Beginning of the end

Well we are now just a couple of weeks away from being back at work - and all the stuff I planned to do and all the reading I planned to get done - well nuff said about that!!


We have had our annual camping trip to Maraehako - superb weather in one of the best camping spots we have found. Talking to the other regulars there ( we meet them there every year and enjoy each others company - never see each other in the town we live in!) we are all agreed there is no where better to be - sun, beach, rocks, fishing and best of all - hot showers and flush toilets!!



As usual we didn't have nearly enough time there but it was great anyway. It was the first time we had been there with just one child - Sam where were you? Luckily Lucy had a friend staying there so she didn't have to hang out with old people all the time.


Maurie managed to get out in his kayak each day and even caught a few fish although it didn't help him overcome his seasickness! ( see http://principalpossum.blogspot.com/ )


This year there seems to have been an abundance of crayfish - these were caught by the neighbours - but it wasn't a great morning as they usually got 6 - everyday!

The fishing was a bit harder and to get the big ones you needed to be further offshore than the trusty kayak driver could cope with.

We walked around the rocks a couple of times so Lucy and Maurie could fish and I could fossick (after smothering myself in insect repellent - the biting things on those rocks can drain all your blood in minutes!) I didn't get into any of the rockpools this time after seeing the size of the octopus caught in the neighbours craypot. Where were you Sam - I usually have your company on the rocks and I really missed not having you there to poke around in the pools with me! So to make you feel better and to see what you missed I took some photos of the pools for you.

One thing that was interesting, after hearing of a huge number of jellyfish infesting the water at Mount Maunganui was seeing heaps in a crevice around the rocks -

luckily they didn't actually come into Maraehako Bay - otherwise that would have been the end of swimming for me.

A great few days - and we left with plans to return before the end of summer - as we do every year!