Holiday pictures! Bush, boulders and belly ache (Lauren)

I have just had a great holiday. So much so, I am going to subject you to a short summer blurb, Christmas blurb, stomach bug OF DOOM blurb, then blurb about the coolest places Tane and I visited.

This year we had to leave Wellington to find some sun - apparently it was the coldest December Wellington had for over 70 years. It was well worth it though after spending a week in Auckland and Opotiki becoming re-acquainted with my sandals, shorts, and little tops from the House of G. They had been feeling a bit sad and neglected at the back of my closet. I think that my summer clothes really enjoyed going to the beach, on walks, and spending ages sitting in the sun while I read.

Christmas was the best I've had in years. I enjoyed good food at both Mum’s and Dad’s, as well as hanging with the whanau and playing poker after being inspired by ‘Casino Royale’. Although, I do have a long way to go in learning how to be good enough to play a villain that cries tears. A first step would be learning to hide a gleeful smile when dealt a good hand. Sigh. This bluffing business is hard work.

Seeing in the New Year was slightly less fun. Tane and I were in Auckland with Mum, which was lovely and relaxing…until the bug OF DOOM hit me in the middle of the night. Only capital letters can express just how ‘of doom’ the bug was. Both Tane and I spent some of the holiday very very sick. I was so sick, even the thought of drinking coke made me shudder. The Bug OF DOOM had no mercy, and timed itself perfectly for the night before a long car trip. Ug. Lucky that the rest of the holiday was so good that being as sick as a dog didn’t really matter.

Sick with Mouse the Cat. Who actually has cancer
so I really shouldn't complain.

The highlight of the holiday was Whirinaki Forest in the Urewera National Park. Tane, Tane's Dad and I went there for a day walk last Sunday. It was simply amazing - the air was so fresh and the bush so rich that there is nothing that I could say about it that wouldn't sound corny. We went for a lovely walk to a waterfall, and another to a canyon. There is nothing better than being in the middle of nowhere where the sound of birds are all around you and the sound of cars far away.

Tane and his Dad in the forest

Tane and I also had a fabulous explore of the bush out the back of Opotiki while on holiday, in search of some boulders that were supposed to be very cool. A few hours was added to the trip as we got lost, and instead of boulders found a very creepy area in the middle of the bush where, it appeared, old cars went to die. We eventually found the boulders after much walking around windy gravel roads. The joy in finding them came second however to the joy of realising that we were no longer lost and not going to be shot at by Opotiki’s equivalent of Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel for snooping around his car cemetery.

Finally at the boulders. Yay!

I did leave the festive season thinking one thing though: who writes the jokes in Christmas crackers? In my cracker this Christmas I got a large tacky paperclip and a joke about Cinderella going to the photo shop to get her "Prints". It makes me wonder who writes those jokes. Are there a group of people sitting around in a room thinking about them, slapping each other on the back with glee when one realises that "prints" sounds like "prince" so it can be the subject of a joke? If you happen to know anyone who has this job, please slap them for me. Hard.

For info on Whirinaki:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=34560