paihia day 1 – the arrival and familiarisation with our surroundings

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so, last satuday we all got up a bit earlier than normal and drove up to Paihia to begin our week away

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we stopped half way for morning tea in a cafe and to check the map

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which was a nice opportunity for olivia to show off her lovely shawl, hat and sunglasses

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we also stopped off at the hundertwasser toilets in kawakawa

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kezia had done a school project on hundertwasser a few years ago in the UK so was delighted to find this, his final architectural creation

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luckily this is one toilet location where you don’t get arrested for taking photos

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i felt quite at home with the speacial spelling in kawakawa

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we made good time so when we arrived in paihia we were able to have a swim in the motel pool and suss out the local eateries

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and we did a spot of geocaching in the local graveyard

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our two families had adjacent flats which shared a landing which made for nice friends together friendliness !

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eventually it went dark and that was the end of the first day