The beginning of 2018

On the first day of the year we went to Paul and Rachel's land in Kawerau. It looks like they will have a heap of work to get their Macadamia orchard up and running, but of course they have the advantage of being much younger than us! But I think it will be all hands on deck when they do come to plant.
Bad forecasts were starting to appear, and when Lyn went home on the second, quite a few people decided to pull out a few days early and get their camping gear home while it was dry.
We didn't get much rain to start with and we were sheltered from the wind where we are nestled into the hill.

 At about 9pm on the 4th the wind swung around and by 10pm Duncan and I were battling to bring down the gazebo which thankfully seemed to manage to do, with a shoulder strain for me and a side strain for Duncan -such a bother getting old.

 The waves were banked up to about 9 rollers in a row - so high you couldn't see the horizon. The wind whipped up the surf into frothy waves which coated the sandhills and actually knocked some areas of sandhills over

 It was the deafening roar that kept us awake and meant that on the day of my 66th birthday I did indeed look 66 - if not 96!

The waves from the sea came within metres of the flooding from the rain running off the hills. Fortunately the sandy soil meant that it wasn't too long before it soaked away.

 Not to be daunted we chose to set off for Whakatane to have a birthday lunch rather than Indian in Opotiki.  This is the kayak launching area across the road from the camp. And then again a few days later. Look for the little red sign on the left to compare.

Before we got to the Boat Ramp on our way to Whakatane we were turned back by debris on the road, so road closed.

We had to go the long way to Whakatane. We went to the French Cafe, which had unfortunately split itself into Two parts. Because I had set my heart on the crepes we had to have lunches in both places.

Mine is cinnamon and apple, Duncans is raspberry and chocolate.

Sort of like a birthday cake.

Oh very birthday party, Heather

So we just an an antipasto platter for dinner. Weather still a bit rough.

No this lump is not me after all the  crepes on my birthday, but a sealion called Blossom who frequents this area. She was obviously tired out battling the seas.