RAGLAN (A MID-WEEK GETAWAY)

When I was young I used to love getting lost in the world of Enid Blyton books, particularly the ones where children run away to join the circus.  I would lay in bed at night pretending I was snuggled up in my old wooden caravan while outside the circus folk were cooking sausages over a crackling fire and playing the guitar.  Somehow that dream has never really left me! 

The minute we unlocked the creaky old door to our overnight train I knew at least part of my fantasy was coming true!  I had actually been wanting to stay at Solscape in Raglan for years now because they have these amazing tipi's in the bush.  As fate would have it though they were going to prove much too cold to sleep in at this time of year so I reluctantly checked out their other accommodation option... earth domes, cabooses,  eco baches and *gasp* a 17 metre long original train carriage!!  SOLD!  We spent a cosy evening inside cooking up a feast while outside the wind howled and the rain pelted at the windows, even the lighting and thunder that woke us in the night somehow only added to the magic.

Raglan itself is a pretty stunning place.  It's a small town about two hours out of Auckland that is nestled in between a rugged coastline and a huge harbour.  From all accounts there are two reasons why people move here, to surf and/ or to do yoga!  All the locals know each other and life moves at it's own pace.  It's safe to say that we fell in love with this little place almost instantly.  We'll also definitely be coming back to Solscape over summer to try out the tipi's.
x

LIBRARY POINT

This morning a very chirpy toddler and two rather tired parents sat down to a pancake breakfast and tried to decide what to do with their sunny, Sunday morning.  We finally settled on an old favourite that we haven't visited for well over a year (I'm pretty sure Ayana was still in the back pack last time we went).  In order to get to Library Point you have to head further out into the country until you see the large and completely intimidating high security prison sprawled out before you.  The important part is to turn a sharp left and head down a small, uneven road just before you hit the prison gates!  Suddenly you find yourself at the entrance of a large reserve (complete with a dog park and horse/ bike trails).  The walking track eventually leads you to a completely magical spot at the very end of the point where the tidal waters quickly turn from murky brown to a radiant blue (when the weather is right). It was here that the first settlers established a mobile library system for those living in these remote regions.  Once a month somebody would row down the river in a small boat laden with books, and lucky locals could collect some fresh reading material.  You could only imagine what a treasure it would be to have a book to get lost in when you're otherwise living in total isolation!  Anyway, nice history aside, this particular spot is just so tranquil that it's a great place to come a re-energise.  I definitely plan to visit more often again!

SALTY SEA DOGS AND DESIGNER HANDBAGS

Sometimes on a Monday morning when the house is a mess and there's promise of sunny weather, you just have head out in search of adventure.  By mid morning we were bouncing along the motorway on the bus to the Auckland port in search of fishy sea air.  In my mind I like to imagine it the way it might have once been, salty sea dogs with peg legs and glinting earrings, the pungent odor of fish guts being fought over by greedy gulls, drunken sailors tripping out of illegal whiskey bars and fish mongers yelling their best price.  Instead you're met by this very odd combination of luxury apartments, gleaming yachts owned by Russian billionaires and huge restaurants that transform into meat markets (basically imagine Jersey Shore), jumbled in with rust bucket fishing boats, plastic containers of freshly caught sea life gasping for breath and the odd real weather worn sailor looking disheveled and a little out of place in this surreal surrounding.  Regardless of this, I love walking down the pier and watching the scenes unravel. Squeals of delight and gasps of 'look mama, a boat', 'look mama, a bird', 'look mama, strange lady' coming from Ayana's mouth in a constant flow as she sprinted along the harbour confirmed that she was a fan too! And so we ambled along the water for a couple of hours battling the wind (so much for sunshine) and taking it all in until the grumble in our bellies got the better of us.  We found a dingy ramen house, slurped our way through a big bowl of delicious noodles while the broth dripped down our chins and before we knew it, it was time to run to our bus and get home for a very late nap.
Now I'm sitting here typing and my house is still a mess, but for the morning we had it's totally worth the fact that I now have to scrub the toilet shortly before dinner.
xx

SECRET PLACES

Isn't it funny how you can live somewhere almost your whole life and still discover new places practically on your doorstep!  When Ayana was a baby (seems like another lifetime ago) I used to put her in the ergo almost everyday and go walking for a couple of hours.  She would happily snooze away snuggled in close to my chest, and I was able to get some fresh air.  I would choose a different park, beach or suburb each time and go exploring.  It really opened my eyes to the fact that there is often so much more to our neighborhoods than we can imagine.  We're always longing for the next holiday, the next getaway when in reality there's probably a little beach tucked away just around the corner where the tree's hang over the water and the battered cliffs conjour up thoughts of smugglers and long lost treasures.  I'm quickly learning that when you have a toddler you're constantly looking for new ways to keep them entertained and help inject some imagination into those growing little minds.  At the moment Ayana is more interested in climbing stairs and up the cliff side but I'm sure it won't be long before she'll be fending off pirates and building shelters on shipwreck islands.  For that I hope we have many years of exploring ahead of us!

THESE SUMMER DAYS

This has been one of the longest, slowest summers I can recall since I was young (remember how endless those used to be??).  My usual hectic, stress freak self  has put her feet up and decided to let it all go for a while.  Yes the house isn't as clean as I'd prefer, the unfolded washing is piling up and dinner is reasonably basic BUT it feels good!  Our days have fallen into quite a distinct rhythm of getting up (still at the crack of dawn thanks to Ayana and the hundreds of birds that have decided to nest in our bamboo), laze around the house until a reasonable hour, run errands if need be, visit friends, come home for lunch, take a nice looong siesta (I live for those siesta's right now), wake up when we please, swim until dinner time!  That's it, day in and day out.  We will get onto that long list of chores (errmm like painting the house, doing up the kitchen, clearing a path to be able to walk through the garage again) but for now it's just too hot and we're too busy enjoying summer.  I may have slacked off a bit in terms of blogging too, so I will try to muster up the motivation to turn my laptop on more often.
Hope you're all having a great summer (or not getting to blustered by snow storms if you're on the other side of the world).
xx