A New Zealand Summer

Ahhhh a New Zealand summer 😍 definitely one of the best seasons to explore our beautiful country and spend all day and evening chilling at one of the many beaches!

The summer before last, we took a camping trip to Ruakaka, stopping in the most beautiful spots! 

Now, it was definitely my first time camping since I was a child so there was some slight hesitation on my part but it ended up being so much fun and the views from the our tents were next level 🤗

Our first stop was in Taupo at a freedom camping ground called Reid’s Farm aaaand we loved it so much we stopped there on the way back as well and did a float down the Waikato River for our Braxton-Marlee’s birthday (and yes, even Puku and Kata came on the float!) which was so much fun!

Although I have so many photos from Reid’s Farm, the photos do not do it any justice! The water was sooo beautifully clear and fresh and was only a few metres away from the campground!

We spent alllll day swimming while we were there and its definitely a frequent stop when going through Taupo now!

In Ruakaka we were lucky enough to get a prime spot by camping in Monz’ uncles front yard which was literally a few steps away from the water. We spent a few days there swimming and exploring the area and spent the nights in front of a bon fire making s’mores and watching outdoor movies.

On our way home we stopped off at Matapouri Bay and found us a spot right on the beachfront! The nights were so clear and we could see Matariki perfectly so ended up spending the night watching the stars and the girls learnt all about the stars of Matariki from Aunty Kelk 🥰

As you can imagine we passed so many beautiful spots on our travels so they definitely deserve a mention as well 😉

Last summer we spent many a days and evenings at the beach. Teaching the kids how to jump waves and find pipi’s, had picnics, did lots of sunbathing, swimming and more swimming!

The end of Feb (and the week of my birthday) was spent in Auckland at Te Matatini 2023 and what an experience it was! I haven’t been to a Matatini since high school and two of our cousins hadn’t attended one at all so it was definitely a good time. One of my cousins bought his family over from Sydney as well so we were able to fiiiinally meet our nephew Rongo (one year later!!).

We had whanau and friends performing in different groups across the 3 days and just being there and basking in and amongst all the māoritanga was eeeeverything and a huge reminder of why I moved home in the first place.

Our summer ended with Homegrown in Wellington, it was definitely a good time! How could it not be though? Good music, drinking and dancing the day and night away and good vibes 👌🏽 although getting from stage to stage was pretty hectic LOL

So its official, summers in NZ are the absolute best!! The weather is perfect, the night skies are breathtaking but the company….makes it all that much better 😜