Had some absolutely amazing times with my family. Obviously not going to write a day by day account but it involved lots of dog walking, colouring in, playing at the beach, playing at the swing park (they obviously want me to go down the slide with them), watching Dora the Explorer/Bubble Guppy episodes and generally being with my family.
It's so amazing that it's the last month of Autumn and it's still in the 20s and it's warm enough to paddle in the sea!
A couple of the highlight of the this time were my dive course, going over west of Auckland towards Piha and visiting Tiri Island.
The dive course was pretty cool. We had a day in the class room/ swimming pool, a day at the lake doing fresh water dives and then a day out at Wellington Reef off Army Bay (5 minutes from where I've been living). On the last two dives we had a shark (a metre long gummy one rather than a scary one) swimming above ours heads without any of us noticing. The instructor decided not to point it put in case any of us freaked out but I would have loved to have seen it.
We went out west to do a walk up to Kitikiti falls and then we had lunch on the beach lions rock. The walk was really cool and to a massive waterfall... Not the trickle of a waterfall on the waterfall track in Shakespeare regional park.
The trip to Tiri was our pirate adventure of a pirate ship (ferry) to a desert island (nature reserve) and we found pirate treasure (shells) on the beach! It was a lovely island to walk around although the distances on the map were a bit disceptive. We definitely could have walked around the whole island but instead we stayed on the beach collecting shells, paddling and looking in the rock pools. All the adults managed to come home with very rosy cheeks!
It's so sad to be writing this at the airport having said goodbye to my family. I've thoroughly enjoyed having quality time with my cousins and going on walks along the beach with the dogs. Even in such a short space of time I felt like I'd become part of the community! When I drove past is would wave to people, I would stop to chat to a couple of the dog walkers each day and I was invited to Easter gatherings and birthday parties! Two coffee shops even knew me and my order!
Benson having a cuddle
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