Oh gawd I wish they were closer

 Welcome back Reader.

  

It has been a while I know, when I left off last year we were expecting our daughter and husband over from New Zealand with their four month old baby.  

I had said repeatedly when I was there that they didn't have to come..... but they did, I collected them from Heathrow and when we got back home David had the baby put into his arms and she gave him the most beautiful smile.  

I was slightly miffed as I had been with her when she was born and cuddled her for weeks but I get the blank face.

Such is life.

Here they are, 28 hours flying and not looking too bad on it.

Mutual love.

So this is my mum with her tenth Great Grandchild, pretty good achievement mum.

So when I got home in September from NZ, David announced that for our winter holiday he'd like to go to New Zealand, I was a bit surprised due to the distance and that I had only just got home from there but come January we did return, I wasn't really wanting to do a big tour as we had done almost exactly ten years previously for their wedding, I just wanted to be with all their family.

But beaches were included.

So jet lag has its benefits, here we are on the beach in Auckland at about 6am, David even swam too.

Now Frequent Flyers to this blog may remember the lovely Marilyn and David, from their own blog

HERE 

Well we became friends via this blog really, but we only met face to face three times!  Marilyn and David sold up their narrowboat Waka Huia back in 2023, and returned to live full time in their native NZ, after having their summers in the UK for many years.

 

We took a flight from Auckland down to Paraparaumu, a wee airport north of Wellington, they picked us up and took us to their wonderful home in a retirement village.  Frankly I could go and live there myself right now and my David was equally impressed with the facilities, pool, gym, cafes, bar, endless activities and even a nurse on call!  

It was so very very impressive, with only an eight year waiting list.....  

We played cards, walked the extensive grounds, including the native forest and met some of their friends, including a lady who produced a quiz which I may reproduce for your delight on here, we ate like kings and I have the recipes of the delicious meals, Thank you both so much for you amazing hospitality and I hope to return the favour if you return this way. 

They even got up at dawn to take us back to the airport back to Auckland.

Paraparaumu airport way back in time,  the aeroplanes have changed and now there's a terminal! 

Three days before we flew David decided to take his Brompton, he whizzed around the park and to the french bakery, a bakery so good it's sold out by 11am.

The view from Michell's family Batch on the Coromandel peninsula.

We are all in factor 50spf.

The baby being bathed in the family tin bath that has seen every one of the 18 grandchildren bathed, and now onto the Great Grandchildren, so many of them I don't know.

Back in the 1950's Mitchell's grandfather built their batch primarily for fishing, I think they were one of twelve batches built, today there are many many more two are in the same family hands as in the 1950's.

Back then it was sheep grazing land without a tree or hardly a bush.  Today the natural bush has recovered much to the pride of the families.  Where we are standing is still grazing land.

I could barely watch as Mitchell climbed up the rocks then with all his nearest and dearest watching he jumped into this natural forest pool.  Evidently it was freezing, but NZ freezing.

Greater Auckland from the top of an extinct volcano 

Leaving on a jet plane....

Well I guess you can imagine how hard it is to leave, but let me tell you, it's way harder.

They won't be over here again for a long while so guess where we will be going next winter.

Well Reader that sums up pretty much what we have been about since last autumn.  Normal service will be resumed in a short while.  Just after Easter we will be off on a grand trip.

Stay tuned for more on that in April.

TTFN