Fun and games

So, having moved house on Monday, left the old house tidy on Tuesday and collected Emily from the airport early on Wednesday, life is pretty full on.

Thankfully Emily managed to bring some Californian sunshine with her (if she hadn't it would have been a pretty miserable week!)

Wednesday was a quiet one - Em kept nodding off in the car! We had a nice lunch and handed the keys back for the old place and quiet stuff like that. Dinner at home and an early night.

Thursday was spent in the Eastern Bays in the morning and on Karekare Beach on Auckland's wild west coast in the sun in the afternoon. We had a lovely picnic and would have popped in for a dip if we had been better prepared. Not a safe place to swim, but nice for a paddle. After Karekare we popped to Piha and visited the beach and the West Coast Art Gallery. Drinks in ponsy Ponsonby in the evening and another early night for Em!
We spent Friday tidying up loose ends of house moving and heading off to the Bay of Islands. I got stuck in Paihia for 2 weeks at the end of my last trip to NZ and I was reminded how lovely it was as soon as dawn broke on Saturday. I headed down to the beach to watch the sun rise.
Saturday morning we pottered to the Treaty Ground at Waitangi and took in some culture and history. The Cultural show was fantastic - close up hakas are very impressive and I would be very afraid of a hundred angry Maoris if they were haka-ing with intent! The 100th anniversary 200-man war canoe was very impressive and housed in a lovely spot on the beach.

We decided to take the Excitor fast boat trip round the Bay in the chill and gloom in the afternoon. It was great fun - we met dolphins and explored the islands and then headed out to Cape Brett and the Hole in the Rock (guess what that is!) and out a little bit into the open Pacific. If you are brave then you can get a boat or walk out to the Cape Brett Lighthouse and stay in the keeper's cottage. Nice if you like things a bit rough and bleak!

Then back to the mainland for hot chocolate and then a big seafood supper. I have discovered oysters recently and they are particularly good if the waitress has to check if they had been collected from the jetty yet! Emily has been trying lots of new foods and enjoying all of them.

On Sunday Emily had an early start to take a tour to the very very top of NZ. She had a fantastic time and came back with some freshly picked shellfish from there too (steamed in a citrus pilsner - delicious, if a little sandy!) Will and I found the Kerikeri farmers market and bought some goodies there. We also found a lovely National Trust ecological reserve that is a bit off the beaten track. We spent some nice quiet time there and didn't meet anyone except the resident caretaker.

Poor Em - we took her to Karekare, Kerikeri and Kawakawa as well as Piha and the Pickled Parrot in Paihia. I'm not sure how confused we can get her, but we're trying!!

Will flew back on the Monday morning and Emily and I had a lovely day in Russell, swimming in the sea and eating ice cream!

On Tuesday we pottered back, stopping for a constitutional at Whangerei Falls and wine tasting (for Em, not me) at Matakana.