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a great day at tawharanui

we went to puhoi and kayaked down the river to wenderholm today

then this evening esther’s friend lauren came over for a swim whilst jane resurrected the barbeque

we met up with a friend this morning who i used to work with 15 years ago in the UK.  he’s now living in christchurch but was up visiting auckland with his partner for a holiday

after we’d met them we went up mount eden for a quick walk, but it was very windy and starting to rain so we came home via a burger shop

the rest of the day was spent sleeping, food shopping (jane), pearl walking on the beach (the girls) and balderdashing

we spent the morning at home reading books etc

then this afternoon we went back to muriwai to explore the forest a bit more with pearl

this evening the girls and i watched ghostbusters and jane went out with debbie to watch a film at the cinema

 

lots of house tidying and taking the xmas decs down

kezia went out with a friend to an outside pool and jane/esther/pearl went for a walk round near our old house

then this evening we went to see Walter Mitty at the cinema and then had chips in a cafe.

back to mahurangi bay today for better weather.  still quite cool in the wind but hot in the sun so there was a rather strange mix of fashion going on

there was some swimming and kayaking

and then this evening we went round to the de kwant’s family for a bbq

we were in bed by 1am but up and out the house at 9.30 to meet up with our chums at mahurangi beach as is our annual custom

unfortunately it was chucking it down with rain so we had to do a rain check until later in the week

we decided to go on a bit of a driving adventure anyway so we had coffee in puhoi

then we drove over to the other coast down a dirt track and then over to muriwai on another dirt track

the beach track we found allowed you to drive on to the beach.  which we didn’t do as we don’t have a 4×4

instead we followed the tracks of someone who was walking their dog

which was fine until we went in to a pine forest which was covered in trackless pine needles

then we’ve been watching some tv and later the plan is to play some board games

we spent the day at wenderholm by the beach.  and we’re out tonight for new year’s

i went to piha today to take some photos.  it was quite wet and windy and a bit chilly so after a quick walk round the empty beach i headed in land and walked up to the kitekite waterfalls with my tripod.  later i returned to the beach to eat my sandwiches then headed home

jane took kezia and her friend to the mall then supervised them swimming in the pool

esther had a sleep over at a friend’s house last night then spent the day on rangitoto island.  They made their way there and back by public transport and walked the hour from the ferry wharf to a bach on the island.  they had a little pootle about in a little boat but didn’t go swimming as it was raining too heavily

here’s a strange mushroom / toadstool thing that looked like an ear

then later this afternoon our new neighbours came round for afternoon tea.  they stayed for nearly 2 hours

this evening everyone went to bed early !