I was woken at 2:30am!

Went down the hall and found Azzan's cd player going at full volume - turned it off at the wall and then found Mahalia's radio and light was going too.

What's with these kids!!

It took me absolutely ages to get back to sleep.

I tossed and turned for ages.

Then I woke briefly before Tim got up I must have gone back into a very sound sleep because I woke up with a start when Shanni came rushing in to say the horse was in the garden.

I have no idea why I had to be woken for that piece of fascinating information

I got up and had a spa and then found Mahalia was already up and getting her chores done.

Amazing what you can do when you have friends around to stimulate you into action

It was a beautiful day so everyone went out exploring.

Tim the Cottage folk over to the Low Neck so they could go diving over the other side.

Shanni, Ellie & Azzan went kayaking.

Shanni took these great photos of their adventure

They pulled up their kayaks and joined the others.

After they got the truck stuck and then unstuck they went for a scramble down here

Ellie watching them

Tim brought Azzan's kayak home on the truck and went with the others to do some fishing.

Shanni & Ellie kayaked home.

Hey look - no hands!

 

I was just rewriting my blog which I had already done and then lost it all and was just finishing the second edition when I got a call out to the backdoor.

I hurriedly saved it and went to see what the problem was.

Steve had been diving over the back and had stuck a fish and somehow got his hand instead

As it happened in the sea and it had bled well I was happy that any nasties had been flushed out.

I got out all my first aid supplies and did the doctoring thing.

Got the wound taped back together and bandaged up and put a sling on him to ensure he kept his hand raised.

 

Ellie washed the inside of the living room windows after lunch.

Shanni had a rest in her bed.

Mahalia & Azzan were off outside buzzing about with the other kids.

I actually got some time to make a couple of cards - first time in weeks!

Shanni & Ellie made dinner.

The did a sweet and sour chicken casserole with roast herbed potatoes and cauliflower cheese.

While Tim cooked up some fish they had some snuggle time on the couch.

Tim frying up Moki wings  for his dinner.

The Cottage folk were chucking this lot out to the pigs and Tim rescued it - he got a good feed from their castouts!

Mahalia got a paua from the Cottage folk for Ellie to try.

She was a bit unsure about trying the black sea slug as she called it first

Once she sampled the first piece she decided it was actually quite nice and went back for a few more pieces.

The girls made an apple and berry crumble.

I made custard to go with it.

It was delicious

After dinner the children all headed to the beach to collect wood for a bonfire.

Maree was determined to make the most of being outdoors before the predicted heavy rain happened.

I check Steve's hand and rebandaged it.

The steristrips have held well and it is all looking good.

Mahalia & Azzan are sleeping over in the Cottage tonight with the other children so I hope they do get some sleep!

I spent the rest of the evening skyping with Jesika, haven't talked in ages so it was great to have a good catch up.

Now it is nearly midnight and way way past my bedtime so I am off to bed - Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Azzan was up early and on to 'his list'.

He got his piano practise done and made sure we all knew about it - in fact I think it could've been heard on the other side of the farm!!

Trouble was he was so into being zealous that he burnt out by midday

 

The day was certainly a very fickle one weather-wise.

It began well.

Blue skies and sunshine.

Ellie enjoyed the sunny hours weeding the garden.

 

Mahalia is very good at doing somersaults on the trampoline but it was hard to catch her in action.

These are a few of the better action shots.

 

Shanni & Azzan are supposed to be working on a duet.

It is a fun piece but as there has not been a lot of practicing happening they were struggling with it.

It was good to see them trying to work at it together harmoniously - for a short time anyway

Once it all fells to bits I suggested they needed to practice separately.

So I worked on it with Azzan and once he had it up and running things went well again.

He just wants so much to run before he can walk and then gets frustrated because he can't do it perfectly first time

 

The weather began to pack up so Ellie got the washing in.

Hershey the lamb has been caged and tethered on the back lawn and gets in the way of the washing.

I move his cage away but then it gets moved back - 'cuz that's where the grass is'!

Shanni borrowed my camera and I found these cute photos on it.

Love this one of her fowl family.

Azzan got eye to eye with Olly

 

The rain was brief and once we had lunch it was all over so TYim went out in the '88 South' to tie on floats.

He took Ellie with him.

She took Shanni's camera cuz hers has packed a wobbly.

Cap't Tim

Crew girl Ellie

One of our lines sunk and the company that is running them had to get two barges in over nearly two days to lift it.

Ellie and the catch of the day - a thresher shark

 

Glen & Maree arrived with their two youngest daughters around 6pm.

They are staying in The Cottage for the long weekend.

There was a truck accident at the base of the Whangamoa Saddle which held them up for only 10 mins.

There apparently was traffic banked up for many kilometres back towards Blenheim when they were let past.

However the road was blocked for ages and Steve & Shazz and their 3 kids were held up for ages so they didn't arrive down till after 9pm.

They all got themselves unpacked and had dinner.

 

Mahalia had gone out riding Olly in the arvo.

She went around to Bush Inn and had a sleep in the sun while he grazed.

Then she met up with Madi and her sister as they were coming down the hill before dinner.

 

I had made a venison and mutton casserole for dinner in the slow cooker.

I also made a large batch of flap jack slice (didn't burn it this time) and a chocolate carrot cake - also used several golden kiwifruit in it - amazing what you can smuggle into cooking when you try

Then afterwards the crew all pleaded with me to make smoothies for dessert again.

'Cuz you make the best smoothies Mum!'

How can I resist that?

So banana & boysenberry smoothies it was - and they were pretty darned good

 

 

We enjoyed a cuppa with Maree & Glen while waiting for the others to arrive.

I had just received a disturbing email and was able to have a bit of a rant with them about interfering, judgmental, fundamental, Christians who think they can poke their noses into anyone's business in the name of 'Christian brotherly love' and get away with it.

As you can guess I was seething so it was good to get it off my chest 

The children all helped with the unloading to and then we finally got them off to bed around 10pm.

So much for an early night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was feeling okay this morning so got up at 5:30am and lit the fire then did some cleaning and sorting around my art corner.

Once Tim came out I had a quick spa and then was all ready to have breakfast and activate the children.

 

I got the day right today and Azzan was on GO before 9am and had his session with his teacher and class mates.

He then chose to do a unit on Nature and Design.

So I gave him my camera to go and take some photos.

He came back twice with a full card, so 580 photos later............

We spent some time sorting through them and reduced them down to a manageable number - well slightly manageable

Here's a selection of the photos I really liked

In amongst things Mahalia had a wee project for her maths - she had to cut out a circle and square and then see how they changed shape as moving shadows.

Mahalia giving her 'watch our little bro' look

Love the next three he took of her

 

 

That part of the day went well!
From then on it turned to custard.

I was giving the two youngest a big sally up about having done no music practise while I was away.

Mahalia is co-operating but Azzan just went totally dog on me.

We had a major sort out - it got nasty stroppy!

But he found out that his mother can be jolly stubborn too.

Finally before dinner he came and asked if I would help him with his piano pieces.

I did - when I was ready

 

Ellie washed the outside of all the house windows this morning.

Nice to have them clear and spider web free.

 

I worked on some stuff in the study.

Had to organise some invoicing with Ross.

Had some problems with a guy who decided his business wasn't going to pay how we were charging despite the fact that it is the normal way of doing things and a reasonable rate.

Grief - I think some people are just born difficult!

 

Tim got a truck load of firewood down, Ellie helped to load and unload it.

I sent Azzan out with a flea in his ear and made him help as it was in the midst of his obstreperous patch.

Figured he may as well be out there doing rather than in bed sulking - man I am a mean mother

 

I tried to do a spot of artwork in the arvo but didn't get too far.

Azzan decided he needed a daily work chart to give him the incentive to do what he needs to do.

He wanted me to make him a tick off chart so I ruled up a page and began writing a few chores on it.

But it wasn't involved enough.

He then sat down and wrote a huge long list of what he had to do each day.

Ellie and I were chuckling as it was so very inclusive.

She asked him if he was even going to write down when he had to go toilet!!!

 

Got some incredibly gutting news this afternoon.

The eldest son of our friends Mike & Helen, was killed in the early hours of this morning.

So incredibly tragic.

I just sat and cried for them when I heard.

He is the same age as our eldest son.

Made me think that no matter how frustrated our children make us at times,

no matter what they do or don't do,

they are our kids and are so very very precious,

and how blessed and thankful we are to be able to hold them.

And we should never let go of that fact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I was on the ball and began writing this post as the day was progressing and then restarted the computer and lost all I wrote - duh!

So I shall try and begin again.

 

I was feeling somewhat better in the morning so managed to get some stuff done.

Although I did get rather confused as to what day it was

I was really on deck and at 8:30am got Azzan all set up to Skype his GO teacher for his Thursday 9am class.

He was feeling rather under the weather and didn't want to get out of bed so being the wonderful mother that I am I shifted the computer into his room and set up the Skype and left him to it.

At 9:30am he came out and said that nothing was happening.

I couldn't understand why it was all silence on the other end of the class chat.

The it suddenly dawned on me - it was Wednesday - double duh!!!

Ellie helped me to get a mince casserole made.

We were trying a new recipe so got everything all ready for the slow cooker.

Then she did some weeding in the vege garden.

Tim went up the hill and burned rubbish.

 

Shanni made some delicious brown rice patties for lunch but they took ages so most of the crew ate other stuff.

I ate late so was very fortunate to have several - they were really delicious.

I made blueberry & white chocolate muffins - using spelt, rice & tapioca flour.

They were also very yummy.

Tim went out at midday-ish to see Noel.

He was harvesting on 'Tardis' over in Maori Bay.

Tim arrived back later in the arvo covered in mussel muck.

Looked like he had had a real good 'boy' day!

I activated energy and got the living room cleaned up.

Shanni & Ellie put some boxes of things & some spare bedding up in the attic.

I cleared the hall as much as I could.

Then I stacked all the boxes of left over curriculum there and am planning to sell as much on the net as I can.

It is really good to have the place looking less cluttered.

 

Shanni has found 3 guitars in the attic.

Two are damaged and one is okay.

I have organised to get the two damaged ones fixed and am sorting out a guitar tutor for her so hopefully she will be up and playing soon.

Ellie and Shanni are trying to learn the guitar from a dvd and whatever random music they have found here at the moment.

They are all out of tune and she doesn't know how to tune them properly yet so it all sounds rather interesting at present.

Ellie got impatient just learning chords and taught herself Kumbaya - very slowly.

But there was a huge grin of happy achievement at the end

 

 

I was busy in the study for a while and when I came out to get dinner finalised I found Azzan & Elie on the floor doing pilates under instruction from a dvd

I had to step across them when I was going back and forth and they hardly battered an eyelid, they were so engrossed in what they were doing!

Then Mahalia joined them - taking a more laid back sorta way

And while they were hard out on the floor Shanni was doing a massive job in the pantry.

She did a brilliant tidy up, sort out and repack through everything.

It looks great now!!

Dinner was great.

Even though it was ready at an earlier hour we never got to eat till the 'normal' later hour

So it was eat, clean up and off to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me today was a total right off

I woke feeling very fuggy.

Managed to struggle through a few hours in the study sorting some paper work that had to be done.

Headache just got worser and worser.

Azzan wanted me to check out his room so I went down and sat in the sun while he massaged my neck and shoulders.

It was lovely but didn't take away the ache.

In fact it just got worse and I was beginning to feel really sick.

So at around midday I pulled the cord on the phone, turned off my cell phone and asked Shanni to organise lunch.

I took some Panadeine, pulled the curtains and went to bed.

I stayed there for around 3 hours.

Woke feeling slightly better.

There is not much worse than the cloudy fuggy head you get during & after a headache - and this one was more like a migraine than what I normally get.

 

During the morning Ellie had been busy in the garden finishing the asparagus patch for me and then she did the rhubarb bed too.

She dug up another bowl of new potatoes.

Shanni has been busy planting out seedlings and getting beds prepared.

 

I got up and went out to get some stuff done.

Everyone had gone out mustering sheep.

I put the chickpeas that I had soaked overnight - and almost all day - on to boil.

Then I remembered Ross had text me at 11:30am asking me to call.

I couldn't have talked then but I tried now - just 4 hours later!

Still wasn't too hot but managed to make some sense - I think

I finished talking with him then Phoebe text me and between us we spent time and many phone calls sorting out the power company - man! the protocol they have to go through just to change the names on an account, crazy!

When I got back to the kitchen the chickpeas had boiled dry and were burnt black and the kitchen was full of horrid smelling smoke

Darnit!

There went my idea of making hummus.

Azzan & Ellie arrived home.

They had gotten confused with their directions and ended up mustering the wrong paddock on the wrong side of the fence - actually they mustered an empty paddock!!

So they gave up and walked home.

The others arrived home later on.

I made rhubarb and apple crumble for dessert and decided that while the oven was hot I would make some flapjack slice.

But I was feeling pretty out of it so Mahalia offered to make it.

I sat and read the instructions to her.

Not too sure what happened but the mixture turned out completely different to any other flapjack slice I have made.

But it was okay so we popped it in the oven before dinner.

It was a real bitzer of a dinner - we all had different foods.

Tim, Shanni & Ellie at the remaining fish pie with brown rice and carrots.

Mahalia had lasagne & carrots - I sometimes buy her wee frozen packs of lasagne as she loves it and it helps to get some food into her!!

Azzan and I had poached eggs - his on toast with veges and mine with rice and carrots.

My stomach wasn't up to eating much.

Dessert was a different story though!

We all enjoyed the crumble - it was delicious.

Mahalia checked her slice but it still needed some cooking.

We cleaned up dinner and headed off to bed as it was late.

Shanni had burnt her hand before dinner so went out to get some burn gel and found the slice still cooking merrily away.

Actually it was burnt and inedible.

Burnt food - twice in one afternoon.

I shouldn't even try to cook when I am feeling like this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully the day was very conducive to drying washing outside because there was a mountain to get done!

I spent the morning putting the washing through, Ellie folded it as it arrived in clean and dry throughout the day.

The kitchen fridge had died so I had to do a huge sort out of food  that had been crammed in the washhouse fridge and make room for fresh veges.

Made the call to turn all the older left over from being away veges into quiche.

Ellie helped me process the veges for the quiches and also some for dinner.

Shanni was doing her birds and gardens.

Mahalia helped Azzan get his room finished as he had had a huge move around while we were away.

Then it was lunch time.

We filled our own pita breads and sat out on the deck to eat them.

It was a beautiful day.

I went for a wee wander with Mahalia to see what she had been doing in the garden.

She was loving this wee bush and wants me to get more - can't remember what it is called though?

Caught Tim in the study on my way past!

Then I cruised up to the vege garden to try and find the asparagus.

The patch had gotten overrun with weeds and potatoes.

It was really easy to weed so I got stuck in and cleared quite a lot of it and found heaps of new potatoes.

I did find a few asparagus that had gone to seed but on advice from Phillipa later I now know what to do.

 

I had just received all the information from Mahalia's orthodontist about her proposed treatment so called Phillipa to ask for some advice, knowing she has been down this track many times with her children.

We talked for ages.

I ended up making the white sauce for the fish and getting dinner on while chatting.

Aren't cordless phones great

I was so tired I headed to bed straight after dinner.

But didn't get to sleep as my tooth which had been niggling all day and off and on for a few weeks decided to ache badly.

I finally got up just before midnight to find some Panadeine.

Slept soundly after that thankfully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the late night had by all three of the occupants at Bodmin St we were all somewhat slow in beginning the day.

But it was a beautiful day so I showered and packed.

Chatted with Seb for a while and then headed off to meet up with Sally & Kashana at Crusoes for brunch.

We all arrived there around 11am so just squeaked in to be able to choose between the breakfast and lunch menus - couldn't have planned it better if we had tried

Kashana headed indoors so she could plug in her laptop and we sat outside and enjoyed the morning sunshine.

 Sally had a bacon and eggs breakfast and I had lunch.

Man! Do they do a fantastic smoked salmon salad.

It is so deliciously to-die-for!!

They smoke their salmon on the premises so it is really fresh smoked.

Plus they use their own hen's eggs, and sprout their own salad sprouts

We had some lovely chats along the way with Anat & Rami.

They are bringing an Israeli live cooking buffet idea to life here in NZ.

It is an exciting concept and I am really excited about it.

Just gotta try and make it work now to get a large group of us together to experience it

Phillipa arrived around midday to drop off Jackson - he had been staying with them for a few nights.

Chatted with Phillipa & Pat briefly before they headed off home.

We sat in the sun for a bit longer and then finally had to leave.

I had time to zip into town and fuel up the Terrano and get groceries.

Then dashed out to the airport to pick up Ellie our new wwoofer.

She was waiting so quickly jumped in and we headed off to pick up Shoshannah.

A quick stop off to get a final frappacino and then out to Seb & Phoebe's.

I had such a huge load on board.

Had to do some repacking to fit my bags in.

But we did it and still had plenty of room for Shanni to spread out in the back seat.

We had a lovely trip home.
Ellie is a delightful young lass from Birmingham, UK.

We stopped a few places along the way to show her the scenery.

The day was glorious so a perfect time to show off our environment

We actually arrived home before dark which is rare for me!

Tim was still out doing the dogs but the kids greeted us and helped unpack the Terrano.

It was pretty obvious that my holiday had come to an abrupt end when I walked in the door though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke during the night and heard torrential rain - it had finally arrived!

In the morning it seemed to have almost blown over.

The waves were pounding loudly on the beach.

We packed up and had our last breakfast.

Farewell to our snug wee room....

Then said our goodbyes to Steve - and promises to return

The rain had set in again so once we left we weren't muckin' about.

We drove to the beach to see the sounds I had been hearing all morning.

It was blowing a gale and the waves were pounding in.

Such a different sight to the previous few idyllic days!

I then detoured up to the other end of the camping ground to get another perspective.

Wasn't greatly different

As we left the village the flooding became more apparent.

One of the cafes was completely shut off by flooding.

Decided it was time we fled the flood!

Drove back around East Takaka road and out on the hill road.

The rain was still bucketing down and there were more raging torrents flooding down the creeks and rivers.

It was interesting driving up the hill - very windy and the rain got heavier on the hill itself.

Once we came over the other side the skies lightened even though it was still raining.

We stopped at the bottom of the hill so Tim could pick up the truck.

That took a wee while as he had a bit of socialising to do.

I headed off to visit Graham and left Tim to follow.

Leon & Leanne had put on a bbq for lunch so we enjoyed a very sociable time with them.

Graham was looking a lot better.

The Dr had come in the previous day and given him the ok to think about coming home in about a weeks time.

So obviously they are happy about the spleen healing and now he just has to wait for his ribs to heal.

We finally left there and headed into Motueka.

Tim couldn't get the parts he needed there so we drove in convoy to Richmond.

The freezer he was supposed to be picking up was far too big for him to lift alone so he left it for the next trip.

We then headed back to Seb's to load up.

I did a couple of jobs as I drove through Nelson.

Nathan met us there and helped Tim lift and load all Seb & Phoebe's things onto the truck and trailer.

Tim was finally ready to leave for home at 5:30pm.

I had the evening to myself so went to visit Becky.

We enjoyed an hour of hard out chatter - very nice

Then I zipped around to Ross & Andrea's and picked up the boxes of unsold curriculum.

I came home with half of what I had taken out so was very pleased.

Called in to the supermarket and grabbed some food for dinner and some extras for S&P for the next day.

Then I went back and heated the house, had my dinner, tidied up a tad & popped a hottie in their bed - nothing worse than coming in late to a cold house and bed.

Tim arrived back home at about 8:30pm but by the time he had unpacked and repacked Seb and they had dinner it was very late.

Seb & Pheobe didn't get back home until around 1:30am!

I did some late work on the computer until they arrived and then I crashed out for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, the predicted forecast for Friday was wrong.

And the last day of our holiday changed course because of that fact.

I had planned to have a lazy day at the Lodge doing not a lot except rest.

But the rain never came and the day dawned fair, so we decided to go into town and do some 'retail therapy'.

Actually that was Tim's words of acquiescence to me

One thing that Tim commented on several times was that each time we drove through Takaka, no matter the time of day or day of the week, the street was always busy and parks were few.

This time I drove up the main street and then back down again looking for a central park.

Finally found one at the south end of the street.

It happened to be right outside a very inviting shop called 'Wildflower'.

Tim wandered off to suss out stone grain grinders at the Organic Shop.

I spent an hour trying on garments.

It was a delightful place with lots of fun and funky clothing.

I finally narrowed my selection down to 3 items, paid and wandered up the street.

Keeping my eyes open for Tim but not seeing him so went into Mariposa.

They have a store in Nelson but the Takaka one is the home branch and is much larger and is like entering colour heaven

 

I tried on several things.

At one point I went out to the counter to ask for another size and found the girl unpacking some tops.

I fell in love with them and tried on a couple.

That was it.

I bought just those 2 tops and left everything else.

They were so hot off the press that none had made it to the racks and they hadn't even been price tagged!

They matched beautifully with the skirt I had bought from Wildflower so I was very happy.

 

I then went looking for Timmy.

Found him reclining on a seat, waiting patiently.

He had sussed out the grain grinder and decided to go home and think further about it.

I have no doubt that we will end up buying one as we were both very impressed, but it was a lot of money to fork out without more thought.

 

As it was midday we decided to take a wee drive up to Anatoki Salmon and suss the place out as we had heard so many great reports.

We were very impressed with the place.

It is a very innovative business.

They farm salmon in the 2 large commercial ponds to the front.

But they also release a certain number for the public to catch.

They supply all the fishing gear needed and the processing of your fish at no cost.

The only cost is for the fish you catch.

It is a beautiful setting and a lovely place to wile away time on a lazy sunny day.

We didn't bother fishing ourselves this time.

Decided we would wait until we bring the children over.

We chatted with a family who were fishing for '1 fish each'.

The children were so excited about catching their own fish.

We ordered the platter for two and sat on the deck in the sun watching all the other tourists.

It was delicious.

The salmon muffin was 'to die for delicious'!

The salmon bittenballs were also very tasty.

Between us we made short work of it all.

Tim got lose with my camera again

The Bencarri farmpark is right next door so we said hullo to this very friendly red deer as we left.

We also saw an albino deer, a very large wide horned cattle beast and a Highland bull, but were rather weary so didn't tarry any longer.

 

We headed back to Ratanui and got there with about an hour to relax before my massage.

So decided we really needed to go for a short walk to the beach.

Then we mosied back to the Lodge.

As it was a beautiful afternoon the doors were all open to the unoccupied suites so I took the opportunity to take photos of some of the beautiful furniture that Steve and Pete have gathered in their travels.

Aren't they just gorgeous?

My 3:30pm appointment with Annie was wonderful.

An hour of full body massage,

While I enjoyed that Tim slept soundly.

Holidaying is such tiring work

 

I had time for a leisurely shower before dressing for dinner.

I just adore a good shower, with lots of room and good water pressure, so I spent a lot of time under our shower during our visit here.

We sat and read ome local history books and chatted with Steve whilst enjoying our cocktails.

Then we enjoyed our last evening of being posh

This place is seriously that but so welcoming and friendly as well.

Steve is an excellent frontsman and Pete a great chef.

A great team.

Our meal for the night -

Curried carrot soup with a dash of cream and chive flower, served with fresh still warm homemade bread.

Tim had Duck breast with homemade roast plum sauce and loads of vegetables fresh from their garden.

I asked for the vegetarian option as I don't really do duck.

They presented me with an Aubergine stack plus lots of fresh vegetables.

What I really loved was that my meal was presented looking so similar to Tim's that you wouldn't have known it wasn't duck.

 

We finished our meal with a Lemon Lime pie and yoghurt lemon cream.

It was delicous.

 

We were both tired so weren't too late in retiring.

I could seriously have done with a few more days here!

Thanks Steve & Pete.

We will be back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stripped off our shoes and socks, opened the windows and tried to cool off.

Made our way back out to the main road and headed to Ferntown to see if my Uncle Graeme was home.

He was and he was delighted to see us.

We had a cuppa with him and he and Tim sorted out all the woes of the world for a while.

Then as the afternoon was disappearing we had to take out leave.

Next stop was Collingwood.

We found our way to Rosy Glow Chocolate Shop and had a very enjoyable few hours with my cousin David and Mary.

We devoured chocolates with our afternoon tea and then I went and made my purchases.

It is such a hard choice as there are so many delectable chocolates.

All handmade by Mary.

I also had a wee look at some of David's jewelery and was delighted to be given one of his rings to wear.

We don't get to see each other very often so when we do it is very special.

We missed out so much during our growing up years due to our families not having contact.

Nice to be making up for lost time now though.

 

It was getting quite late so we finally had to make tracks.

Some quick pix first though.

 

We had a dinner date booked at The Brigand in Takaka for 6:30pm.

Just made it.

We were so tired from our strenuous day that we ate our meals and then headed back to the lodge to crash out.

My legs were beginning to feel muscles I hadn't felt in ages