Morning Post

I wasn't sure what to name today's post and since this is the first blog post I am writing in the morning I titled it "Morning Post."

It is 10 am and it is 22 degrees Celsius in the shade. I am sitting in the shade of the camper and shortly I will have to move because the shadows is getting smaller. The sky is blue with just light cloud here and there and I have a view of the Pacific Ocean with little islands popping out of it. I can hear a nice blend of birds, some kind of a cricket and waves crashing. I have a nice coffee right beside me and Michael is next to me doing his manicure while sharing his wisdom with me. Jana and Phillip just joined. Phillip is wearing his swim shorts sunglasses and tuque while eating his colorful Fruit Loops - what a combo.

We are camped at Hahei Holiday Resort. See if this link works. It is close to where we are. http://maps.apple.com/?lsp=9902&sll=-36.840711,175.809786&q=33%E2%80%9339%20Harsant%20Avenue,%203591,%20New%20Zealand

This is our second night in the area but the night before we stayed in a different campground just 10 minutes down the road - Hot Water Holiday Park. We will stay here another night as it is a beautiful place with great beaches and a hot water beach as well. The first time we went to the hot water beach we thought that a cruise ship sank and all the people ended up on the beach. There was so many people there it was unreal. People standing around a bunch of dug out holes on the beach with people sitting in them. There is a hot spring coming out on the beach - just hot sulfur smelling water bubbling out of the sand and if you find the right spot you can dig a hole with the right temperature and have your own personal spa right on the beach. If you go too close to the source it can get very hot. At the source it is so hot you can get burned. It is quite fun to watch. Because of the Easter holiday there was a lot of people there, last night it was better and we will go there again tonight to see how it is. The only time you can enjoy your own hot pool is two hours before low tide until two hours past the lowest tide, otherwise it is under water. I will take some pictures tonight and post them later.

Hot Water Beach

The other nice thing right by the hot water beach was the nice surf there. Michael, Phillip and I spent a couple of hours there just fooling around in the waves. The camp we are at now is right on the beach. Last night we had late supper, spent too long on the beach. After supper we took our chairs to the beach and watched the stars. Jana and I started out just sitting by the camper watching the stars but to our surprise the boys came out and joined us so we headed down to the beach. We sat there for about an hour. Phillip was explaining physics to Jana. It started out with how long the light travels from some of the stars and the fact that some stars could be gone and we still see the light. Jana asked something about that and Phillip took over and gave Jana a physics lesson. Then it went on to explaining of lunar and solar eclipse and so on. In the mean time, Michael was explaining to me how he doesn't know what he wants to be and also shared with some of his inventions and what he likes and doesn't like to do. So I had a stereo chatter from both sides struggling to follow both conversations in case I need to respond to one or the other. It was a good time.

Not all the time it is a good time though - having two teenagers around is a challenge sometimes. But I again reminded myself of some basics. Do not talk to, respond to or ask teenagers anything before they are fully awake, fed and showered. No matter how hard you try to avoid arguments they will always occur because they like to argue and can't live without them - the trick is to not take them personally I guess and stay in control if your own emotions at all times. Teenagers can go from viscous animal like being to a sweet and kind person in a second. I am slowly starting to discover some of the triggers that can change them from one state to the other but 90 % of the time it is still hit and miss. It is also interesting how each one is so different. I hope that it will not be long before these years will pass and that I will survive these years without going crazy. For those who had teenagers - you know what I mean, for those who will have teenagers - get ready and enjoy your children now.

Well back to our New Zealand Experience. We are planning to head out to Cathedral Cove in a little while so I will have to finish this up now and continue later. I do have some pictures and experiences to share from some of the places we visited last couple of days but I will write about them later. Off to the Beach, will have to remember to apply some some sun screen today.