On the beach

This weekend was another holiday weekend, and we had been invited by Graeme and Barbara to join them at their bach (beach house) at Langs beach on the east coast, which is about 1.5 hours drive north from Auckland. The weather was perfect and Graeme and Barbara made us feel so welcome.

After we arrived on Friday we headed straight out to the beach (see pic), where we found some impressive surf and Catherine discovered body boarding.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at the beach, swimming, and enjoying various sand-based activities. We made a sand Adam, a Felicity trap, a working (with seawater) volcano with magma chamber, as well as lots of castles, and only incurred minor sunburn in places where there were gaps in the sunscreen.

Richard also discovered body boarding on Sunday afternoon, and can confirm that it is quite exciting hurtling towards the shore, and from time to time if it all goes pear shaped in the wave then at least your sinuses will get a good clean.

Unfortunately the surf was a bit too big for Peter and Felicity to have a go, but all three children spent some time in the water, gradually growing in confidence jumping the smaller waves and running away squealing when a larger one came along.

So, a lovely weekend -- and grateful thanks are due to Graeme and Barbara for their kind and generous hospitality. Back to Auckland late on Sunday night, and to make all you UK folk feel a little better on Monday it was a rather cloudy rainy day, though still warm.

Richard