The bach by night light
Upon our return to Whakatane it had become very apparent that we would not be taking our May flights back to the UK. Certainly not this year anyway. So our fabulous friends suggested we may like to hunker down in their bach (holiday home) at Whanarua Bay. One of our favourite places on earth! It was a no brainer really.
Moving in
What's not to LOVE about this view from
the front door
We packed up the car with all our worldly goods, a bunch of supplies (the nearest supermarket being over an hour away), threw the kayak on the roof and off we trotted.
Look who came to stay!
We fished to our hearts content catching tonnes of mackeral, a couple of kahawai, quite a few blue maumau, piper, snapper, trevally, terakihi and even [drum roll] James's favourite, a John Dory!
We broke out the smoker for a session. Really just an excuse to sit around the fire, beer in hand.
Not to mention the crayfish and packhorse crays we enjoyed from both the cray pots and James going for a dive in the cool winter waters.
We never get sick of eating fish and love the fact that there are hardly any food miles on our meals.
The crayfish, avocado and sea spinach all
grown/gathered from the bay
Crayfish, spinach pasta with beurre noisette
We made some really great friends from up in the village who took us on a few adventures including a trekking up the mountain behind the bay.
Ina (dog) & Moe
The views from up the mountain are somethings else!
Whakaari-White Is from a new perspective
We also got to housesit for Stanley for a few days while his Mum & Dad took a few days break away.
Although we usually do our level best to not experience a winter season, this one was not negotiable due to the travel restrictions in the wake of Covid 19. Our wardrobes needed a bit of beefing up so Clare got busy knitting possum/merino jumper for James.
This was before we realised what a tropical winter paradise we had landed in. There seems to be a real micro climate going on at Whanarua Bay. They grow bananas, avocado, cherimoya and lots and lots of citrus of all varieties. Oh, and macadamias of course.
The thing is, we never tire of the daily changing colours of the bay.
And when the sea isn't condusive to kayaking, there is always time to sit and watch a couple of rod tips on the beach. Someone's happy place! A wholly more relaxing style of fishing for sure.
The cool thing is that we have booked a few housesits for some of the people we have met since our arrival here. We are more than happy to oblige.
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