Yikes! 40 sharks were spotted at a beach we were swimming at on Monday! We were also swimming there on new years day. Amigene, my niece has a holiday house there and she spotted some last week. Think I will steer clear from that beach from now on.

Shark Traffic Jam

A big corgette from Mums and Dads garden. There is no shortage of fresh veg and salad here.

Mike and Dad doing some man bonding after collecting pipis and cockles on the low tide. They are supposed to be cleaning and cooking them!

We are going camping at Simpsons beach tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a good spot for fishing and snorkeling. There’s loads of paua (abolone) and hopefully we might get some crayfish. We’ll also take the surfski in case there’s some waves.

Its been a pretty quiet few days as I’ve been getting over a mild cold.

By Mike

These are not the high society races of Ascot, more the local country meeting of Wincanton that I remember from my childhood.

We set off at 10:00 to allow us some time to do a bit of shopping before meeting Lynda & John at 12:00.

We stopped on the way into Thames to get some roof racks for Jo’s car.

We drove on to Thames arriving just in time to meet with Lynda and John for coffee before going off to the races.

After a few detours, because taking the wrong turnings, we finally made to the race course. The entry fee was $5 each, not a large amount to pay but still too much for some, as previous years entry had been free.

To get to the parking we drove across the race course and parked up, then having to cross the racecourse on foot to get to the stands.

The meeting is not just about the races but it’s about meeting old friends and family that you have not seen for some time.

We were advised on the type of bet to place,a quinella, picking 3 horses and only requiring two to finish in first and second place. Not too difficult ! !

We tried our hand but soon we realised that we didn’t have a clue what we were doing. After losing on the first two races we then discovered the running sheets for the meeting, along with the notes on the horse’s recent performances.

The ones both Jo & I had been backing all seemed to be the ones that had seen better days.

So we decided to leave while we still had some money left and before the big rush at the end of the meeting.

The last thing Mum said as we departed for the festival was “We’ll meet you at the mussel fritter stand at 12.30”

Mussel fritters were clearly on my mind when we arrived at the Tairua wine and food festival on the dot of 11am. We made our way through the hoards of people and joined the queue at the mussel fritter stand. Unfortunately the mussels were somewhat weak and the fritter contained more batter than anything else. It was nowhere near as good as the one I had at the Thames races the day before.

We did a lap of the stalls. There were the usual festival items for sale. We found the infomercial men we met at the pub the night before selling their wondercloths and magic potato peelers. There was the German lady selling NZ photos stuck to a hunk of MDF board (every year Mike and I proclaim we can do that, and then never get around to it). There were the usual hippy creams made from essential oil of ragwort or some other new age product. There were aeroplanes made out of beer cans (My Dad could make them). We chose not to buy any of these treasures.

The wine tasting was the highlight of the day. We tried a local sauvignon from Cooks beach, which was a tad sharp and fruity. We tried one from Nelson, which was delicious. So delicious, in fact, that we had a few while we listened to the bands.

A little tipsy, we started the stagger home when my phone rang. It was Mum. “Where are you? I stood by the mussel fritter stand for 40 minutes waiting for you”.

In all the excitement of the day I completely forgot about meeting Mum. I am such a bad daughter.

Here is a slideshow of some photos from the festival:

Tairua Wine and Food Festival

Today we tried out the surfski in the surf. I thought I’d try little waves to start with to get used to it. Its really good fun and much easier than I imagined it would be. Mike had a go and enjoyed it too. Its hard work on the back and stomach muscles though.

We’re both feeling really knackered today. It has suddenly got much hotter and we are noticing it. Very humid.

We are going to the hick town races in Thames tomorrow. If it’s too hot, there are some swimming holes nearby so we can duck out for a swim. Hopefully I can build on the casino win I had in Hamilton before Christmas!

Tairua is a sleepy little seaside town with a population of about 1400. That is until the summer holidays when the population increases to about 14,000. Our secret paradise has been infested by holiday makers! On the positive side though, there are bands on most nights and the place has a fun buzz about it.

I’m pretty lucky that Mum and Dad live here. It’s a wonderful place to spend the summer holidays. Their house overlooks the estuary, and its a 10 min walk to the surf beach. Most of our time has been spent boogie boarding, boating, fishing, bush walking and of course, boozing. Mike and Dad at this moment are putting some fins on my surf ski, which we plan to try out in the surf tomorrow.

Here are a few piccys of Tairua.

Tairua

By Mike

Today after being E.T. and phoning home to check up on my kids we decided to take Bryce’s boat out. It’s a small dingy with an air cooled outboard motor.

Bryce took us out of the estuary. When he was satisfied we could manage the boat ourselves he went ashore and left us to it.

We decided to go through the waterways at Pauanui. This is the posh end of town. One of the first houses we saw had a helicopter parked on the lawn.

Ours was the oldest and smallest boat about, we looked well out of place, but no one seemed to mind.

We rounded a corner in the waterways to see this extremely large house, with an extremely large garage next to it. As we drew closer we finally saw what was being stored inside. Yes it was another helicopter.

Perhaps when we retire we can buy a section here and put our tent up on it.

Here are some photos:

Pauanui Waterways

By Mike

Christmas at Lynda’s was never going to be a quiet affair, with 3 daughters, partners and 5 grand children, she already had the makings of a large gathering. When you add in her parents, sister Jennifer and partner Barry along with their dog Bessy, Jo and I there would be nearly 20 for dinner.

Thankfully this being New Zealand and summer time the ranch sliders will be fully opened and the house extended out into the garden.

The day started off early for John, Lynda’s husband, and Bryce, Jo’s father. They were up at the crack of dawn getting the spit roast ready to cook the lamb.

John thought it would take at least four hours for the lamb to cook. However as it turned out after a couple of hours they had to turn off the spit as the lamb appeared to be nearly cooked.

Jo and I arise just after 8:00, our first task for the day is to get breakfast. I make it first to the kitchen and start cooking the bacon and scrambled eggs. Jo arrives shortly after moaning that the others had opened a present without waiting for us. To try and keep the peace I offer a present from me for her to open, but she refuses. I try again, but she declines this time changing the subject by pointing out that something smells as its burning. I quickly return my attention to the oven to find that I have cremated half the bacon. Not a very good start to the day for me.

We take the remaining bacon and eggs outside and have our breakfast in the morning sunshine, taking in the succulent smell of the lamb slowly cooking on the spit next to us.

After breakfast has been cleared we open a present each from the pile left by Santa overnight. Jo is still complaining that the others have now opened two presents to her one.

Jo & I then prepare some nibbles for when the other guest of the day arrive. These include a platter of cheese and a selection of olives, vine leaves and sun dried tomatoes, both with selection of crackers.

10:00am soon arrives and Jo and Lynda announce that its time to crack open the first, of many, bottle of champagne.

As the other guests arrive, so do more presents, more food and more drinks. For each group has been given part of the dinner to prepare, thus saving Lynda any worries in the kitchen.

That is one thing about a Millington Christmas there is never going to be a shortage of food or drink.

When everyone is present the serious task of distributing the gifts gets underway. The eldest grandchild, Jorja, is given the task of handing them out, in between opening her own.

To start off with everyone is give a present to unwrap, saving the embarrassment of opening your gift under the gaze of twenty pairs of eyes.

Soon however it is only the grandchildren who have any to unwrap, which they do with great enthusiasm. Not one of them discarding the present and playing with the wrapping.

With the mass of new toys to play with the children are over whelmed, thus giving the adults chance to play with them.

The time disappears quickly and lunch is served. John is not sure how to start carving the lamb and takes some advice from Bryce.

We all sit down for the feast. Everyone enjoying the delightful spread put out for them.

Just as we are finishing a few spots of rain appear. This quickly turns to a heavy shower. I think this was sent to remind me of home.

Yesterday we got up at 5.30am and went fishing with brother-in-law John in Coromandel. Here is a piccy of one of the mussel farms we moored up to.

We didnt have much luck here so we followed a mussel harvester and cashed in on their free berley.

John caught two fish, I caught one fish and Mike caught the biggest fish. All of them snapper.

We have been in NZ for 12 days now. The first couple of days were spent de-jet lagging. Brother Paul and Sister Sue arrived on Saturday and we did a walk over to Cathedral Cove. It’s a pleasant 30-minute walk to a gorgeous beach with chocolate box scenery. We all did the posey thing for photos.

We hunted around for a geocache, which we found easily.

On the walk back we stopped for a few more posey photos.

Next stop was Hot Water beach. This is a fun beach where you dig in the sand in search for hot water, then jump around screaming cos you got scolded. We took our spade to dig a big Jacuzzi, but every time we got a decent hole happening, the surf would come in and flood it. It was loads of fun until a blue bottle jellyfish stung Sue. We were a bit reluctant to go back in the water after this.

On Sunday we went bush to Puketui, an old gold mine, just a short drive from Mum and Dads. We visited an old jail in a cave, that has some interesting remains.

We went into dark caves and did some weta spotting. Wetas are big ugly spider type things that live in caves. We also spotted some glowworms.

In the afternoon we went to Sailors Grave for some boogie boarding. Paul showed us how to catch penny doctors. These are ugly little bugs that live in the dirt.