Wednesday 6th January - A backdated post

This is the first chance since our visitors Mike and Val arrived that I've had a chance to catch up with the blog, it's really Friday today but I'm going to do Wednesday and Thursday as if they had been written on the day.

Wednesday 6th January
We picked Mike & Val up from the bus depot in Hamilton around 6pm and brought them home, it was so lovely to see them and we had lots of catching up to do. We had lost contact after we had moved but they found us in the phone book after the second phone call they made. Such a surprise and very exciting. Mike and Val lived right across the road from us in Luton, UK and they to had spent a lot of time renovating their house as we did ours. Currently they are renovating another home as are we and we had all said 'Never again!" so they are about as daft as we are! Oh yes and for the record we have all said "Never again!!" again! So if anyone who knows us hears any of us say anything about 'doing up' another house in the future could you please have us committed to the nearest loony bin!
Last night we had one of my frittatas for dinner with a salad and then a trifle for dessert and we talked and talked and talked. The were a few occasions during the evening when someone said, "Well I must got to bed" and then didn't! We talked until 2.45am and I thing we would have talked some more had someone not actually made the move to go to bed. It was a great evening and probably the lastest or earliest (depending on how you look at it) bedtime we've had since living in New Zealand.
After a leisurely morning and breakfast we wanted to show Mike and Val our nearest beach and thenn take a walk through the town of Raglan itself. They are bother very talented artists so I knew they would enjoy the art shops and galleries, I did too such quality work and each shop stocking something different. I think I shall be going back there once we have finished upstairs, I want to display some of my own crafts and local art so I alway have my eye open for possibilities.
A walk along the beach
First though we took a walk along the beach and there must have been a storm over the holiday period and there was a 'shelf' of sand for quite a distance along the beach as if someone had come along with a digger and dug it all out.

We walked all the way to the surf beach at the other end...............
On the way back I took some shots of a huge piece of driftwood, it would have looked great in my garden but no-one would have been willing to carry it......................




Mike & Val



At the Viewpoint..


Lunch in Raglan, then a walk around the shops............

I took this photo as I loved the railing fence made of recycled metal, isn't it cool?

After the beach we took a fly by tour of Hamilton and when we were passing Hamilton lake we saw that the Waka ama club was out on the lake

Then it was a quick visit to the supermarket for some goodies to eat and we went home, a lovely day.