Tata Beach and Picton

On leaving Totaranui we drove the short distance to Tata beach in the Golden Bay area where we had 5 nights in a bach booked. I had never been to this part of the country before, but will definitely be back. Below is Tata beach in all of its glory.

Our bach was great! Plenty of space for everyone, including enough bedrooms for Georgia and Alexander to have their own (which I think was much appreciated as they had to share during the camping part of the trip!). It was set high overlooking the beach, but still only a 3-minute or so walk down to the water. The bach had extensive decks which we put to good use, below you can see Rich and Alexander checking it out. As much as we all enjoyed camping, it was great getting back to civilisation, with the convenience of electricity especially appreciated!

Here's a rather windswept pic of Rich and Rach...

 There was a very cool mosaic seat by the beach

 

Golden Bay kayaks ran a business down our end of the beach and it was often a hive of activity. One day we hired stand-up paddle boards which was a lot of fun.

No need to hire kayaks though, as Rich had bought his own fleet! He's got 2 sea kayaks and a double sit-on one which is useful for fishing.

Tata beach was another glorious spot. I love the pic of Alexander looking pretty buff! I'm sure he (and Georgia) will break a few hearts in the next few years...

 

 

 Here's a couple of panoramas, playing around with the settings on the iphone

 

One night we got a very nice sunset which looked pretty good from the deck.

 

All good things must come to an end and we farewelled the Roes on Friday 17th January. Will and I were booked into a motel in Picton for that night, before our return ferry crossing Saturday afternoon. By coincidence, Emma Vockins who I used to play rugby with in Reading, UK many years ago happened to be in Picton when we got there, so it was cool catching up with her. She is travelling the world for a bit with a friend and has 3 months in NZ.

Picton was buzzing on the Saturday with their annual maritime festival. There were stalls set up and bands and entertainment playing throughout the day. The classic boat club was taking people on free short joyrides in the harbour, so Will and I went out on the 'Lasanta' below.

This was another gorgeous classic boat that was attracting a lot of attention. Apparently it is owned by a local vineyard owner who isn't short of a bit of dosh... He actually raced past us in it while we were out on the water.

That afternoon it was time to say goodbye to Picton, and the South Island, and return to Wellington. I really like Picton, it is such a cute little place. The ferry crossing home was a bit rough, but I managed to make it back with the contents of my stomach intact...

 

It was nice to return home after a pretty busy and varied summer break! I had to go into school on Thursday and Friday for meetings and professional development, then the kids are back in from Monday. It's pretty early, but I guess we did break up for summer on the 6th December, plus we get an extra week of holiday in July so I can't complain too much...

The house and gardens are all looking good, our house-sitters did a good job of looking after everything while we were away. The first of our tomatoes are ready to eat, plus we are being inundated with cucumber at the moment, the two plants are going crazy! Yesterday Will caught a couple of Rosella's in the garden enjoying some of the spoils from our apple tree...

 

I'll leave you with a pic of the latest addition to the extended family... My sister Jane and her husband Shane had wee Evelyn near the end of November. She is around 8 weeks old in the photo below. I'll look forward to meeting here when they come over in May.