Camping at Pakiri Beach

This weekend we have finally managed our first camping trip of the year. We headed north, via the new toll road (which was very good and very quick) to Pakiri beach about an hour north of us.





We were given a lovely camping spot right next to the river, and this was the view from our tent.





After relaxing during the afternoon, the early evening was spent fishing the change of light. We were both successful in catching a couple of kahawai (my first proper fish!) but decided to put them back this time. The waves were fantastic and made for challenging casting, trying not to get the reel wet.



Sunday morning we got up very early for a walk to the beach and to watch the sunrise.

Waipu Cove with Paul & Dorothy

Our friends Paul & Dorothy have just returned from a three week holiday in the South Island and have spent the last two nights with us before they leave NZ and head back to Amsterdam. We took the day off, booked fantastic weather and headed up to Waipu Cove for the day. Despite there being a few people around, there was still room for us to all try a spot of fishing. Royston teaching Paul the ropes.



I'm not too sure how well the teaching went as Paul doesn't seem to have grasped the idea of what to do with the bait...








Royston was the successful fisherman of the day catching a nice kahawai for smoking later.

Mangawhai Carnival

Today we headed up to Mangawhai to check out their annual carnival. First stop was to look out over to Mangawhai Heads.






The carnival was very popular with both locals and holidaymakers, braving the heat and humidity of over 90%! There were numerous stalls from local artists and craftsmen selling their wares to the car boot style stalls.



There were also local food producers and wineries there, and we took the opportunity to sample some of the local wine.






Charlotte & Dougal gave us some money for Christmas and we put some of it towards a pair of these concrete plinths with ceramic tile decoration for the garden. These are made by a local couple along with other outdoor artifacts. We plan to put citronella candles in these to stop the bity insects in the evening.