Starting a new year – 2022

It’s probably never a good idea to actually make a new year’s resolution, as they are often left by the wayside mid February. But, I think I’m going to take a chance and make one. I read my Dad’s entries on here all the time and I really enjoy it so I figured that maybe I should add sometimes too.

Today we went to Raglan beach, we swam, built a sandcastle, the sand here is black and glittery, which is nice to look at but irritating to clean out of your car, and towels, and togs, and hair and … well, you get it. I don’t know why the sand is black but I bet Dad does 🙂 We had lunch at Wylds Cafe, the food was great, all the windows were open and it was a beautiful day. Ana and I played a mobile phone game and built our restaurant empire one pancake and coffee at a time. At some point I was demoted to sous chef and eventually my phone was taken from me by my child. To be fair she had outgrown my help.

Raglan is a beautiful town, set on the coast. It’s hard to describe, to get to it you follow a windy round, up and down, sharp bends and a mountain range. You’re following this road forever, typically with a local right up your tailpipe and then suddenly you crest a hill and there it is. This beautiful town, deep blue waters, hills covered in green forests and a quaint main street. Everyone wants to live in Raglan, villas and houses swarm across the hills, every space filled, each vying for a ‘sea view’. Some modern, all glass and dark, others wooden villas with ramshackle shutters and overgrown gardens.

It’s got lots of little shops and eateries and is very pretty, sometimes the hippie artisan vibe is at odds with the elitism but it’s easy to over look on a day trip. We came home, tired, covered in sand, most likely sun brunt and happy.