Saturday 24 December 2016

I just had to be up for the sunrise. I just had to be curled up on the beanbag in prime position for the best vantage point for this morning’s start to the day. Outdoors, it was a tad too calm for my liking, but as I sat I watched the weather forecast roll and the sun come up over the huge cliffs on the far side of this bay. A beautiful East Coast morning. Once the sun was up, the keen surfers were out behind the breaking waves, sitting on their boards, just waiting for a great ride on the perfect wave.

For me, the morning was already near perfect; a great sunrise, sitting in this fantastic lodge, feeling 99% happy, but there is always that 1% that nags at me to check and re-check the weather as, just maybe, it could be wrong. Somehow, I don't think this will ever change!

Bianca and I are happy that we don’t have to brave the shops or travel anywhere today, so we get stuck into making some Christmas treats. Bianca is keen to make us all a gluten-free "Stollen" (a German Christmas fruit bread), and by the look and smell of things, it’s going to be fantastic! We are making the most of the big kitchen, grabbing ingredients out of the back of Cuzzie so we can get our Christmas Eve chores over and done with in order to get outside to sit in the sun and just enjoy the calmness of being up on this hill.

From the wide open kitchen windows, we can watch the surfers enjoy their day while we survey the coast way up ahead. The wind is blowing down and over the hills behind us and funnelling over the ocean today. Many big gusts serve to silence the 1% of my nagging brain, reminding me that it’s worse further north and I still have to get around Cape Karikari.

With everything made and the list nearly completed, we both needed and wanted a workout, so we get into our sweaty training gear and crank out a circuit, followed by some yoga exercises led by Bianca who is doing even better than me at the dreaded head stands! One yoga exercise on my stomach made me feel positively ill which had Bianca in fits of laughter! Luckily, I hadn’t eaten much food, otherwise I reckon I could easily have vomited! I laughed with her, telling her I knew yoga was no good for me!!

A late lunch, then time to head for an outdoor bench to soak up the sun, watch the ocean from way up high and just relax. A beautiful Christmas Eve day for both of us. We have sent a text or two to Jase who is still trying to escape the madness of Auckland city and a couple of our last-minute “wants” have ended up on his shopping list. Oops! I’m still laughing at our request for him to grab some more pink hair dye! Go for it, Bianca!! For some reason, she seems to have become more than a tad a addicted to pink hair! Why is it that I just can’t seem to convince her that Red is best?

Well, that has been our day. Such an enjoyable way to spend Christmas Eve in this wonderful location. Father Christmas’ gift of this accommodation is truly the best and Christmas 2015 and 2016 will forever both remain very special and memorable times. Redz NZ Journey never stops amazing me. I’m still loving every moment of it and, crazy though it may sound, now that the end is getting close, I’m kind of dreading it.

My smiles today:
Watching the sunrise.
Feeling damn happy.
Laughing at my lucky, crazy life.
Bikini and sarong. Yippee, summer is here!
Yoga. I either have to laugh or be ill!
Christmas Eve. Well, I was supposed to be home and dry by now, but this is actually far better.
All I can say is “everything happens for a reason!”

My thoughts today:
People should seriously stop expecting normal from me. After all, we all know it's never going to happen!

The biggest Christmas hugs to all my friends and all those I have been privileged to meet along this journey. I’m loving every minute of it, together with all my memories, and still more to come.

Goodnight from Red and Bianca, high on the hillside at Taupo Bay, waiting to see Father Christmas and his reindeer flying overhead tonight.

Ma Te Wa.

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