I guess you and I are about the best we've got for each other to adequately celebrate Fathers Day, so Happy Fathers Day Denis!

We had a great weekend away. We drove to Raglan on Friday night, explored around there on Saturday and then headed to Kawhia and explored and stayed there the night, and then headed home today (Sunday). Other than spending quality time with my family, a highlight would have to be the 30 odd kms of gravel road between Bridal Veil Falls and Kawhia. More smooth, curvy, cambered, picturesque, fast, technical, perfect gravel couldn't be dreamed up in a naughty dream I can tell you.

The motel Gabba had booked us into at Kawhia looked to be the worst possible motel you could find in small town New Zealand. It wasn't a motel at all but a motor camp. When we pulled up I imagined the cockroaches rubbing their hands together and saying to themselves "fresh meat" when they saw us. We stood there looking at the closed office, reading the note to us stuck on the door that the proprietor had gone out for the day and to find her mother to get us into a cabin. We were then walked through the TV room with it's worn out 1960s furniture and 1980s National Geographic magazines strewn everywhere. Oh man. I was secretly putting a hex on Gabba for picking such a place.

But then we were led out the back, right up to the waters edge, to a brand new cabin with brand new everything inside. The place was bloody bewdy. There was video's for the kids, and new magazines of every kind. A deck over looking the harbor which was just perfect to sit and have a Heineken on. The bed was king size and comfy, and there was a 4 slice toaster the kids thought was pretty bloody great. If you go to Kawhia, stay at the Kawhia Beachside S-Cape Motor Camp. It's much better on the inside than it looks on the outside.

So it was a bloody excellent weekend away. But here is a thought. Why in motels do they always put the TV so high? In both motels the TV was bolted to the wall up by the ceiling. It was plain uncomfortable watching the All Blacks dick AU. I want to find the motelier that started that trend and beat him to death with his damn Pivotelli.

Expect lots of pictures of Raglan and Kawhia this week. Above is some sort of beach grass at sunset at Kawhia's Ocean Beach, Saturday night, 4 seconds before Ali arrived and stood on it. I've got lots of snaps of the kids too Ma. You'll just have to wait till I've post-processed the 150 photo's I took over the weekend.