Weekend Beach Trip

This past weekend was another public holiday weekend, meaning everyone from around here was off to celebrate Auckland Anniversary Day.  I was a bit confused over why Hamilton would be celebrating the foundation of Auckland, but I decided okay, if they want this as another excuse to have a holiday I am all for that.  Curiosity later got the best of me, and I had to find out why in the world this was a holiday.  A bit of research later, and I discovered that it is actually a day celebrated on the Monday closest to January 29th in celebration of the formation of the Auckland Province.  That made a bit more sense to me being that Hamilton would have been part of what was the Auckland Province.  Satisfied with my discovery, I was able to happily do what everyone else around here was doing...heading to the beach!!

That's right, it's summer and a holiday weekend.  Remember what I have said before about kiwis and holidays?  They make for the beach.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we decided to head out for sand and sun!!  We had originally discussed heading out to the Coromandel Peninsula, but it was decided we would save that for a day when we could leave out at 5 o'clock in the morning due to me wanting to stop every couple of kilometers to take pictures.  I browsed a map trying to decided where I wanted to go, and I finally decided on Waihi, which is on the east coast.  We packed the car and away we went! 

After arriving in Waihi, Ben said, "Here or do you want to keep going and head up to Whangamata?"  We made a quck trip to Waihi when I was in NZ back in June, so of course I wanted to go where I have not been before.  A short, but very curvy drive later, and I was pleased by the site of an artsy little beach town!  We made our way through town and found a beach access spot that wasn't crowded.  By beach access, I mean driving down a street and parking at the edge of someone's yard and walking down the beach path.  This beach is much more easily accessible than our little west coast hidey hole, there is no stream to cross, and the path is actually marked so you're not blindly wandering around some Mr. Random Farmer's land.

Here are a few pictures of the path down to the beach.

And here is the lovely view we were greeted by!

Sadly, we were not the only people on this beach.  It was "crowded" according to Ben.  He of course was grumbling about "all the people".  Here's how "crowded" it was.

I will admit, I too started grumbling when this annoying little group settled within 30 yards of us.  I couldn't figure out why they chose to come to our little section and play Impress My 12 Year Old Girlfriend With My Football Skillz.  Yes, that was an example of the not so nice things Ben and I uttered as the two guys kicked and tossed the football in an attempt to look cool while wearing muscle shirts.  I really wanted to tell them that they lost cool points because they were wearing those shirts, but I didn't.  We were happy when they decided to leave 45 minutes after arriving.  :D

We continue to nap and sun in peace after their departure, and I am pleased to report...there was no sunburns associated with this trip!  My ankle is finally recovering from our last beach excursion.  I missed a couple of areas, and I ended up looking like I had a horrid run in with self tanner.  I was blotchy with dark patches here and there.  I giggled every time I looked at my feet and ankles, but I'm glad to be uniformed in color now.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get a bit more sun time in before our little one makes her arrival and the summer comes to an end.

I hope everyone back home is having a great week, and I will update again soon. The rest of my week will be low key, and then we'll be getting ready for our trip to Australia next week.  My camera is charged and ready to go!  Until next time, everyone take care and stay safe with the weather headed your way! XoXo

Catching Up...New Year's

New Year's has come and gone, and I hope so far that everyone is off to a great start!  My New Year began a bit different than what I'm use to.  For starters, it's summer here in New Zealand.  Secondly, I live less than 30 miles from the beach.  You guessed it, Ben and I made like good little kiwis and departed Hamilton in search of sand and surf.  It didn't take us long to find it, and we managed to find a spot away from the rest of civilization.

See this...this was what it looks like on the ride to our secluded hidey hole...oh, and the white dots amongst the green are sheep.

After parking and hiking walking down to the beach, we were rewarded by the fact that we were the only people there!  That's one of the perks of the west coast...it's not as touristy as the east coast.  FYI...touristy does NOT mean like Panama City during Spring Break.

This is the view I had while sprawled out in all my preggo glory...

For the record, those waves are no joke.  That particular day, the waves were around the 7 foot mark with 3 seconds between.  I kept to being a beached whale for the most part...it was an actual workout to be in the water, and I don't particularly like waves that go over my head when I'm standing waist deep.

There's a quick look at the wave size...this pic will probably be gone, and I'll probably be choked once Ben realizes I've used him for demonstration purposes!! :D :D  Hi, honey!!!

Anyhoo...back to the beach...  The water is a lot more chilly than it is down on the Gulf Coast.  I shivered a bit when I got in, but it was great compared to the hot sand.  I'm sure it comes as no surprise to learn that the black sand is in fact rather toasty.  It's got iron in it, so yeah, it holds quite a bit of heat.  The bright side to that, it felt amazing to have the warmth of it under your back with the cool breezes blowing off of the ocean.  It didn't take long for me to fall fast asleep...and wake up blistered.

Sunscreen is a must down here.  I don't mean apply SPF 30 or 40 once and you're set....I mean you better reapply hourly.  NZ has the highest melanoma rate in the world because of the extreme UV rays here. (thanks to the hole in the ozone layer being over us).  People are advised to "Slip, Slop, Slap, and Wrap".  Slip on long sleeved protective clothing, slop on at least SPF 30, slap on a hat, and use wrap around shades.  That's my public service announcement on sunscreen, now back to my story...

Being blistered wasn't so much fun, and it cut into our scheduled beach time for New Year's Day.  After waking from our naps, we packed up, headed home, and crashed hard.  We were sound asleep before midnight, and didn't get to enjoy being the first country to ring in 2013...LOL!!  The next day, we were lazy around the house and tried not to move too much.  We didn't have black eyed peas, greens, or cornbread...come to think of it, I'm not even sure if I can get black eyed peas here!  We'll see how my luck holds out this year.  It may be that I have my Momma ship black eyed peas to me, and I'll start a new tradition here in NZ next year!

So, there you have it, my first New Year in my new country!  My year is looking great so far, and we still have a lot to come!! :D

Catching Up...Boxing Day & The Belly Excuse

That's right....I said Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26th.  I'm pretty sure you're having the same reaction that I had the first time I heard about Boxing Day.  I couldn't help but think, "Sheesh...a whole day devoted to the sport of boxing?!  Mike Tyson fans much..."  (for the record...I don't think NZ is all to keen on Mike, considering they banned him from entering...click here to read more.)  

Okay, okay, back on point.  What exactly is Boxing Day?  Well, there's two theories as to its origins.  The first theory is that back in the day, servants had to work Christmas, but were given the day after off in order to celebrate with their families.  The servant's employers would present them with gift boxes on the day after...hence the term Boxing Day.  The second theory is that the collection boxes in churches were opened up, and the proceeds were distributed to the poor on the day after Christmas.  Today, it's like Black Friday, except you don't have to request off work because it's a public holiday!!  Oh, little side note here...Boxing Day isn't just celebrated in NZ.  Canada, Australia, and the UK all celebrate BD, too.

We got up bright and early, just like everyone else that hadn't participated in the mass exodus to the beach, and prepared to go shopping.  We didn't hit the "early bird" specials, but instead we waited and hit the shops around noon-ish.  The traffic was insane, and there was nowhere to park.   The Base. (one of the malls) has this nifty little feature telling how many parking spots are available.  Well...there weren't many, and everyone was having to park out in the middle of nowhere.  

Security was directing traffic, blocking roads and areas that were full, and indicating where you needed to go to park.  We WERE being directed to the great abyss, but what did Ben do?  He decided to use my bulging belly to get us closer.  Yep, he pulled right up to Mr. Security Guard and said something along the lines of  "My darling is pregnant, is there any way you can get us closer?"  Mr. Security laughed and said "Yeah, she has had a bit too much Christmas pudding!  Go right over there, and we'll get you in."  We ended up with front row parking!!  

I was really thankful for the great spot once the rain set in.  To be honest, I was really grateful I didn't have to waddle any further than necessary...I had shopping to do and couldn't be bothered expending all my energy navigating the parking lots trying to get to the mall!!  Let me rephrase that, I thought I had shopping to do.  It turns out, after visiting nearly every store at The Base, we went home with 1 purchase.  That's right...it took 5 hours to find one thing to buy, AND it wasn't even on sale!!!!  

In summary, Boxing Day was spent fighting traffic and crowds just to NOT get a good deal.  Sounds about right huh?  It wasn't a complete waste though...we did manage to get a great laugh out of the parking arrangement....and yes, after 5 hours of walking around that place, I was even more grateful to have the awesome parking spot.  Thanks again, Mr. Security Man!! :D