A little bit of Coromandel and lots of Christmas spirit

It doesn’t always take a long break or a visit to distant shores to recharge your batteries.

For me it took two nights away in the Kiwi Blog Bus this weekend with a little shopping, lots of food, a Santa parade and lots of doing nothing in the shade of a pohutakawa tree.

We had some business to do in Paeroa so stayed overnight on Friday in our usual free spot (which I wrote about back in January – click here to read).

Arriving in time for an evening visit to the playground

Meaning that after a spot of shopping on Saturday morning (and filling the cupboards with lots of goodies) we were able to get up to Thames in time to park in another of our favourite free spots (Danby Park) which we were pleased to see has now had more space devoted to campervan overnight parking.

The 10-yr-old was delighted to discover we’d arrived in Thames on the same day they were having their Santa Parade!

I will just share a few pictures with you – I’m not sure if you’ve experienced a New Zealand Santa Parade before…  they are something else altogether!

Giving out lollies

Small selection of the classic vehicles that joined in

local ukelele band

Local newspaper’s car

Friendly coastguard

Don’t you just love this… abseiling kids and kayaking on the roof!
(what Health & Safety???!!)

Local kids group – they were having a great time coming down the slide off a moving truck!

Ponies with horns and antlers and an old man with knobbly knees and a red jacket

On Sunday, the weather truly turned glorious and we decided to head up the coast road to find a suitable spot for lunch, rest & relaxation.

We didn’t have to travel far, just about 15/20 mins North of Thames to Waiomu Bay, one of the many beautiful pohutakawa clad bays on the coastal road.

Pohutakawas are evergreen trees mostly seen around the coast in New Zealand; due to the crimson red flowers in abundant bloom in December – they have become known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree.

I will leave you with some pictures from our relaxing spot at Waiomu Bay.

The 10-yr-old paddled in warm waters, played with driftwood and discovered “gold” when she broke some rocks in half.

The adults dined, drank, relaxed and recharged.

Just over two weeks until Christmas and I’ve never been so relaxed about it! Cheers!