Sorry for dropping off the radar after my last post! I had wrist surgery last week and was more incapacitated that I had truly believed I would be! Not entirely sure what I had been expecting, but it hurt more than that. But let me take you back to paradise!
This is what we woke up to that first morning. The sun was shining, the sky was a clear warm blue, the surf was nonexistent, the boats were calm and empty.
It was Christmas morning (I am aware how long it has taken me to write this!) and we could see the sleigh tracks from where Santa had landed. He had been! He had found us! Even on the other side of the world!
Christmas was wonderful. After spending a few years visiting with people on Skype, and last year having friends over, it was lovely to be surrounded by large extended family again. Parents, siblings, cousins, spouses, children … It was perfect having everyone together.
We spent a frantic ten minutes destroying the pizza frisbee that I had brought with me from Amsterdam. I’ll be honest here, most of the damage was done by my badly aimed flings into an aluminium picnic table. Feel pity for the poor people who were trying to picnic on the table at the time!
Of course, some of the younger members of the family were happy making their own fun in the available water.
We were surrounded by absolutely gorgeous landscape, that just begged investigating and exploring. We did head out one day, but we’d left it too late in the day, and didn’t want to get caught in the incoming tide, so abandoned that particular adventure.
The full moon graced us with its presence on Christmas night; I’d read somewhere that it was the first full moon on Christmas since 1977.
The next day we headed out on the boats for a tour of the bays and coves around the top of the South Island. Escaping the beach that was covered in people for ones that can only be reached by boats.
Our first cove had a family of seals in it. We made our own floating island by tying all the boats together and then had snacks, while those that could stand the temperature of the water went for swims with the seals.
It was a beautiful place to stop and relax and just be. To forget about the world, listen to the birds singing, breathe the wild air, and watch the seals frolicking around the rocks.
Stay tuned for our next exciting episode, where you find out just how burnt Himself got swimming with the seals in this cove!
ghoti industries 
How beautiful! What country? That’s your view from the living room?!! What’s it gonna take for me to crash there when I visit?!
This was in New Zealand. North end of the South Island. And the house we stayed in is able to be rented! That’s how we got to stay there! 😀