Kiwi Beach Holiday

Those whose grandparents held onto the family bach should be thanking their lucky stars this time of year. 

Every year I dream of having just one place to park up to spend Christmas and holiday and, afterwards, I vow to do things better the next year but the truth is, these days, with broken and blended families, everyone wants a piece of the kids, the lucky things, and we end up spending the day and thereafter, chasing our tails.

And so we found ourselves at 3pm, after a morning of stressing to get everybody to the right places on time, on the road to Auckland which was unsurprisingly, quiet and calm. I mean, who in their right minds would be traveling to Auckland on Christmas Day?

And the following morning, while we filled in time to pick up the kids, there we were in amongst the Boxing Day sales, which I’ve always likened a little to the illness of casino gambling – it’s sad watching the swathes of people trooping to the shops they’d supposedly had enough of before Christmas when they should be relaxing with family.

Travelling home in the heat, I looked longingly out the window at the large groups parked up under their gazebos with their barbis while others frolicked in the ocean. By the time we got home it was too late for such carry on so it would have to wait until the next day. However, the next day the kids were tired and just wanted to stay home building their new Lego sets and swimming in the pool. I would get my Kiwi beach day the following day.

But, Wednesday dawned overcast and the kids were still tired. Too bad, I was determined. I packed a picnic and eventually, after the usual whirlwind, loaded everybody in the car and we set off. Everyone was silent on the way out – it was obvious they didn’t want to go and to tell the truth, I was exhausted from the effort of packing the picnic and multiple sun screening, checking for hats, togs, towels, body boards, etc, to speak much either.

Pataua we were bound and as the grey skies stretched out before us, I was beginning to wonder if I should have just gone with the flow and stayed home. But then we rounded the corner and the stunning site of a sunny Pataua loomed before us and everyone perked up.

Out we tumbled and parked up under one of the many Pohutakawa trees in full bloom where we ate our picnic, chatting to the friendly locals around us and watching kids bomb off the bridge, before swimming, boating and playing cricket.

The mobile library happened to be there on this day (what a great initiative!) offering free books or just a cool sanctuary from the sun to sit on cushions and read, as well as outdoor giant-sized games of Connect Four and the like.

After that it was low tide so we joined the locals at the new pipi-picking spot (it changes every year), stuck our bums in the air and dug for pipi, cockles and mussels. 

Back on the grassy verge with our full buckets of kaimoana, the fishery officer materialised on cue, as he does every year, to check our contents. (We were under but the whanau next to us were not so lucky.) They are always very pleasant as they go about their job and happy to offer advice.

We drove back home content after a blissful day at the beach with barbequed kaimoana on the menu. I had got my typical Kiwi beach day after-all.