23/12/25 – 1/1/26
It was a great feeling driving into Tinopai, I have so many happy memories here as a child and Dad spent a lot of his childhood here so it has great significance to me. We set the tent up in the backyard and almost immediately felt relaxed, we even braved the water and had a swim, it turned out to be very nice and I didn’t actually need the wetsuit I squeezed into. Christmas Eve was spent colouring in the table cloth, long beach walks at low tide, finding crabs, kayaking and once again having a swim. The Christmas excitement certainly peaked putting food out for Santa and amazingly the boys fell asleep reasonably quickly, Oliver saying “the quicker I fall asleep the quicker Santa comes….”
Christmas Day, what can we say?! It was full of happiness, laughter, presents and loads of excitement. We enjoyed a delicious lunch with nearly every type of meat you could imagine, then took a break from eating to head out on the boat. The boys had a go on the biscuit, and it was hilarious watching Oliver and Arthur together. Oliver ended up falling off and losing his shorts. Rhys went with Arthur and nearly squished him like a pancake, while I went with Oliver, which was awesome. I jumped on the kneeboard to show Oliver how it was done, then he had a turn and absolutely aced it. Patrick decided the water was too cold and wouldn’t have a go. After our swim, it was dessert time, followed by plenty of games of Greed and a Christmas movie for the kids. The evening flew by and before long we all hit the sack.
Andy surprised us by arriving a day early on Boxing Day which was great. It was another beautiful day, so we had lots of outside games, more Greed, and then some of us headed out for an afternoon fish, finishing the day with a delicious fresh fish dinner.
Morning runs, rides, walks or reiki sessions (Eileen it was amazing!) became the daily routine followed by more games, oyster hunting, fishing and card games. Max came for a visit which was a wonderful surprise and he bought the good luck with fishing as Arthur, Max and Andy cleaned up on snapper providing fresh fish for days. Mandy, Huw, Brodie, Brooke and Rosie also joined the Tinopai fun, however the weather turned a little unfavourable so no more boating but that didn’t dampen spirits as the kids got a long amazingly.
We spent the last day of 2025 at the Waipu highlands games which was quite fun. Dani and I braved the 3 legged race and smashed it taking out 2nd place winning $20 (which turned into ice-creams for everyone), Rhys and Hayden gave the 3 legged race a go but their communication failed them and they fell over within the first 5 steps. Arthur and Oliver went in the sack races and were fantastic. The bagpipe parade with highland dancing were wonderful to watch, and made Rhys miss playing. Tossing the Caber fascinated the boys, the day certainly made us think of our Macdonald Crew in Scotland.
Back at Tinopai we went for a final swim then the kids had a movie evening while we celebrated the end of 2025 with a few drinks and more games. Goodbye 2025 – it had a lot of highs but also a few lows that I am thankful to say goodbye too. Bring on 2026!
