28th Dec day 74 - perfect way to spend a holiday

Simon and I had a slow start that included breakfast, a crossword and a shared quiet time. What a great way to begin a beautiful morning. On Sun in the car coming back from Napier we were chatting with Carol about some special things to do over the next 11 days until I leave. Carol said we ought to go to Waimarama, a stunning beach at the other side of Te Mata Peak. Simon chipped in saying that would need to wait until next week when we had Nicholas back and Linda at home with Sam and Jack. We ganged up against him saying it's much more relaxing going to the beach without the kids - much as we all love them - but for a quiet sunbathe, read, crossword, picnic and swim, adults only was both of our first choice!

So today is the day, yippee. We packed a picnic, ground sheet, small tent, suncreams, lots of drinks, books, crossword etc it was a major expedition. We called at the Warehouse enroute to buy a sun umbrella and Carol brought along Button her very cute, well-behaved dog.

This is the first you see of the beach as you turn the last major bend at the top of the hill - stunning.

We got ourselves settled and the two of them took the dog for a long walk whilst I sunbathed, half dozing and enjoying the buzz of beach voices and the nearby waves. This is definitely my ideal for a holiday, exploring is fun, walking takes you to beautiful places, city tours give you an excellent flavour for the life and culture of a place - but nothing in my opinion compares to unwinding on a beautiful beach with the waves lapping nearby, especially with the hot sun on your face/body, bliss.

This was the view from my towel.

And this is Button with Carol trying to entice her with cheese in order to face the camera for a photo shoot.

After a lot of sunbathing I finally sat up and the 3 of us finished the crossword Simon and I had begun his morning, so helpful to have another person on the case when you have dried up. In fairness we were struggling with the clue swashbuckling adventurer 9 letters. We had racked our brains for ages and come nowhere near to guessing. In the end it was 'daredevil' - now what I ask you has that to do with swashbuckling?

Crossword cracked it was time for Simon and I to go for a swim, sooooooo wonderful to be bathing in the Pacific with my son. It's a dangerous beach so the lifeguards had put the warning flags more or less in the middle. Simon and I jumped over the waves for quite a while, sometimes they knocked me over as they were powerful and then we decided to swim between the 2 flags. With the strong undercurrent it took us quite a bit of swimming to align with the second flag. By then we were tiring so we body-boarded into the shore on a large wave, it was all sheer joy.

As the wind was a bit keen by then we packed up but we had enjoyed 6 hours on the beach. There was only one thing missing from a perfect day by the sea - you guessed ice cream.

The scenery between Hastings and Waimarama is lovely and Simon kindly stopped the car so I could take a few pictures on the way home.

It was getting late by the time we got home and had showered. I cooked a delicious stirfry from the Bald Butcher before we watched an episode of Would I lie to you. I left them for some couple time whilst I did my blog and read in bed, with that relaxed but worn-out feeling that comes from a day in the great outdoors. Sleep came very easily.