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

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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.