Fishing and Frogs

It's now Monday morning, Dec 6.

We survived the weekend. The two-night teen party passed without major problems for us. It was noisy - until about midnight, so we didn't get as much sleep as normal. We all slept in the Caravan, rather than the usual configuration of the kids in the tents, and me in the caravan. If our site wasn't so well established with tents and clotheslines etc. we would have moved. It was an eye-opening event for the children, who could see first-hand the negative effects of excessive alcohol.

We woke early on Sunday, and drove the 1.5 hours to Kerikeri to go to church before picking up Carolyn at the airport. I had searched for 'church in kerikeri' on google maps, and, of the four results returned, had chosen frontline church. They were very welcoming and friendly, and had a lovely morning tea available after the service. We weren't planning to stay for morning tea, but Carolyn's plane had been delayed 10 minutes, so we had a short time to stop and chat. The airport was close by, but a little further than I had thought. As we neared the airport I couldn't see the plane at the terminal, so I said to the kids to watch out to see if we could see it coming in. We parked, and then while walking to the terminal suddenly all realised that Carolyn's plane was just coming to a stop beside it. We all ran to the outside viewing area with a few seconds to spare; the plane door was lowered, and Carolyn, who had managed to get the very front seat with a view out the cockpit, was excitedly waving from her seat to us. We stayed long enough in Kerikeri to grab some fruit and vegetables, and then headed for 'home'.

Carolyn, for some reason, had bought while in Christchurch three hand-lines for fishing, and the kids were eager to try them out. Many people enjoy fishing, but I am not one of them. Nevertheless, for the sake of the children I relented. While Carolyn had a nap, the kids and I scrambled around the rocks for 15 minutes or so until we came to a safe place to drop the lines. We used salami for bait and succeeding in catching seaweed, snagging the lines on the rocks, and James managed an impressive knot. As the children were going to bed in the evening, just on dark, Esther nearly stepped on a rather large frog. Much commotion ensued as James tried (and eventually succeeded) to pick up the frog. He didn't hold it firm enough and it jumped up Abigail's arm. It was recaptured with much excited shouting, and I managed to get a half-decent photo of it. Frogs are his favourite animal (and green is his favourite colour), so you can imagine how excited he was.

We are planning to head up to Spirits Bay near Cape Reinga, probably today. I doubt there is any mobile coverage up there, so this could be the last post for a week or so.