. Lily found the rocks and pebbles a bit challenging so we took turns carrying her (it was past nap time) as we walked along the beach. After nachos for dinner and hunting all the mozzies in our tent to extinction it was time for sleep

.

Athletics day

Today was athletics day at Ali's school. I popped in to cheer her on for a bit, she enjoyed the hurdles and high-jump but not the running (could be genetic). We thought that maybe a less floppy hat would be a good idea for next year.

Tomorrow we are going camping to Tawharanui. As I was packing the car this afternoon I noticed that the dog had packed himself - I guess he doesn't want to be left behind.

Marshmallow Nose

Lily was pretending to be a turtle this morning. When she was finished, we went with some Playcentre friends to Piroa Falls, not far from home. The girls puddled around in the water, throwing in stones, leaves and twigs, changed the course of the stream a little and snacked constantly.

Giggles

Lucky Ducky

Half way through dinner last night this duck came waddling down the driveway for a visit. It had a feed and a big drink then half an hour later headed off into the sunset. We hoped it might come back tonight but maybe we didn't have the right kind of bread:-)

Travel dates

Hi everyone, we have booked our flights for Christmas.

We arrive in Sydney Monday 14 Dec at 7pm. We will stay the night in Berry and then head out to Goulburn on the 15th.

We intend to head back to Berry on the 28th Dec and stay a couple of nights before we fly back to Akl departing at 6:30 pm on Wenesday 30 Dec.

The weeks news.

Those of you who know our neighbours Mel and Lorne (with the 4 kids in the shoebox house) will be glad to hear that their new house arrived on a truck this week. In the picture you can see it coming along our road. Needless to say they are all very excited to finally have it on site although it will take a few weeks to hook up services, build steps, get signed off by the council and actually move in!


Today we went fishing and Lily caught her first fish. Unfortunately it was the biggest fish of the day, but luckily our favourite neighbourhood fish man "Fishing Rod" who sell delicious smoked fish at the markets was in town today so we still got a feed. There were lots of teeny tiny ducklings at the park, Phil managed to reach down and pick some up for the kids to hold which was pretty special. No doubt next week they will be big enough to know to get out of the road but today they didn't seem to be afraid.


This one of Lily was from earlier in the week when she was pretending to be a puppy.

Piha

We went camping at Piha this weekend. It seems to have hardly changed since we moved from there 6 years ago. The kids enjoyed sleeping in the tent and exploring the wild west coast beach. They loved the feeling of the hot, black sand on their feet.

Phil rescued this snake eel that had washed up on the beach, another Steve Irwin moment:-)

On the way home we popped in to visit Opa and by a stroke of luck caught up with Oma and Karen's Aunty Taya as well. They all seemed tired and cheerful after a big trip out to Warkworth.

Buddy stayed with our neighbours Craig and Gina for the night. He made himself very comfortable at their house.