Something Elsie: Northland 17

After swimming on Wednesday we headed up to Northland to visit John and Carroll. Northland did it's thing and the sun came out in full force during our visit. We spent a couple of great days exploring the locale - Joel showed me some of the old haunts around Okaihau and 'The Valley' where he and his mates used to live when they were kids. Then we headed up to Horeke Harbour, looping back via the Forest Pools and Puketi forest on the way home again. The next day we explored the east coast heading up to Tauranga bay. We spent a heavenly couple of hours at Te Ngaire Beach where we just lay on the sand in the warm spring sunshine. Elsie got to play with sand for the first time and we searched for 'treasure' on the beach (that's shells and driftwood to put in her 'Treasure Basket' at home). As usual Elsie was happy and content while she was up North - Northland must be in her blood. We enjoyed a delicious brunch with John and Carroll before heading back to Auckland again.