We are happy campers

Little Miss Perky surveys the world from her new bedroom

We haven't managed to get away in our vintage camper van since January last year so it was really nice this weekend to head over to Piha.  We've been there before (the blog post of our first visit is here) and we were only away for one night, but the plan was to give young Harriet her first taste of camping.  As you can see from the photo, she seemed to approve of her accommodation and she slept well too, so she gets top marks from us.

On Sunday morning we headed out for a walk.  The weather doesn't seem to have realized that it's supposed to be autumn - we had beautiful blue sky and sunshine as we trekked through the bush:

forded streams:

caught glimpses of the Tasman Sea:

and finally emerged on top of the ridge to this amazing view:

Then we returned along the beach:

Apparently the whole route was only 3.2km but I have to say that the frequency with which we heard 'my legs are tiiiiirrrred' made it seem longer!  Fortunately we had a supply of muesli bars to hand to bribe lazy exhausted children.  We were picnicking by the van before heading back to Auckland and assumed that the siren we heard was something to do with the Surf Club round the corner, when a chap on a bike went past and said that the tsunami warning was just a test.  Oh good, because we were all set to be washed away!  At least we know what a tsunami warning sounds like now.