I did try to blog about this before the weekend but blogger was having maintenance issues and I couldn't post . . . anyway, here are the rest of the photos from our time in Waititoko. The lake was beautiful and some of the leaves were starting to change color. We were blessed with great weather - it poured the day we left and most of Taupo lost electricity.
Sunday morning the girls were ready to hunt for eggs bright and early. The big girls had to look in the back and the little girls in the front. As happens every year we didn't manage to find them all.
After hunting eggs we walked down the street to a tiny Anglican church. The service was very entertaining. When we arrived the church was bursting at the seams and the only seats left were in the front row. A lovely female Maori priest had come in from Taupo to lead the service, with her cousin leading worship, but she hadn't been to the church before and seemed to be slightly discombobulated. She was also slightly older and her bible had very small print - so it took awhile to find and read the first reading of the day. Before the second reading she actually dropped the bible so I bent to pick it up and find the reading for her while she was doing something else - but instead she asked me to read it. So I did, except that I too couldn't see the bible that well and started off reading from the wrong book which meant the verses I started to read made absolutely no sense. I realized my mistake though and quickly turned to the proper verses and all was well - the congregation got a good laugh. Later in the service the priest asked me to help with communion so I assisted with that too.
Following church we went home for a quick change and lunch then met up with the Sheppards for a walk along the Waikato river to see the Huka Falls. There was a bit of rolling down hills on the way which made Katie a tad queesy for the walk, but she pulled through and made it to the end.
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| Josie realizing that this part of the river is thermally heated. |
Everyone got an ice cream at the end of the walk and we headed home to regroup before meeting for our Easter dinner at Matt and Alison's place.
When we arrived at the Sheppards the fire was blazing and Matt was soon cooking sausages on the grill. His aunt and uncle joined us and brought fresh paua which we fried into fritters so the girls and I got to taste those for the first time, I liked them but the girls didn't so much. After the children ate they went to practice their show, there is always a show, while we had a lovely and delicious adult meal.
Finally we roasted marshmallows, the perfect ending to a fabulous day!
We called in to see Grandma and Grandpa on the way home which is always a treat. The girls were a bit disappointed that the feijoas weren't ripe yet, but that has since been remedied as Grandma has sent us two large boxes full of them!
We've just had another fun-filled weekend away with friends - hopefully I'll get a post up about it soon. And Happy (belated) Birthday to my sister who turned 40 last week and my nephew who turned 1. Lots of love from all of us!! xx
