What is this?

Hello, what is this blog thing? In my mind I had thought I was keeping this thing updated. But clearly, no. The other day my aunty in the States (Hi, Aunty!) tried to call me to catch up. She couldn't get through as reception was not great on my side, and she ended up texting me. We had not spoken in a while...usually we would be bumping into her and catch up on our travels or she would be down here. I admit I'm terrible with keeping in touch...sorry. I'm not great with actually talking on phones. I'm alright with texts so long as I don't forget to text back. Social media is just horrible these days - go on there to try and keep up with those I'm interested in knowing about what is happening with their lives and I'm bombarded with weird stuff and people pushing some agenda. After a minute of scrolling I'm out of there and need to punch something. Then it occured to me, duh, I used to keep those who were interested in what we were doing updated via this blog. Plus it was a really good way for us to look back and have the photos and what we were up to in one centralised spot. So I'm going to try again to reserect this thing.

Over the Easter break we went up to Mangawhai. We weren't sure how long we were going to go for - just played it by ear and hoped the weather was going to be awesome...and it was!

We were intended to relax and take it easy enjoying whatever was left of the summer. However Jef got motivated and ended up doing heaps of work.

He cleared a whole lot of trees and woody weeds that was in the Totara ngahere. He fixed the big mower and did a whole lot of mowing. Kien also helped out with digging out the dirt where the old stumps where. Between them both the ngahere is looking great.

There's still a fire ban at the moment so we cooked with gas for the weekend. Nice and easy.

Fabulous long weekend away. Every time we pack up and leave I'm always dreaming of the little place we will build up in the clearing and having amenities to enable us be there for however long we want. We've got very flexible working arrangements now, so it would be nice to be able live and work in Mangawhai for an extended period of time.

Pauanui in March

In the last weekend of March we spent the weekend in Pauanui at our friend's bach. We were there last year right before the first lockdown, so it was only fitting we go down again, one year on.

Each morning I'd wake up for the sunrise and walk down to the beach. The difference here I've found, as opposed to being up in Mangawhai, is that there are a few people who go walking on the beach in the mornings as well. Up at the beach close our our place in Mangawhai you'd be surprised to find 1 person at sunrise, unless they are a keen for catching fish.

We were lucky enough to have her brother down there at the same time as us, and he brought his toys. I've definitely fallen in love with jet skiing, and Kien too, I think.

Our weekend in Mangawhai

What a great weekend we had up at the property. We took Kien's friend up with us. The boys were enthusiastic to stay in the tent which was super. They also spent a bit of time in the container playing on the strung up mattress - pretending they were riding on a horse, then it morphed into them during the war and being in a submarine topedoing the Germans. It was really interesting listening to them.

Some pics from the weekend.

We went to the local butcher and got a beautiful little pork roast. So we chucked that on the fire with a carrot and some spuds. Our dinner was fabulous.

The boys had sushi we picked up on the way up. Yes, make life as simple as possible. We all had a great time away. I love it up there.

Weekend in the bush and at the beach

What a fantastic weekend just gone. We went up to Mangawhai and friends came and hung around with us.

We drove up late Saturday morning and arrived in the village around 1pm. We try to get here before the butchers close so we can pickup the most delicious meat for the BBQ. Unfortunately they are so popular that they ran out of Jef's favourite, chump chops. We picked up some pork and fennel sausages and some peri peri hot wings instead. Went to our local beach on Saturday afternoon.











In the late afternoon our friends were at our property so we made our way back there. Now, Manon, a.k.a. waldokiwi, can take some seriously good photographs. Thankfully she is more than happy to share, and she puts me to shame with how keen she is with her art. These photos all came off here camera, and without these, I'd have nothing to show for this weekend.















































No words required - the photos says it all.

Weekending

Mother's Day

Yesterday was a lovely day. The boy that gave me Mother's Day gifted me these creations.



The card was made at after school care. He told me he made rock heart by rubbing it on concrete to create the shape. So fabulous! I love it.

Play date in the sky

On Saturday afternoon Kien went up to the Skytower will his friend, Arlene, and her parents. How lucky he is to have such a cool play date. Thanks, Manon, a.k.a. waldokiwi, for taking these awesome pics.

Te Arai beach

The previous weekend the weather forecast looked so good, and I really wanted to head north as a result. Jef had a number of things to work on, and Kien needed to get back early Sunday for a long overdue play date with 2 of his best buddies from school. So we took both cars and zoomed up to Mangawhai.

On Saturday afternoon I took Kien to our local beach while Jef worked on the tractor. Initially Kien could not understand why I brought his wetsuit, let alone make him get into it. I told him I know him well and left it at that. We got onto the sand and he played around for a bit.



Then, of course, he just couldn't help himself. It went from testing the water, then jumping waves. He spent ages building a pool and testing whether he could build a barrier so the water couldn't get in - just like we did at Hot Water Beach.



















I regretted not bringing my wetsuit as well!