Guests Have Come and Gone

I had a great time visiting with Janci and Jared. It was much too short of a visit, though. They had a wonderful time touring the south island, however that took up most of their 20 day visit. Travis and I only got to see them for 8 days, and that includes 2 partial traveling days.

Since they got back from Christchurch last Saturday we went to the Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park, to Herne Bay Beach Reserve so Jared could swim in salt water for the first time (and I taught him how to snorkel, even though there wasn't a lot to see in Herne Bay), to Karekare Beach for Jared to swim in the real ocean for the first time.

I'm going to stop there.

Karekare is beautiful. It is a very dangerous beach. Four or five lifeguards were on duty the day we went out there (Monday) and there were a total of 8 people in the water in the 3 hours we were there. We made up 4 of the 8 people. The undercurrent is very strong, so the lifeguard told us to keep our feet on the ground or else we'd get washed away. The waves were awesome for a first-timer to play in. I consider myself a beginner when it comes to waves because I have never really played in huge waves - just body boarding waves in Tofino, and pissy little waves in Surfer's Paradise. These were definitely waves to write home about. We probably played out there for 30-40 minutes, jumping and twisting and spitting out salt water. The drive to Karekare (from the main Piha Rd) is one lane. It's not a popular beach because of the bad road and the treacherous beach, but I would take going there over going to Piha any time. It is much more secluded and quiet, but retains the beauty of the rest of the more popular west coast beaches.

Janci and Jared got to fit in visits with a bunch of Janci's old friends. They also got a chance to meet a few of our friends and play some sports with us. Tuesday was football in Auckland Domain, and Thursday was netball with our netball team, the Nomads. Janci and Jared were natural netball players, even though Janci found the game really difficult to play (because of the lack of contact with the other players, and the fact that she forgot she wasn't playing basketball).

I'll miss them.

Our house doesn't fit 4 people that well, so we will enjoy having the space again.

Today is the last day of spring - and after a week of gorgeous weather, the rain is back. I've been told it's time to go for dinner. Mmmmm dinner on Ponsonby Road. I feel so posh. :)