What if?

We arrived at our next hostel with some hope that it was nice, as it has been recommended on a few occasions; but even we were not expecting this!  The Hostel was a 5th generation farm, the ‘villa’ which we had a double room was built by the owners Great Grandfather; and what a place he built.  Absolutely stunning place, most of the old features were still present; our jaws dropped when we entered this incredible place.  We arrived in time to unload and head over to the local town Monganui, did I sat ‘town’?  It consisted of a shop, garage, B&B and few houses and that was it; not much to see so we headed to Taupo Bay for Surf fun.  We caught the tide right and I was soon in a Wetsuit and paddling out into the 3ft waves, Andy was sat on the side taking in the scenery when a large Maori gent got talking to him; it turned out it was his group on a surf tour that Andy was watching; without any hesitation he offered Andy a spare surfboard in order to join me.  Andy declined, he said he was tired but I know he feels ‘embarrassed’ that he can’t surf yet; but it still amazing how friendly the locals of NZ are.  This bay was great for surf so for the next couple of days we made a point of returning to here on our way back from the day we were spending on the KeriKeri Peninsula.  The Kerikeri Peninsula is a truly beautiful area and is often overlooked by tourist, don’t drive by try and make a point of heading up to the bays on the North coast; some of the safest and warmest beaches you can imagine.  Andy & I spent all day in and out of the water in only our rash tops (purely for Sun protection) and shorts, again we thought of our friends and family back in the UK enduring the cold spell; and again we laughed and went for a swim to ‘cool’ off.  On our last evening here we decided to have one of the homemade Italian Pizzas that the hostel sell, made by the owners husband who is not only Italian but crazy about football; to the extent that everything he makes is named after a famous football player Pizzas or Coffees.