Gotta Love The Long Weekends...

Three day long weekends are a blessing when living on a lifestyle block. There is always so much to do, and when a 3 day weekend does come around, such as the recent Auckland Anniversary, it gives you another day to tinker about the place, or as we choose this recent long weekend, 2 days working around the block, and then the final day was allocated for rest and relaxation with a beach walk & picnic.

Saturday was allocated to clearing out the garden shed. I could barely get in there anymore, tripping over things as I tried to get the chicken feed out every day. However my hoarding gene kicked in, and very little was thrown away in the end. But after a couple hours I could see some of the floor after a bit of reorganisation. 

While clearing out the shed, I did find a new overhead type kitchen cabinet that we didn't use on one of our previous renovations. A perfect find, as that is now firmly attached to the wall above the laundry tub to store the detergents and cleaners. I still have quiet a few boxes to go through and to sort out... but you can't rush these things.

Sunday was dedicated to pruning some of the pine tree's, cutting off dead branches... well those branches that I could safely reach from top of the ladder, which was about up to 4 metres up. There were also a lot of trees that have had their tops snapped off during past storms, and as a result the trees had died. So I've been cutting down some of those trees with my little chainsaw.  Not to boast, but I'm getting rather good at... in most case the trees are falling in the right direction! We are getting rid of the dead trees first, and using them for firewood. So like last year, we created some new stacks of 1-2 metre lengths of firewood, waiting to be carried up the hill. Volunteers are most welcome to apply! 

Ultimately, we want to thin out the pine forest, and then plant some native trees in and amongst the pines, but this will take time, there are a lot of pines to thin out. But in the middle of the pine forest over the creek there is a clearing... would be nice place to have a picnic area or something along those lines.  Oh... and there are little fish in the creek too! I'm not sure what they are, but good to see.

Monday... was our day of rest! We planned a trip to Mangawhai Heads, we had heard about the Clifftop Walkway and thought it would be a nice day trip out at the beach. The night before we had prepared the bread maker so we would have some fresh bread in the morning to make some sandwiches to take for a picnic lunch. I absolutely love our Panasonic Bread Maker! Thank you Gary! The best present ever, it is a fantastic little machine! With our fresh bread we made bacon & egg sandwiches with eggs from our chickens. I also added a little pickle and cucumber from the garden. Very Yummy! 

What a fantastic day for a walk along the beach! The sun was shinning,clear blue sky with white puffy clouds, it was a beautifully warm day, even ocean was warm, just a stunning day, you couldn't have asked for a better day. 

The Mangawhai Clifftop Walk starts from the Mangawhai Heads carpark and you walk north along the beach.  To do the complete walk, you do need to go when the tide is low. I didn't realise this so and the tide was high when we went, so we did half of the walk, the cliff top half, which was amazing, the views are amazing. The return trip will be about 3 hours.

TIP: While walking along the beach, take your shoes off and get your feet a little wet as the waves come rushing up the beach! Just Magic! I'm sure my toes were squealing in delight with each wave!

This walkway has to be one of the best walks we've done to date and we will be going back when the tide is low so we can do the complete walk.

Thank goodness, another 3 day long weekend is just around the corner, Waitangi Day falls on a Friday this year, so come early February we have another 3 day weekend, we might just find ourselves back there if the weather and tides are right.