Mount Paku and Puka Park Resort with Mom

To start my post, as usual, with excuse-related comments, I will share that Mom has flown back to Oklahoma, so visitor-related excuses are finished for now, but I will now move straight into visiting-related excuses. J and I are getting ready to fly back to the States in just two weeks (YAHOO), and I have done almost no preparation, due to my focus being entirely on Mom's visit. Fortunately, the big stuff is all organized already, but that doesn't mean that I don't have lots of small-but-important things to do. 

So... YAY for exciting trips in both directions across the world, and sorry for their interference with prompt posting.

While in Tairua, Mom and I climbed up Mount Paku, which gave us amazing views of Tairua (on the right), Pauanui (on the left), of the ocean (behind me in this picture), and of Tairua Harbour.

Look at the lovely colour variations in the water, and at the graceful curve of the line of anchored sailboats!

On the hike up to the top (which was not long, as you can drive most of the way up), there were flocks of fantails putting on amazing shows for us. They are so beautiful, I really wanted to get a picture of one, but they are so fast and their flight paths so erratic, it was a challenge. I managed to get this picture; this is a cropped version, as I couldn't be that close and still catch one in the frame. They come up really close to you, but zoom away very quickly afterwards. 

Anyway, awesome picture of their amazing displays of their fanning tails!

I got a picture of one on the ground, too.

Remember how Aunt Susan fell in love with fantails when she was here? Well, I'm so glad she did, because now I love them more because of her excitement, and am always extra glad to see them.

 I tried out my panorama capabilities here, too. What an amazing view!

When Mom first said she wanted to go to the Coromandel, I went on GrabOne and found a deal to go to Grand Mercure Puka Park Resort, which is in Pauanui. (Have I mentioned that I love GrabOne? You get to find awesome discounts online, which is both a great way to save money and a great way to find new and exciting things you might want to try!)

We had lunch inside, as it was bucketing down rain. (Mom informed me that "bucketing" must be a Kiwi-ism, as she'd never heard it before. I must be too localized already, because I would have said I always used that phrase.) It cleared up a bit as we were eating, but was still windy and felt stormy.

We got to sit by a nice little fire in a lovely restaurant with amazing food!

By the time we were finished eating and got changed for the spa, it was sunny and warm! Amazing! We moved between this pool, which was freezing, and the hot tub and sauna, which were toasty warm. We could only stand to dive into the deep end of the pool and swim as fast as we could to the steps at the shallow end before climbing out and dashing back to one of our warm options, but it was very fun!

We also relaxed and read our books in these lovely wooden chairs, looking out over the pool. It was pretty perfect, especially for two book-lovers like us!

Mom also worked out in the gym, because she is much better at actually putting effort into staying in shape than I am. I did not work out.

So... we have two weeks before we head to the States, and I promise to post more pictures of Mom's trip during that time. I haven't decided what my blogging plan will be for the time I'm away, but we'll see.