Here we go again. I got safely back from my Southern discovery into my real life as an Au pair and forgot/didn't feel like to report about a daily life as an Au pair in a Kiwi family. I got sucked into routines and got too tired/lazy to write in the evenings.
However, the kids are on 2 weeks holiday from school now and therefore we are not as stuck in the routines and there is no need to get up that early. Neither did I work yesterday afternoon nor this morning. I was given some time off to recover from flu. This must be like 3rd flu since I came here. The viruses the kids bring from school must love me and my immune system wish them very welcome. Anyway, I am getting better again and back in life.
The family has a small house in their disposal in Whangamata. Nowdays the town is popular among tourists. An ideal spot for surfing, no that I surf but made me wanna learn that skill as well. In Whangamata village, there are all sort of shops, cafes and restaurants. It was interesting to see that Finns are not the only people facinated by the idea spending some time in a small house with an entire family nearby lake or sea. Ideally the house is 10m from the lake. At leart, the sauna bulding should be an immediate vicinity of water.
The house wasn't exactly on the beach but powerful, noisy and breathtakingly beautifu ocean was about 10 minutes walk away. The weather turned out to be pretty nice, the temperature was about 20C. Too cold for swimming but just fine for enjoying outdoors and long walks. In the ideal world, I'd have been running along the beach line but well my sore throat killed my dream but I was able to walk and of course I had to jump in the waves, couldn't resist temptation. My jeans were rather wet after that. The waves are strong, eh? Whereas Finnish lake scenery is somehow beautiful and tranquil, Ocean beach is beautiful and powerful.
Spending a day on an Ocean beach, you can see the effect of tides.(Or in a tides calendar stuck on the frigde if you don't want to monitor the situation all day) During low tides you can walk to the island and 6 hours later, noway. Unbelivible that that the moon can move such great masses of water as Ocean, interesting,eh? And yes I do admit I didn't remember the cause of tides and I had to Google it. In fairness It has been a long time since my last geography lesson.
I wouldn't have minded sauna though, especially when it happened to be a bit chilly during the night but that's why hot water bottles have been invented. I think I could do without a private piece of beach in an isolated place in the middle of the deepest forest and I did not miss mosquitoes. Alltogether, what a splendid experience. One fabulous thing I got to experience as an Au Pair.
