Weekending

We trucked our little family down to Dunedin for the weekend. Flu and all. We have been planning this excursion for ages and hubby has had fridays off for the last month so we can get out and about. Then we got ill. And stayed ill. 

We didn’t so much leave on friday morning, as we all fell out the door, pharmaceutical drugs and soothing drinks in hand. We remember most things, and forgot a few more. The drive down went well, its not a long trip. 5h door to door with a decent length stop to let the dog out, run on a beach and see the Moeraki Boulders. The bach (NZ terminology for holiday cottage) was old school, perfectly located – we had to drive across tidal mud flats to access it. An open fire kept us warm and soup filled our bellies.

The local Larnach Castle provided a welcome entertainment on Saturday morning – the weather was kind and the castle a calm oasis. I’m not convinced of its ‘castle’ status – I’ve visited larger family homes – but it is pretty! An afternoon on the beach followed with copious soothing drinks and comfort food in-between. Tight clad feet in rock pool paddling. Warm wool coat and bloomers.

Sunday morning broke cold, grey and drizzly. We went looking for penguins, leaving at sunrise to beat the incoming tides. We blew bubbles and looked at the rocks that provide the penguins a home. Didn’t see any actual penguins though. Back in the car we warmed up and headed to the museum and the butterfly room. It was warm and amazing and if your Moo – terrifying. Apparently butterflies are our little girls nemesis. She was horrified. Shame as her parents thought it was great!

The drive home was easy, a stop here for delicious food and a great play area. We were welcomed home by 3 cats all desperate to come inside and to a fire that somehow I’d remembered to lay ready for our return before we left on Friday. Perfection. More lemsip and an early night. A pretty full on weekend for us all, and promises to each other to return.

Excuse the mishmash of pictures, complete absence of editing on any of them. Lack of composition or balance. It was a wobbly point and shoot weekend, one which also involved sand and our RX100 – oops. Hubby took some decent shots with his RX1 but he’s still working through them. I’ll do a post with some of the better shots soonish.