Spent our first few Kiwiland days in Tairua, which is a small town in the Coromandel area. The idea was to relax, enjoy the sun and spend our days switching between beach and batch. Unfortunately, the weather gods decided differently and so one of the most heard sentences was: “This is the worst summer we’ve had in years” Highlight was Coro Gold, a music festival with local Kiwi top acts. When we bought the tickets back in August, our biggest concern was not having enough sunscreen — and if you look at the pictures on their website that concern was justified. However, it did not go to plan: it poured, and our biggest concern was not slipping in the mud. Quote of the day from Anna: “Bad decisions, good stories.” She was right.

Nevertheless, we had a few sunshine moments, walks on the beach, and lots of time to play board games (I’m still not a Scrabble fan, especially not Speed Scrabble).

Top moments in Tairua:

• Standing in the kitchen after coming back from Coro Gold in the middle of the night, having had a shower, eating toasted banana bread with butter and drinking Whiskey – Other Coro Gold related top moment: Getting back into the car, soaking wet and using a towel
• Taking jump photos on the beach with three different cameras, i.e. having so many shots of one instance that it might have been possible to produce Matrix bullet time sequences
• Meeting people that I have met before (Anna, Claire, Megan and Dave) and meeting people that I have not met before, but that felt like having known them for a long, long time (Philly)
• Trip to Cathedral Cove including sunshine, kayaking and the giant swing