Hatepe

Oh, New Zealand on a sunny winter holiday, how we love you! 

We spent the last part of the school holidays up at Hatepe, a small settlement on the shores of Lake Taupo. 

Lake Taupo's not a small lake. In fact, it's the size of Singapore. This means it *almost* has the feel of being by the ocean - but not quite.

 On a clear day (which we had plenty of) it's just stunning in the winter, as there are snow capped mountains all around. This means you get to do that weird thing (which I've only ever done in New Zealand) where you can play in the warm sun on the beach while you're looking at snow all around you.

So we did just that. Although we'd originally had great plans to go skiing, we abandoned that idea on the first day and instead we spent hours and hours on the beach by our bach, watching the colours and generally relaxing while the kids did cartwheels, made sandcastles, dug holes and made piles of pumice stones. 

We were so happy that Mark and Sam joined us for part of the trip, thanks for coming guys! They helped me escape to a bar in Taupo for a couple of beers one afternoon...;)

They also spent time on the beach with us collecting "stuff".

There was great excitement by the river, as a) the owners of a riverside bach had a shiny black helicopter that kept taking off and landing and b) a man swam his horse up the river and rode it along the beach.

The kids were so, so happy and relaxed while we were away. Lots of smiles and laughter and happiness....it was so special...

In fact, so did all of us!