Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

(updated post, 12/22/09 - 1/8/10)

We had a wonderful few days leading up to a summer Christmas here in Opotiki. Keris's mom is here, and we are enjoying some beautiful weather by the beach with our friend Rob and his parents. We have been helping build an outdoor shower area, putting up Christmas lights on the deck, and plenty of putting our feet up. The schedule for Christmas day went something like this:

1st: opened presents (we still had that feeling of anticipation like 5 year old kids)
2nd: Pimm's drinks and hanging out for the morning (Pimm's is an English alcoholic drink with fresh fruit, like Sangria)
3rd: Straight to the beach to try out our new boogie and skim boards along with the sea kayak
4th: BBQ on the deck,
5th: late afternoon at the beach with all our toys (and a chilly bin full of beverages)
6th: hanging out and enjoying the view for the rest of the day :)

Our Christmas tree is all decorated

Stuart and Tim just finished putting down the flooring for the new outdoor shower area

Quick trip to the beach with the Allriches

Putting up Christmas lights on the deck, what a view we have!

What a view!

We spend a lot of time on this deck...

Our new xmas boogie boards and skim board. Can't wait!

Keris is a pro at the boogie board. She catches every wave she wants while the rest of us are stuck out at sea.

Sea kayaking was great fun. A couple big waves were big enough to flip the kayak!

We spent countless hours at the beach, and tried our hand at longline fishing 4 times (the last 2 times, Keris, her mom, and Stuart were able to complete the task virtually on our own). It involves baiting about 25 hooks with squid, attaching the hooks to the fishing line, attaching the line to a kayak and paddling about 1000 meters into the ocean, dropping the anchor, letting the line soak for about an hour, then dragging the line in by hand. Pulling in the line was a bit of a challenge when we had several fish and all the drag of the waves. We had varied success with the numbers, but the few fish we did catch were a real treat, especially when Tim hot smoked the Kahawhai. Some of the best fish we've ever eaten. We even caught a few hammerhead sharks!! (but we threw those back).

Getting ready to take out the long line for fishing.

One of the hammerhead sharks we caught (some were much bigger)

For New Years, we headed about an hour up the coast to Liz and Tim's bach house. A nice little vacation home with private beaches and fishing rocks, but a bit small for 12 people. Tents were scattered in the yard, and cooking duties divided up, then we all partied for 3 days straight. For New Year's Eve, we built a bonfire on the beach and brought a boombox down for some tunes. We headed back to the house for our New Years toast (about 6 of us remained), and then we played "Spotlight", Keris's favorite "hide-and-go-seek-with-a-flashlight" game. It was a lot of fun with such dense foliage around, plenty of good hiding spots. We tried our hand fishing from the rocks several times, but only managed to catch 4 fish, all of which were thrown back.

Pole fishing from the rocks at the bach house. This is a small snapper we caught.

First we had a little snorkeling on our private beach....

..... then a bonfire for New Year's Eve

Day hike out to a nearby waterfall from the bach house

It was freezing cold!

The whole New Year's gang

After a nice long, exciting, and relaxing time around the Opotiki area over the Christmas holiday, we are ready to move on to a new adventure. Something neither Keris or Stuart has experienced before... the South Island!
Thanks so much to Liz, Tim, Rob & Cherie for the hospitality during our holiday break!