Fun in the sun

If anyone is thinking of coming to New Zealand, February is certainly the month to visit! We have had lots of lovely sunny days to make the most of the beautiful beaches and islands. The water is fantastically warm, so we have been enjoying more body boarding while visiting remote beaches in the Coromandel.



Body boarding




Beach to ourselves

Our tent has been used a lot and we are planning another trip away this weekend. Fantastic to be able to discover wonderful campsites miles from anywhere! Getting used to the basic facilities, but you don't really need anything when the beaches are so close.



Our summer home!

On Friday, Tori Blott (an old family friend of Hannah's) came to visit. They hadn't seen each other since they were about 15 years old, so there was a lot of catching up to do!



Hannah and Tori: obligatory photo from the top of One Tree Hill!

On Sunday, we took the boat to Tiri Matangi. This is a island about an hour from Auckland harbour, which is managed by the Department of Conservation as a bird reserve. We went with Dave (Hannah's cousin), Tori, Anna (a colleague of Hannah's), Owen (Anna's husband) and baby Ruby! The weather was perfect for a guided bird-watching walk, followed by a picnic and swim in the sea!



One of only 300 takahe left in the world!




Dave, Hannah & Tori




Picnic - managed to catch everyone muching!




Even Ruby was enjoying her rusk!




Gareth, Tori and Dave post-swim

All this daytime fun has obviously been matched by evening celebrations! We went to a Haiwian-themed BBQ for Simon's birthday.



The birthday boy




Haiwian feast




Gareth with flowers!




Dana in pink




Carl and Treena

Every year, Auckland puts on an amazing Lantern festival. Some of the lanterns were huge and the food stalls were yummy (although we didn't always know what we were eating)!



Snail in the garden




Dancers




Joining in with the locals




Chinese dragon



Genie in a tree!