Mangawhai Heads

Another weekend, another Bach and more amazing beaches. I sometimes have to pinch myself that it is all real because we have enjoyed such a privileged existence in NZ (mostly because of extremely generous Kiwi friends)! 2 weekends ago we were invited by friends Kurt and Sacha (with their 2 great children Cassidy and Brooke) to a place called Mangawhai Heads (about hour and half north of Auckland). We stayed at Sacha's parents Bach which was brilliant. It has its own vineyard which produces some delicious wine (sampled during the weekend). The other real attraction was access to a massive sand dune that only the residents of the private road can explore because there are no other roads to it! This, understandably, was a real hit with the children who loved running down the sides of the dune (surprisingly Harry and Matilda were slightly fearful to begin with but soon got the hang of sliding down!). It was a great weekend with fantastic hosts!

Tawharanui

The next weekend after Papamoa was a trip slightly closer to home to Tawharanui Regional Park (an hour north of Auckland). We spent our time at this incredible bach in a place called Christian Bay (aptly named with lots of sheep on the hillside and next to the ocean...Jesus would have approved I am sure!). We spent the weekend with Rich, Kath and Amelie and enjoyed catching up/discussing life/enjoying good food and wine! They knew the owners of the bach and we managed to tag along...result!
The highlight was going to.. yes you've guessed it...Tawharanui beach which was almost empty when we went to it. The other great fun event was enjoying Matakana farmers market (pretty famous in NZ) and buying some lovely bread and salad dressings. (I must be getting old to enjoy things like salad dressing!)

Papamoa

It's been a while...the life of "male scrap booking" definitely goes in fits and starts! My main excuse is that we have been so busy enjoying New Zealand that time composing a blog is fairly low on the list of things to do! We have done loads of things since Martins Bay. The first exciting trip was to Papamoa to stay at a friend's bach. Papamoa is a beautiful little town/village close to Mount Maunganui and Tauranga about 2.5 hours drive from Auckland. We decided to make the most of the bank holiday weekend and managed to have a 4 day break.
Mount Maunganui was the first place in New Zealand that felt busy! It was stunning but had far too many people for our liking (I am slightly concerned this will always feel the case when we return to UK!). Anyway, despite this we had a great time.I actually read a book which must have meant I relaxed! The highlight for me was walking up Mt Maungnui itself...I'm not so sure the children felt the same..it was a bit of a trek for little legs! The other highlight was watching Matilda ride without stabilisers for the first time. She's a real star!