Great Barrier family holiday

Great Barrier Island, Orama. What a beautiful holiday destination!

On Tuesday around lunch time, the Burger family, our family and Deby and her friend Jess and Oumie & Oupa all disembarked on the stunning tropical Great barrier Island. The clouds had given way to amazing sunny skies somewhere along the 4 ½ hour ferry ride. We were met by granny and granddad de Wit who had caught a quick half hour flight in a tiny 5-man plane!

We stopped for lunch along the way to our holiday spot, which ended up being one of many scenic stops we did on the way to the camp site. The camp was absolutely stunning with houses dotted around the mountain side of the valley which held a lake-like ocean just a grass patch away. Our days were filled with lots but nothing inparticular at the same time, which was great! The boys all became avid fishermen, not doing too badly and catching dinner for one of the nights.
We ended up kayaking, fishing, swimming off the jetty and taking walks to explore the gorgeous scenery.

Abigail was so precious for the most part and absolutely thrived off the constant flow of attention she got from absolutely everyone! I think she's become slightly too spoilt lately with Pauanui Mission and now being away with the family, always on someone’s hip nowadays. Of course everyone else loved it but I’m going to have a nice challenge getting her to play contented by herslef when we get back to ‘normal’.

All the wives and mommies had a good time not having to cook because we were fed by the camp each mealtime. Although food was simple meals, it was great being catered for. On the last night, Linda volunteered to cook for everyone which was great! We filled the kitchen with our family and managerd to put on quite a feast, while Abby sat with grandpa and kept entertained banging on the piano in the dining hall.

This holiday was full of firsts for Abby. She had her first tatse of veggies! I started giving her veggies in the afternoons which were gobbled up quick-quick. She also had your first swim in a real pool! Daddy took her swimming in water that was pretty cold, donning her new polkadot, red bather. No tears, surprisingly enough, but she splashed around getting quite out of breath because of the cold water.

Unfortunately our family had to leave a day early, having to get ready for a full on week with Browns Bay Mission. But we left feeling wonderfully rested and with fond memories of one of the few family holidays with everyone there. One of our highlights on the ferry home was seeing some whales not too far from the boat! Otherwise it was pretty smooth sailing with a nice selection of Disney DVD's to keep us occupied on the way home. It truly was a memorable holiday, beautiful location with breathtaking scenery, time well spent with family and a week where no clocks are needed and time seems to stand still. Pity it's all over, but it is definitely an option for next year's family holiday!