So it's summer time now.. although because of the el nino it's been mostly chilly and cloudy, windy with a few fine days in between. These usually occur when I've been at work inside only getting glimpses of what a Kiwi Summer really is.. So we took a week off and my kiwi and I headed up to Northland where the country has been suffering from a severe drought. We passed fire warning signs in every small town that banned any fire at all. We spent three nights at a private beach called Paradise Bay. Some friends are in the know with the farmer so we got invited along with family and more friends. I'm still getting used to being in the country and then going down steep, windy gravel roads, past sheep and pasture, to the end up at the beach!
We lost most of our photos when we attempted to upload them and they got deleted by our computer! So much for Apple computers being reliable! Here is one of the friendly-ish seagulls that graced us with his/her presence. We amused ourselves one afternoon by tossing them chips and watching them go bonkers.
It was gorgeous most of the time, with the hot sun burning down. We took walks along the beach and collected some Paua shells that had been hidden in the sand. The third day we decided to test the water. I put on my full body wetsuit and still went numb in the water! It's nothing like the water in Hawaii. We also went fishing one morning off a boat and caught a few small ones. We were lazy and went out an hour later than we should have and no one was hungry in the water.
This is leaving the beach.. It reminds me so much of the Big Island of Hawaii! The hills are exactly the same and some of the trees as well.
After the beach we headed to Omehuta where we stayed on a friend's dairy farm. We also took time to see the family farm which has since been sold but the owners were kind enough to let us come poke around.
View from the gate at the entrance off the farm.
Our borrowed ride, one of the few trucks you see in New Zealand..
It was a beautiful, sunny day! But also quite hot. Almost 30 degrees Celcius.
View out of the tool shed.
Some vintage fence lines and a peek at the hills behind.
These flowers reminded me of lavender!
Some fallen down gum trees.
A neat little overpass.
View of the chicken coop and back at the wool shed.
The current owner's cat who apparently got a tui bird a few days beforehand.
Driving through a quarry back on our friend's property.
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This makes me want to live in the country.
The scenery changes so much in just a few steps.
Some dark clouds loomed over but didn't bring rain.
Another gravel road leading back to the house. After our trip my kiwi and I want to live on a farm! Maybe some day.. ;-)
