We were going to spend the day with my friends family. We started by driving to his sisters house again – they were in this time. After his niece and nephew showed us their presents we headed to his father’s house for mid-morning nibbles. From there we headed further north to Waiwera and my friends mothers house.
We had a nice lunch there and went for a walk on the beach in the afternoon. It was surprisingly empty but it was an overcast day. I saw some pohutukawa trees in bloom. These have been described as New Zealand’s Christmas tree as they come into flower at the end of December. My mum wanted me to take some photos of these trees as she had always been in New Zealand at the wrong time to see them in their full glory.
Waiwera Beach on Christmas Day. A shame it was cloudy
A pohutukawa tree
Blooming lovely
The red needles drop off and cover the ground
Because I was going to take the hire car off on my own little tour of Northland Jason’s mother lent him and Nicole her car. Thus I drove by myself back to Jason’s sisters house although I followed my friends in their car so I didn’t get lost. This was the first time that I had driven own my own in foreign country but I already knew from driving the campervan that New Zealand’s roads are very like the those in England.
At my friends sister’s house we had a huge barbecue dinner (yes, there were prawns on the barbie). His whole family had gathered and it was an entertaining evening. Eventually we headed back to Takapuna for the night.