Rain Rain Go Away

The day started off cloudy but promising. We went for a wander first thing along the beach and found a cute wee cafe to have breakfast. The beach has been battered by 5m swells lately, so all the dune ladders have become dune slumpers, not easy to use to get on to the beach. We've been advised to keep an eye on the waves while on the beach...a 5 year old was taken a couple of days ago at a beach along the coast from here. The place we are staying is run by a family who have been here for 10 years, and they reckon that it is the biggest that they've ever seen it.

As we were walking back along the beach, the heavens opened, which reduced our plans significantly. We didn't mind doing outdoorsy stuff in a light rain, but this was torrential.

We decided to head across to Katikati and go to Sapphire Springs. We spent most of the day swimming in the thermal pools in the rain. This shot was taken after we'd gotten out and were waiting in shelter to dash to the car.

We went back to Waihi and went to their new Gold Discovery museum. It's really well done...even getting stuck inside their movie theatre was fun, for about 5 minutes, then we had to start planning where we were going to live. The movie was all in holograms...felt very futuristic. Once we found an attendant, we asked them to check the door for the theatre...apparently the room isn't meant to hold people hostage.

A hunker down evening watching TV and eating home made spaghetti and meatballs. Just what was needed.