north east a bit

the day started with a lot of manic tidying ready for the house photographer and the open house.   hopefully we’ll see the fruits of the photography soon enough on leaflets etc.

meanwhile we drove up north to Matakana to enjoy the shopping and the saturday morning country market.

after much browsing, and a hot drink by the wharf, we drove over to tawharanui which is our favourite beach

we normally go there in the height of summer so it was interesting to go on a bit of a windy day.  it was freezing by any means (there were people in the sea in their bikinis and plenty of blokes in shorts and jandals) but it was a bit windy.

we had a picnic then went for a walk up and down the beach a bit

that’s a kingfisher in a tree.   when i was looking for a better picture of one for you to look at i found this page of common birds of the new zealand forest you might find interesting.  we also saw a wax eye this afternoon.

then this evening my mum kindly babysitted whilst jane and i went to the Wine Box and had a lovely meal

that’s my meal above which was called something like three wild meats.  from left to right it’s kangaroo, ostrich and lamb.  i know what you are thinking, lambs aren’t that wild.  and i think you’re right.  it was all very nice though.

(some of the faces on today’s pictures are wonky due to camera distortions rather than physical deformity)