We are back into term time. Tom has gone back to school and will be studying for IGCSE's and Joe is back at Parnell kindergarten. It is some kind of preparation for real school as this photo shows.
The kindys here are often situated next to a reserve which is the case with Joe's. The children often want to take a detour through it, and yesterday we had a whirlwind tour of the reserve.

The weater is hot, sunny and humid and in the shade are many creatures. Some of them bite!

The archetypal kiwi summer

The kiwi lifestyle has often been talked about and after 8 years I think I can now say that it has become familiar to us this summer. We rented a bach recently near Tutukaka. For those who may not know, 'the bach' is a New Zealand holiday home which is very simple, usually near the beach. The origin of the word 'bach' comes from bachelor, due to the simplicity of the lifestyle; consumption of barbecued food, beer, and a wooden shack to sleep in. The simple pleasures of whiling away hours at the beach, looking at the sea life, even doing some anachronistic sunbathing.
If I had to leave NZ I would really miss the native New Zealand trees. These extraordinary coastal flax plants were just back from beach at Woolleys Bay.

I don't know what type of flax this is. Actually I'm not sure it is a flax. I havn't found it on the internet where I have only found two types of NZ flax. The flower stalks are at least 3 metres tall. Actually it looks more like a succulent.

Being buried is one of the things Joe loves to do on the beach. Here he is on the beach at Matapouri Bay, one of the biggest beaches in the Whangarei area, which boasts about 100 beaches.

Tutukaka

This summer we have spent quite a lot of time lazing around not doing much. We did get our ourselves organised enough to travel up to Northland twice and stay at Tutukaka.

This is the second bach we stayed at in a kiwi sanctuary in the hills. It was extraordinarily peaceful at the bach. Unusually, the weather was windless and once or twice I stopped, asking for silence from my people, and listened for a distant sound of traffic. There was nothing!

This is the nearest beach, opposite Ngunguru school and facing the sandbar on the river mouth.