Summer to behold

I have been having this internal debate for the last few months about which of the two bays I prefer: Tasman Bay or Golden Bay. They both mean beach, the elements, tides, and now summer, to me.

Our summer started a week before Christmas and has not stopped yet. I think I can get used to that!

Summer really hit us when we arrived in Upper Moutere for house sitting (Hannah has mentioned this here). Alina and Niko from Hamburg came for a visit there, and, girl, can she take pictures! Not only that, but she was so nice as to give them to us, a memory for our special time at the hopkiln. Thanks, thanks, thanks! Here are a few:

Ach, there’d be so many more I could post…

We were lucky to meet Amanda, Dan, Nika and Ciela on our travels – they enriched our lives with stingray watching, cockling + mussling, and playpals for the kids. We met on and off over 4 weeks in amazing places: Motueka, Collingwood, Totaranui, Pohara and Marahau.

No shit!

Abel Tasman Park knocks me off my feet every single time. I can to dig the golden sand all day and play with the tides. Tractors and boats in Marahau are a combination of awesomeness almost too much for Elliott, especially sitting in a boat pulled by a tractor. In Marahau I also discovered bamboo as a building material for all sorts of things. So far I made: cups, a bundle bow, a paddle + a raft. But this may warrant a separate post.

Otis and I on our first overnight hike ever

Hey, cowboy

Elliott bringing home the ba..mboo