For three years now Rich has worked his little behind off for us so I decided that he more than anyone deserved a break. The weekends would ideally be our family time but due to the nature of his business being a 24hour operation the phone calls and emails do not stop. So what was the answer?
A house on the beach 40km from civilisation with no cellphone coverage and no TV! It was a little sneaky I know but I did not realise about the cellphone coverage until the week before we were due to go. It certainly did the trick!
The Folly is a beach house in a place called Tora which is 40km south of Martinborough. Martinborough is a town in the beautiful Wairarapa region. We did have another reason for going "over the hill" and that was to visit another stunning little town called Greytown. I visited Greytown a few weeks ago with my girlfriends and we had a "planking" good time. Whilst I was there I knew that Rich would love it so decided to arrange a trip for the three of us.
We left Whitby on the Friday afternoon with the car packed full of our sleeping gear and some supplies for the weekend. We were given quite thorough instructions about the house when we booked - bring a torch in case you arrive after dark and don't forget to stop at the super market it Martinborough - it is the last stop before the 40km decent to the beach!
When we left Martinborough we were told to trip our pedometer on the car and follow the directions they supplied. The road is sealed for about 20km but from thereon it is unsealed which made the ride bumpy and dusty and a bit slower than we would have liked. This was not a bad thing though because of the cows and lambs we came across! We came across a few houses and farms, a wind farm and surprisingly a school. We lost our phone signal at about 13kms in so we knew there was no going back and hopefully no breaking down or getting lost!
We thought the journey was never going to end but after about 50 minutes of driving we could see the sea! The sun had set by this time so we were starting to lose daylight but what we could see and hear was utterly breathtaking.
We unpacked the car and had some dinner and then sat around the fire before heading off to bed nice and early.
The next morning we were all awake with the birds! This is very unlike us and in particular Daisy. Even at the weekends she is usually still in bed at 8am. We laid in bed with the sun rising just outside our curtains and we could hear the ocean. We were all very excited so at 6am (!!!!) Daisy came into us we had a cup of tea in bed and watched the sun rise. I am glad we did because it was just stunning.
The owners of the house had supplied a pair of binoculars which did not leave our eyes most of the weekend. There were tales of whales, dolphins, shipwrecks and seals in the visitors book so we were on the lookout. Whilst we were sat drinking our tea in bed we soon realised that the rocks that were about 800m away were camouflaging a seal colony! After a lazy breakfast we walked to the rocks to have a closer look and collect some paua shells.
Seeing the seals was amazing, we have visited a seal colony before but there was something special about these ones being so close to where we were staying. The younger ones made a dash for the water once they had spotted us but the big wise old ones just lifted their heads and carried on basking in the sun probably thinking to their selves "more of those daft humans interrupting my snooze!"
By mid-morning we decided to head to Greytown for some shopping and lunch. We did not realise how long it would take us to drive there. It is only about a 15 minute drive from Martinborough but again it took us 50 minutes to get to Martinborough.
It was worth the drive though. We had stunning weather and 17 degrees of warmth on our skin. We had a gorgeous lunch at The Main Street Cafe. We sat out the back of their building in the court yard and it was a real sun trap.
After lunch we had a leisurely stroll into the boutique shops that line the Main Street and bought a few gifts. We then headed back to the beach house for dinner.
After Daisy was in bed we sat listening to the roar of the sea in front of the fire. I am not quite sure if it was sheer exhaustion, the heat from the fire (or pure boredom) but Rich was asleep on the sofa by 9pm!
Sunday morning we woke with the birds again and enjoyed a leisurely lie in. Sunday was also Father's Day in New Zealand so Daisy was excited to give Rich her hand made card and the presents we bought for him.
You may (or may not) notice that Daisy did a typo on the card missing the h out in fathers but also including an r - bloody hilarious and very apt too!
We treated Rich to a breakfast of his choice which was croissants with ham and tomatoes for him and Daisy and some fresh fruit and cereal for me. We then spent the rest of the morning packing the car up before heading off to Masterton for lunch.
We drove around the bay of the beach before we left and came across a shipwreck and some cute lambs.
After lunch we headed home stopping off at a local fruit and veg shop for the following weeks supply of goodies and we also indulged in an ice cream (made with fresh fruit and frozen yogurt YUMMY!)
We drove around the bay of the beach before we left and came across a shipwreck and some cute lambs.
After lunch we headed home stopping off at a local fruit and veg shop for the following weeks supply of goodies and we also indulged in an ice cream (made with fresh fruit and frozen yogurt YUMMY!)
0 comments:
Post a Comment