Mar 152015
 
the track from the bach, beside the creek down to th e beach.

the track from the bach, beside the creek down to the beach.

well we have moved down the hill from jeremy’s bach into our little rental bach on the beach in north piha, its a very basic but comfortable little home, we only have to walk out the backdoor, across the lawn and down a 25m track to be on the beach.

we can see the ocean and lion rock from the house which is pretty special. kai and i have new boogie boards and we are living in the surf, as well as doing lots of walks on the beach.

now that jeremy and leesi are back we have been hanging with them which is really cool – we have had so many good times at home hanging out so to do it here with the is special.

they brought over a fantastic thai chicken salad the other night and we had a huge night that put us all of drinking for ever, well, at least until next time!

the weather has been stunning, lots of blue skys and gentle breezes – although we look set for some unpleasant weather with the remnants of cyclone pam due to swing past, the wind is already coming up.

this weekend sal’s cousin luke, zekiah and lorenzo came over, we had a huge day yesterday, once they got here luke and i did a quick sprint over the ridge and down to white’s beach to grab a feed of mussels off the rocks, the tide was a bit high and the swell was up so it was potentially a setup for an episode of piha surf rescue, but with luke as spotter and me jumping in between the big sets we managed to bag a feed.

the rest of the day was spent lazing around at home or in the surf and by the time we cooked up the mussels in a chilli coconut cream sauce we were all pretty knackered! an ecclectic range of nz boutique beers helped wash away the stresses of the day on the beach and it was just lovely having them over for the weekend, kai & lorenzo are great together and i suspect lorenzo idolises his big cousin!

 

Jan 112014
 

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today happens to be my birthday and the start of our latest travel adventure, we left home last night, after a lovely ‘last supper’ with jeremy & leesi, they dropped us at the airport and we headed off to darwin. we had one of the worst flights i have ever had, really bad turbulence due to big thunderstorms in darwin. we ended up circling for an hour waiting for a gap in the storm cells to plonk the plane on the tarmac.

we then had a couple hours waiting in darwin airport before we left for singapore, so i turned 21 again in australia, eventually we boarded our silk air flight to SNG and headed north. after flying through the early hours of the morning we arrived at changi airport at about 7.30am and cleared customs and immigration then stumbled around the three terminals showing kai the airport and filling in a bit of time before catching a bus across to the border, clearing out of singapore customs and immigration and then into malaysia.

the system was as good as i remembered it, you basically hop on and off the bus either side of each border crossing, the bus is automagically waiting for you on the other side, a massive, mobile, seething mass of people relentlessly moving in the same direction, with fast and efficient government employees making the whole thing happen seamlessly and in a timely fashion. (take note australia!)

so by the time we were jumping in a taxi as we exited malaysian immigration, i was in the 3rd country for my birthday, and by this stage feeling a bit second hand! our good fortune was doubled when the hotel informed us the previous guests had already checked out and our 2 bedroom family suite was cleaned and available to check in! so we were able to settle in to our room at 9.30 in the morning which was a great relief after a long night of travel.

we ventured out for brunch and i found a little local restaurant that cooked murtabak daging – one of my favourite morning dishes in malaysia. if you are not familiar its an Indian Muslim wrap. It’s a large, thin, roti stuffed with various meat fillings, along with eggs and onions and then fried on a hotplate. daging refers to the meat being beef. its served with dahl and a couple of different curry sauces, you tear the murtabak into pieces and dip them into the sauces. its simply the best way to start a day!

we then returned to the hotel for a well deserved siesta, there are no photos of the brunch because we woofed it down before i thought of taking a pic! we did some more wandering around Johore Bahru in the afternoon and picked up a bit of shopping. its great to be somewhere where you simply dont see any other tourists and no one humbugs you on the street on in the shops. most tourists dont stop in JB, they stay in singapore and then go straight to malacca, KL or Penang.

tonite we went to a little local food court round the corner and filled up on chicken satays, beef rendang, pork ribs and various vege dishes, all washed down with a couple of carlsberg beers! again i forgot to take photos until the meal was nearly finished, but here is a snap of the mainly empty plates!

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time for an early night now, i feel as if my birthday has gone on for about 3 days! we are off to legoland tomorrow which has kai beside himself with excitement, but i know it will be another big day so we need to recharge the batteries.