Hawkes Bay Hols

Hi there all of you,

Well the 'dark term' is over for Gareth and, after 5 out of 7 days being taken up with Gareth's rugby commitments we can all have a break, and watch the World Cup !!

With 2 weeks off we headed to Hawkes Bay for a holiday, and Sarah found that with an extra one Her packing skills were really put to the test!

We arrived in Napier in brilliant sunshine, enjoyed egg sandwiches courtesy of Rita and chilled out on the beach. The following day we walked up Te Mata Peak, merryn in the backpack and Freya on foot,some great views of vineyards set in river deltas below. The following day we drove to Ocean Beach and Freya enjoyed paddling in the sea. Sarah was in her element discovering the village of Havelock North for some retail therapy and later tasting wine at Vidal before purchasing! Needless to say we looked at property prices.....mmmmm....pricey. But the thought of Hawkes Bay Rowing Club, Vineyards galore, sunshine and beaches is quite a motivator.

Back at base and we set off on a walk around Rotopounamu Lake ( previous picture on blogI was pregnant with Merryn) we saw the wild horses of the Kaimanawa on the way ( maybe this time next year we'll have one watch this space.....) There was a small erruption on Mt.Ruapehu which caused a lahar, but this didn't disued us from heading up there on a fantastically sunny for a spot of skiing. Sarah took Freya and Gareth had Merryn in the LittleLife backpack, whilst on skiis( he took it very slowly!) It was a great day, with Freya skiing from the 1st chair down to the bottom of the mountain.

I hope friends and family commiserated for Gareth at Wales's loss to Fiji ( a black day in the Williams household).

We have another week off where Sarah may going skiing with some friends and she will be running a Gymnastics and Dance workshop. Both of us are also training for the Auckland half marathon, plus Sarah is personal training 2 friends, so beginning to get back into shape.

We would love to say CONGRATULATIONS!!! to Gemma and Steven on thier engagement, and we are looking forward to catching up with many of you next July.

Love and miss you all, Sarah, Gareth, Freya and Merryn xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx