A little bit of rain makes for a cooler road trip.

I managed to stay up until mid night on New Years Eve because I am so hard core and party hard!!  Actually I was hanging washing out on the deck because we were going to Whangamata the following morning.  I may not have been out and about on the last night of the year but I can still remember some bloody good New Years nights back in the day!!

The first day of the new year and we woke to the sound of rain.  Actually it was quite nice as the garden needed a drink, the farmers have been crying out for rain, and it cooled things down a bit.  Super nice to be out driving in the countryside heading to the coast.

Good old Joe belted out his definitive collection as we drove along.  Once at Whangamata we went to my sisters place.  Her house is a full ship as her eldest son, wife, two gorgeous young grandsons, their two dogs, and their cat are staying with them.  It was so nice to catch up with my nephew as he has been living in the South Island for a couple of years.  With a good old catch up had, and me having fun playing with the little lads, we said our goodbyes.

We drove to the top of the hill my sister lives on and the view was smudged with mist and rain.

Still a fabulous sight for me as Whangamata is like a second home.

Even tho' it was a wet day town was busy as, I guess everyone goes shopping when they cannot lay on the beach.

We dropped in to visit my life long friend and her husband that are up from Wellington.  So much easier to visit her at the beach as Wellington is about an 8 hour drive from Hamilton.  Another good catch up was had and then it was time to depart the beach and drive home.

The Marina is TOFs little dream.  These are the boats of the rich, not something we belong to.  Well we are rich in life just not in money, but I prefer our kind of rich.

On the road again!!!  That is the face of 'what the @$%# are you doing woman'!  The rain kept coming down and the world outside looked spectacular to me.  I love how colours intensify when wet.

Paddocks of green and broody skies.

This paddock had hay bales in it but when you are hanging out the window of a moving car it is easy to miss such things.  So I wasn't actually hanging out the car window, but it was moving!!!

Now, three days later the rain is still falling.  ENOUGH I say!!  The farmers should be happy, but all the campers are not.  The Heir and his mates came home early from their camping holiday after getting a good drenching, there is only so long you can shelter in a car when your tent is wet.  Guess that is why I haven't taken to camping.  Apparently we still have a few more days of the wet, and then Summer will be back on.  I must admit to having kicked back and watched a few movies during the last few days, I guess having wet weather when on holiday is one way of making you really chill out.

Hope you all made it through the New Year Celebrations and are now ready to embrace another year full of surprises and happiness.  Remember, life is what you make it!!