here's just a few photos from our trip to get you in a camping mood. to help you forget that you're knee deep and snow, and that if you wanted to take the kids out, it's gonna take you at least 20 minutes just to dress them.
pretend for a moment, you're enjoying the great outdoors in the north eastern bay of plenty; that it's at LEAST 80 degrees outside; that the beach is a 30 second walk away, and (for me) - the BEST part of camping; that even when you're inside, you're still outside.
consider this my public service to the blogging world.
so let's start with some scenery. this sign tickled my funny bone
otarawairere bay. you can only walk in here (15 minutes from the road)and it's absolutely gorgeous
camp "BB"the big green and purple tent; the orange one the two matching ones, the green and beige one and the other one in front of the caravan. ALL OURS
jetty at the river mouth. great for jumping off (but our girls preferred to paddle - see centre of pic!) and fishing from.
gorgeous sunsets. EVERY NIGHT. tara took this one
we ate like kings.
those are fresh berries embedded in that tasty-looking icecream!
tara's dad surfcasting. the entire area is a very popular fishing spot
how inviting is that water???
hey look it's baywatch!!!
errr...maybe not...
ok. so miss 19 had the camera on the shore with the telefoto taking pics. she was doing the 'holding the index finger up thingee' which means 'stay there, i'm going to take one more photo'. i'm all for that - i'm thinking anything to be in FRONT of the camera for a change...
little did we know, she had us wait in the same spot so she could capture on film, us being swamped by this wave!!!
fish-head curry. (apologies to my blog readers experiencing morning sickness; and i do believe there are a few of you out there right now!)we met some cool people with some seriously cool cooking skills. i actually tried this (not the eyeball. what, do you think i'm mad?!?!) the curry itself was super sweet and i'm so proud of myself for trying something new!
tara's DH organised a sand-castle building comp. just out of shot, miss 17 placed a fish skeleton (she found) in front of the whale's mouth and wrote 'swim away' in the sand!
there was about 10 minutes every night where the light was 'just so'.....
then there was the mystery family trip which turned out to be JET BOATING!!!!!
most of the holiday was spent like this tho
...and this
then there was the birthdays...this is the "i can't believe i got an ipod" look
my mum gave hubs a $50 note. "one for each birthday". our money is not paper (indestructable), has both living and dead people AND animals and the notes are all diferent colours and sizes. the $50 has sir apirana ngata on it.
tara and i biked the 20km round trip to edgecumbe. that's mount edgecumbe in the background. it's a sleepy little town that became famous in 1987 for all the wrong reasons when this...
and this happened.
into every camping holiday a little rain must fall...
but the sun soon came back out
my girlfriend tara's so hot.ok - that didn't come out quite right...
then there's the bonfire! ya gotta have a bonfire and toast marshmellows! of course we were oblivious to the total fire ban (DOH!) until the camp owner came down because the local fire brigade had seen the smoke and phoned him to see what was on fire!!!
only kiwi scrapbookers will find this funny.palmers is a national garden centre franchise. usually the sign will say
'plants'
'cafe'
'giftware'
so to see 'cafe', then 'scrapbooking' in a store that quite frankly, is in the middle of nowhere was quite a shock! inside was the cutest little sbg store - where i made purchases!!!
on top of all of the above, we also went strawberry picking, ate fresh blueberries (every day), floated down the river (the campground is at the mouth of a river, so we had the beach AND the river to wallow in!), some of us went horse trekking, there was eating out on birthdays, visiting the local farmers' market, mini golf, meeting other campers, celebrating other campers' birthdays (there were at least FIVE in one week!) as well as your general lolling around enjoying the sun.
13 comments:
I know it's a lot of work to get all those pics in there, but every time you do a post like that I always wish there was more. As always, so jealous of your fabu time. Maybe when it warms up we'll do some camping!!
I so want to go and visit you and your island. I think that I would never come home. Loved the pictures. Love your life!
looks like a blast! Cool sand whale and love your daughters sense of humour with the fish skeleton.
It's as if I can feel the heat.
I like the 'nice day' shot. We have a friend who graffittis like that... wonder if it was him.
It's just snowed here and we are daydreaming about summer.
Looks like you all had a marvelous time!
wow!!! Take me next time!!! And I love the Kiwi sign. Can I have one for my home?
Ok I am seriously sold, how do I get in ?
Do the NZ gov need nurses, nursery nurses or teachers as I have aquired qualifications in these over my long and very boring life.
I want your life, mine sucks, big time
xx
Great post Sue!!! What a lovely time away you had.
We were in Matata for a week. Saw that same scrap shop in Palmers! Bit of a laugh!
Hurray for summer!
That looked like great fun. Felt like I was on holiday with you!
Glad to know you were on my site, but I couldn't see it as I'm currently being choked by Pipex (they restrict the band width at peak times, I'm not happy, may have to change broadband provider) and not all the pictures came through. Damn that Pipex!
Love the photos, fish head looks yuck though, both you girls look great in your suits, and looks like a fun and relaxing time!!!
I am GREEN with envy. Looks like such a fun camping trip. And, you look great in a bathing suit!
That's it?
Those are all the pictures you are going to show us?
Beautiful. The guitar playing picture is stunning.
Oh! I want to go to the beach so badly! We are not quite knee deep in snow and it is getting warmer... but not that warm.
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