Friday -- we drove to a small town (village) called Leigh. Our "neighbours", as Glenda and Chris like to be called, (but really our landlords), wanted to share Goat Island, the local beaches and Matakana with us. It's a very special place for them. We packed up our stuff and went up north of Auckland, along with half of the city. Yes, a ninety minute drive took much longer than that, but man! Was it worth it!
We found ourselves at a very small and basic campsite. We had the one 'self contained' unit at the site where there were enough make shift beds for 5 of 7 of us. We pitched our two-man tent outside the cabin -- Jake and Cameron stayed there. We spent Friday afternoon enjoying one of the many surf beaches - Pakiri Beach. We all donned wet suits and enjoyed both a little river feeding into the ocean AND the ocean itself. We rode waves on boogie boards while Glenda showed her skill at body surfing! Max the dog had a blast chasing birds and trying to body surf down the sand dunes. That dog is hilarious. The little rat slept at the foot of my bed that night - not that I really minded!! When we got back, we went to the common area where the masses collected - the campsite was small, but it was friendly and completely set up for families and backpackers - it was a wonderful find!
We got up Saturday and tried to enjoy some time at Goat Island. On a perfect day, you can snorkel/scuba dive and see an enormous amount of fish in the beautiful cove. The cove was just too unsettled - we couldn't see a thing so we all took a dip then dried off and drove to Matakana. There was a local market at this really artsy town and a great pottery store. We found a wall tile for our home - it was hard to pick one, but we ended up going with a pohutukawa tile as the pohutukawa tree (NZ Christmas tree) was in full bloom the day we arrived in New Zealand. It was one of those 'first images' we all recall...
We left Makana (and Chris, Glenda, Cam) and drove to Mangawhai to meet Ben, Lisa & kids. The weather was a bit sketchy so we got the tent up as quickly as we could, before the rain hit. Darn good thing too, because it did rain off and on for the next 12 hours! HOWEVER... drum roll... we woke to sun and it stayed sunny for the rest of the weekend!
Easter started with an egg hunt. The Easter Bunny did a great job leaving treats around Ben/Lisa's bach. The kids were completely into it!
We then took a ride and had a picnic lunch just south of Mangawhai, then spent the rest of the afternoon at Mangwhai Heads SURF BEACH! Yeah baby! What a ride - I think we all boogie boarded. It was tough - the surf was pretty tiring and strong - Sofia didn't last too long as she got cold and tired. But, John and Ben were out for AGES. I think Brennan was the other one who managed to hold his own out there for a long time. It was an amazing time - we are hooked. The water took it out of us though - we had dinner with the Dysons but were back at our campsite pretty early and we all slept really soundly!
We got up today, took down the tent, packed up etc... Lisa ended up coming back with us as she has to work tomorrow. The roads were pretty quiet and we got back to Auckland in decent time. We've done laundry, done a shop and are now getting ready for our trip to the Coromandel tomorrow. Let the good times roll!
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