Day Two–just as good

One of the best things about summer is barbeques and the fact that men know it is their job to do the cooking.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard a woman complain about a badly cooked barby.  But when my son-in-law takes the helm you know you are going to get beautifully cooked meat. 

When my children were young it was a family tradition for our family and my sister-in-law’s family to gather at Waipu on New Years Day for the Caledonian Games.  The day was (and still is) mostly about Piping, Drumming, Highland Dancing, Highland Heavyweight Field Events and Fiddling but athletics were also on the agenda and our kids all loved to run and compete.  This year the two youngest in our families arranged a re-union on 2 January at s-in-law, Rosalie’s home in Warkworth.  Thank you Justine and Kieran.  It was a wonderful idea and a fabulous day. 

Justine and Keiran

The children are now all in their 30s and 40s but they still love catching up, although they aren’t as active as they used to be.  It was up to the next generation to do the running and chasing.

They also did their share of chatting and eating.




It was worth the horrendous traffic on the drive to Warkworth to have such a lovely day of family togetherness.   We were lucky that Danny and Heather’s overnight visitors had left heading south shortly before we did and sent us a text message telling us where they were at a standstill in traffic.  With local knowledge and having no fear of dirt roads, we turned off the main highway and took a back road to quicken our journey.  We were heading in the right direction going home and, for me, the trip passed quickly as I slept most of the way.  Ah, it is nice to not be the driver sometimes.  Thanks, Dan.

I know I shouldn't...

On Saturday at the markets I gave in to temptation and purchased a brand new set of telescopic garden pruning shears.  I should have waited to get home to try them out.

Instead GB found a use for them that very afternoon.

We took the long way home from Warkworth , stopping first at the Old Cement Works by the river. 

I've posted photos from there before and I'm sure GB got some great shots. 

 The creek by the cement works at low tide

There are so many lovely places around Warkworth and Matakana but unfortunately the weather was a bit dull, grey and overcast.  I say unfortunately from a photographic point of view, personally I was delighted hoping against hope that the weather was the same here on the farm and that long awaited rain was coming our way.

But I can never pass by Leigh Harbour.  It's a small harbour, home to a fleet  of commercial fishing boats and is the access to other diving and fishing spots around the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Most of the boats at anchor were not the fancy yachts you see at a lot of New Zealand harbours but honest to goodness working vessels.

I can't quite believe I got this shot of one of the many birds at work in the harbour.  

Birds in flight are usually totally beyond me.

A crab pot laying on the jetty

We wandered around happily clicking away at birds and boats and probably wouldn't have noticed this boat being pulled in if GB hadn't been concerned that I'd left the car parked in the boat trailer area and ran back up the road to move it - he's a law abiding citizen!

I followed him at a more leisurely pace, by which time the young fishermen had pulled up behind us in the carpark.  One of them approached me with a lovely big trevally in his hand and asked if I'd like it.  Would I ever!  I'd found a plastic bag in the boot and was joyfully stowing it away when he said perhaps I'd like another.  Gratefully accepted of course.  You can't get fresher than still alive. 

So we were happy trippers as we carried on our way over the hill towards Pakiri with our dinner in the boot.  However, it became apparent from the noises coming from the boot that the fish were still very much alive and when we stopped at the top of the hill to take photos we became concerned with the animal cruelty aspect.   Now I can bait a hook and love fishing, can scale and gut a fish no problem but I simply cannot kill them.  GB announced he'd kill it and being the bright spark that he is decided my new pruning shears would be just the ticket.

I think I should wait till he's out of the country before posting the evidence:

Oh, almost forgot, the view from the top of the hill, not bad considering the conditions.