.: September 2008

Richard and I are not the only ones who had a break this weekend. Kip, Reid and Quinn got a break from us, and spent the weekend having fun with Nana and Poppa. They went on a bush walk, played miniature golf, explored the local country park which has a miniature train, a petting zoo and a fun playground. Poppa and Kip did repairs to the chicken coop and Nana scooped old chook poop and dug it into our soon to be fabulous vegetable garden. They had a grand time without us. Quinn loves his new wetsuit and can't wait to go surfing (aka boogie boarding). School gets out for two weeks this Friday and I plan to get all the kids into the surf and onto boards. Guess that means I have to dig out my wetsuit and shave my legs......

Richard and I left the kids with Nana and Poppa and headed north along the West Coast of the North Island to a place we'd never been-Hokianga Harbour. http://www.hokiangatourism.org.nz/ We had no idea what to expect, and were very pleasantly surprised. Our accommodation was modest (http://www.omapere.co.nz/index.php?section=1 the website makes it look pretty darn posh... our room must've been the oldest one in the resort), but the setting was unbelievably spectacular. We stayed in a small town near the mouth of the harbour and our room was a stone's throw from the beach. I guess you'd be hard pressed to really call it a town, but it did have a gas station, a small convenience store and a bakery (that was never open). Driving to The Hokianga takes you through the Waipoua Forst which is native bush and home to the largest Kauri trees in the country (these are akin to the ancient Sequoias found in California). We felt as though we'd been dropped into a pre-historic movie set for the next Jurassic Park! Not long after emerging from the forest, we came to the spectacular view that Richard and the chickens are gracing. After checking in, we hoofed it a few kilometres to the headland at the mouth of the harbour. It felt and looked very like somewhere along the coast of Northern California. Luckily the tide was going out, so we were able to walk back along the beach. It was only slightly treacherous at one point where we had a choice of scrambling over fallen logs and rocks or racing the waves around the ocean side. Richard chose the former, I chose the latter. I got wet. After a shower and a nap, we drank a beer on the deck and watched the sun go down. Perfect. The next morning, our plans to take a historic harbour cruise were nixxed because of heavy fog (which NEVER happens....uh huh). On the way home, we drove to one of our favorite spots in the world-Opua in the Bay of Islands. We used to have an office there in our previous life and it's the spot we'll be picking up our charter yacht in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for photos and stories of the first family sailing trip!