New found places…

Luca has been doing what we used to call “manual” when we were at school. It is teaching practical skills like home economics, wood working, metal work etc. He and his class travel every Wednesday into Dunedin to one of the bigger schools to learn these arts. Luca loves it. The sushi fish board above his first woodwork effort and below butter chicken – delicious!

Last weekend was incredibly warm and sunny, off to the beach we went. Although we know the area, and had even looked at properties on the other side of Purakaunui when searching for a place, this particular spot we had not discovered. It has now, after this experience become a firm favorite!

The kids had so much fun!!

it was not long before clothes got wet 🙂

To get to the 3 beaches here, you have to walk down a long country lane. One of the wonderful things in Otago is there are so many beaches that they are never crowded…..

they are full of adventure….

and you never know who you will meet along the way 🙂

We had had lovely weather for a while, not much rain at all, so we decided to get some more water in and of course the moment we did, the rain came, and has kept coming, the washing tent holding up remarkably well considering 🙂

Still it has meant plenty of time for things like baking, Rich has been hard at it…

The chooks don’t love the rain and make the most of any dry spells, Diane ever hopeful we will let her inside !

Well to be fair, they are all quite hopeful!

The short, dark days means getting these two up in the mornings is somewhat a challenge, even with blankets removed!

Rich has continued to work on his Spanish lessons using duolingo, Luca picks it up every now and again to keep his hand in too. For Rich it is a morning ritual for 1/2 an hour or so, with Pica and Vida as moral support 🙂

School holidays have begun, we all love the holidays and more relaxed routine. The Science Festival is in Dunedin, Luca has signed up for that. He is off to a friends for the weekend and we are hoping when he gets back the weather will clear and we can hit some bike trails further afield. We recently got him a bigger bike, ( he had outgrown the last one) and he is keen to try it out properly, let’s see if the weather cooperates. The fungi are certainly enjoying the wet weather, so pretty!

We are very much aware how lucky we are in NZ to be relatively back to normal. We are able to get out and about, the only restrictions now is the border. There is a big push for Kiwis to get exploring NZ during their holidays instead of traveling abroad . Dunedin has put out a somewhat unusual marketing campaign to get people visiting. Check it out…

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/back-your-backyard/121651505/dunedin-a-pretty-good-plan-d-citys-quirky-new-marketing-campaign