We’ve spent the last week holidaying in the Coromandel – which is about 2.5 hours away from where we live and on the upper east coast of the North Island of New Zealand…
It’s a beautiful seaside town…
And we spent much time exploring the coastline (The children are seen here crab hunting):
They found some tiny (tiny) crabs…
We even managed some exploring by boat 🙂
Parts of Coromandel are pretty famous
You may recognize this beach – Cathedral Cove – from one of the Narnia movies?
We had lots of walks, especially in the evenings, which even though its getting dark much earlier now, are a lovely way to wind down after dinner.
But it sure was nice to arrive home after a week away. I love my home and love arriving back from a stay away. There’s something wonderful about returning home.
And that first nights sleep in my own bed. Heaven!
More importantly, there was a very special package waiting for us when we got home! The children ravaged it open as soon as they were in the door… seems we don’t get much mail these days!
Inside a cute ladybug tin were some special hand painted rocks, which had travelled by mail all the way from Berlin, Germany. The lovely Julius had seen our earlier posts about our rock painting endeavours and suggested to his mum Carina, that we could exchange rocks… which of course we were very excited to do!
There was also some gorgeous self striping sock yarn in the package, which I was very excited to see. Thank you Carina and Julius!
One thing I love about blogging is the amazing people you ‘meet’ through shared interests (as an aside nobody in my family understands my love of crafting – my brother often shakes his head and tells me Im an 80 year old woman trapped in a 40 year old’s body!). I have followed Carina and her blog Häkelmonster for the last few (maybe 4 or 5) years and always enjoy seeing what she has been up to. It intrigues me that although we can be half a world apart we can have so much in common, from sock knitting to child raising and much in between.
If you are interested you can read Carina’s post about the rock exchange here and see what our NZ rocks look like 🙂
Have you received any exciting mail recently?
Have a lovely week, friends. Janette xx
The Green Dragonfly 
I echo your love of blogging – it’s a wonderful world.
Delightful exchanges!
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it’s lovely to receive surprise mail, and I bet your children were pleased with the rock exchange!
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lovely 🙂
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Beautiful photo’s. What a lovely trip for the family.
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Somehow, Coromandel reminds me of the Oregonian coast, however I think the weather is much nicer at yours. It me me jealous (sort of …) as there is still no spring in Berlin but cold, with apple blossom perished and minus degrees at night …
I am very glad our package arrived – thank you for a lovely blog post! Julius was thrilled to see his handwriting and the little rocks he painted online (and after reading what you wrote he mused that your brother and my sister think alike ;))
Keep knitting and writing my friend and if ever you make it to my end of the world, there will always be a guest room for you – Carina.
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Thank you Carina, I will remember that! We will shortly be traveling to Japan for a holiday, so who knows sometime in the future we may make it as far as you!! xo
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Wow Janette! Japan! Have you been before? I went a couple of years ago and fell completely in love with the place. Make sure you take minimum baggage so that you can stuff your suitcases with fabric and other wonderful craft goodies to take home! There are some simply AMAZING fabric shops in the cities.
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