In simpleton skin

It's almost been a week since our stay at peaceful Pauanui and I'm still lingering in the sounds of the waves. 

Everyone lied when they said, "We're all sleeping in!"

Yeah, right! I was the last to get up and it was only 9-ish? Unlike the rest, I was on full on beach bum mode. Liars. Like I mentioned previously, we brought crazy amounts of supplies and I suppose that served as incentive to start the day with. N was in charge of eggs and D got right into pancakes. I just, well... ate it all. Haha.  

You know how everyone's all laid back, not saying a word after a big feed because we're all so full? Yeah, it was like that. Just as we started to move, C proudly declared that we're all ready to sink Russian destroyers now. Haha. Above is a picture of the caramelised bananas D made. He used to be a chef and so I've picked up a few tips. 

***Excuse the blurry photos.*** 

So of course it was time for the beach! Not a great idea, gorging yourself before... But we did it anyway. 

Boys in hats and ready to bake in the sun. N figured we might as well bring some clubs along to practise chipping in the sand. Potential hazard!

Always follow the birds. They know. 

Mt. Paku, you look like boobs.

Have you swept the sky today? Do your womanly duties. 

After searching long and hard, I found me some suitable 'jandals'.

Ready for a lay out.

Mandatory shadow greeting.

Hillbilly Nathy.

Against better judgement. One swing later, the waves swallow it.

Bake with a book (:

An hour on, we headed home as it was the worst time of day to be out in the sun and skin cancer is so prevalent here. We went traipsing on home...

Not a ready cookie. Clearly he didn't bake enough.

Nath kept picking flowers. I was swamped! (:

The day wasn't over though. Cooled down, we hopped into the Legnum for a tour of Pauanui as this was D's first visit. Calling 'gunshot/ shotgun' (guess I don't really have to, it's a permanent reservation for this Malaysian, woohoo!), I snapped whatever caught my eye! Let's see what I came up with...

Red road of Pauanui.

The witch's house as promised! Love these A-line houses, you don't see them anymore. Fun fact: Pauanui's first electrician owns this old time piece.

We stopped to check out the view.

A must! Vanilla bean with salted caramel macadamia in a waffle.

I find most times that when you're having incredible fun, the day escapes you. This wasn't the case though, somehow it all balanced out. Early afternoon, N and D went off for a round of 9 holes while C and I munched on carrots at home, chilling on the lazy boys. Soon though, we went wandering to the town centre for coffee. Even us peaceful souls get restless. Upon returning, we caught sight of this...

Ready to take flight! The airfield is fascinating. 

When the golfers returned, we practically hurried to the beach for another swim. Due to the tide, the sand contours got all confused. We swam, we laughed and tumbled in the crashing waves. Bliss!

Whence all was clean, we got onto business. A crayfish was halved (N somehow left the other in Auckland??!?!), steak was put on fire and fresh snapper was offered. Unfortunately, I failed to capture it all. Forgive? I did get a picture of this ball of goodness! Known in English as Mozart Balls (hehehehe), we were so lucky to have C bring them all the way from Salzburg from the the original shop that still hand makes them beauts. 

  

With bellies so full, we resigned to the deck. Cider in hand, I star gazed and heard silence all over and over again. A luxury I forget I'm missing out on. I am very glad I had that weekend. 

Everything about that weekend was truly needed, simple. Back on the lazy boys, some of us willingly participated in a music quiz where N was master. First category? Symphonies. A small applause for myself, I faired well. Yay! However, moving on to piano concertos, operas and concert music, I knew I was no contender. Especially when one said participant and master could identify works to Köchel number/ catalogue. Time to brush up on music history! All in all, the beach is a necessity (:

Packing up to leave we stumbled upon this... If only he were still as cute (: Aw, heheh!