24/01/11 to 29/01/11: TE PURU

We landed at Auckland at 1a.m. Monday morning and Nic and Lin (our ex-neighbours in Knowle for 9 years, and ex of Rancy in Bourgogne), bless them, were waiting for us and took us home to Te Puru.
We've had a restful but very eventful week, not least 2 cyclones, landslips, high humidity and hot summer sun.

Te Puru is just over an hour by road  from Auckland, north of the old gold-mining town of Thames, on the west coast of the Coramandel peninsula.


 This is where we are staying , a stone's throw from the Pacific.
 

'Bellbird House': anyone who knows Nic and LIn will not be surprised by the scaffolding and 'building work underway'.

The 'BACH' where we are staying. Many houses in New Zealand have these 'sleep-outs' in their gardens. This one comes with all mod.cons., including air conditioning!

'NIC W': kindly loaned to us while we are in the North Island. Steve is rapidly (?) getting used to the automatic transmission, and the Kiwi speed limits.



Nic and Lin's sea-fishing boat: snapper we hope. Keep looking at the blog for what transpires, as we can go with them on one of their regular trips.

 The deck view......sea gull included. We have to keep pinching ourselves. You can't imagine sitting out looking and listening to the heart beat of the Pacific....

The view from the beach

The view towards the sea across the Reserve and beach.....

Flower beds of tropical plants and natural drift wood demarcate the boundaries

 The view to the neighbouring houses...

 And, as beautiful as it all is during the day, looking out to sea at sun set.......

And the gardens......

And NO TEMPLES but a Buddha to greet us in the morning......

This is just a taster.

 More to come on our visits within the Coramandel Peninsula, the green lipped mussels (for those of you following our regular food bulletins), and the landslip caused by the second cyclone.