Photographic Fragments from Whangarei Heads

(That title is far more alliterative than it looks, the "Wh" is pronounced "F")

We have just come back from five fabulous nights with the McFadgen family in a beach holiday house near Whangarei Heads. We met up with Emma, James and William at Orewa Beach for lunch on Sunday and then made our way up north arriving just in time for a quick swim at the very pretty but also very rocky beach just down the hill from the house.

Little Munro Bay

Me sitting under the Pōhutukawa after a swim

We woke the next morning to discover ourselves inside the clouds, this shot was taken from the front deck of the house once the cloud had lifted a bit, we couldn't see the mountain at all for a while.

Mount Manaia shrouded in cloud

With humidity so high that dry clothes got wet if you hung them up inside, we holed up in the house and played games and watched dvds and lazed around enjoying not being in the car for a change.

On Wednesday the sun re-appeared and we drove to Ocean Beach where the kids, under the expert direction of James, built a bridge out of driftwood, seaweed and sand over the, umm...creek, yes, let's call it a creek and not the stormwater drain.

David, James, William and Caitlin building a bridge

Tom and Caitlin braved the surf

David narrowly avoided doing the same

When I took that photo I was kind of expecting a sequel with bum in the water and feet in the air but no such luck.

Rock pools were explored - William, Emma and David

Beautiful scenery was appreciated

Crabs were found - lots of them!

An anemone was poked and admired

And when we were at the house Mount Manaia had to content itself with looking craggy instead of mysterious.

My children are now addicted to L&P, Caitlin feels she can't possibly survive back in Australia without it. Thank you New Zealand, I'm now stuck with a mission of obtaining obscure softdrink for a small child when back in Sydney. (Not really, she'll just have to go through withdrawal :P)

Caitlin couldn't find her watch and new New Zealand charm bracelet when we were packing up to leave Rotarua last weekend. We searched the hotel room without success and eventually left saying to her they MUST be in someone's luggage somewhere. They were still missing after we unpacked at the beach house. Five days later as she dressed to leave this morning, she found them. In her shoe. Emma tells us this means she is becoming a true Kiwi - barefoot by preference!

I'm linking up to Friday Fragments at Mrs 4444's place, 'cause with a title like that up there, how could I not? Click through to Half-Past Kissin' Time to see what all the other Friday Fragmenting bloggers have to offer! I'll be doing my blog visiting and commenting once we're back in Sydney - only two more sleeps of New Zealand holiday left, back to reality on Sunday night.

Hosted by Mrs4444.