Gone Fishing
July 8th, 2008Becky’s mom and dad invited Becky, Owen and me to spend the next couple of days at a remote beach bach, somewhere near the northernmost tip of New Zealand. There’s no telephone where we’re going, and no Internet access.
I don’t know when I last took a couple of days off, mid-week, but that’s when the best specials run on accommodation like this. The fact that leaving the site alone for a couple of days is giving me a touch of anxiety almost certainly means that I have developed an unhealthy relationship with this work. (I promise that you won’t read a lengthy and now commonplace “burned out blogger” post here, even if it happens.) Admittedly, I did check to see if there was a phone line available for dialup because I was planning on bringing my laptop. Nope. I’m packing a box of beer and a few books instead.
See ya in a couple of days…
UPDATE: Here are some pictures from our little holiday:
Mangrove Bach, Paua
Owen inspects the kitchen
Watching the tide roll in… and out…
The Quangle Wangle Quee?
Becky and Owen
Becky’s Dad, Bruce, catches fish for dinner
The owners of the property keep an incredible menagerie
Heavy traffic on the return trip home
It’s good to get away from the computer for awhile. Enjoy yourselves!
To me, the “burned out blogger posts” prove that you are human… 🙂
[quote]Bach (pronounced Batch, with the alternative of Crib in the southern part of New Zealand) is the name given in New Zealand to structures akin to small, often very modest holiday homes or beach houses. They are an iconic part of New Zealand history and culture, especially in the middle of the 20th century, where they symbolized the beach holiday lifestyle that was becoming more accessible to the middle class[1].
“Bach” was originally short for bachelor pad,[2] but actually they often tended to be a family holiday home. Baches started to became very popular in the 1950s, as better roads and more available cars allowed family beach holidays, often to the same beach every year, and hence to the construction of a bach in that spot. One humorous definition of the bach, is “something you built yourself, on land you don’t own, out of materials you borrowed or stole.”[/quote]
Good on ya Kev. Enjoy your books and beers of choice. A day away now and again — even just an overnighter within easy biking distance if that’s all the situation allows — needs to happen now and again just to maintain both a proper perspective (farmlet life IS good) and basic sanity. Cheers mate.
Kevin,
Fear not, the world will continue going to hell in a handbasket in your absence. Enjoy yourself. You deserve the break.
– Mike Lorenz
Darn it Kevin, have fun, don’t worry, leave this shtuff behind, it will all be here when you get back.
Watch your new baby play in the sand and your wife too, listen to the waves, drink beer and read.
Yeah I need to do more of that too.
Steve
Enjoy! Wish I was going too…. 🙂
Hope you have a nice break with your family Kevin.
And I hope the weather is better than last weekend!
I’m back in NZ for 5 days for a family bereavement, first mid-winter visit since 1996, and whoah, it has been cold. Like the 1970s again…
btw, i always go camping away from technology for at least a week every year, i think it is a good detox as well as lots of fun.
This is great news.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Good on ya, mate! I like to get far from the madding crowd 3-4 times each year myself.
Thanks for all the kind comments, you guys. I’ll post a few pics tomorrow.
Nice pics. Did you say it was winter where you are? Looks better than the summer here.
Yeah, we had a two day break in the rain and caught it just right. Kiwi bach construction is so… how should I put this??? inadequate, that it’s practically colder inside than outside. Our breath was visible on the first night. It was probably 6C outside. That’s why we were basking in the sun the next day.
With the cold nights, though, there wasn’t a single mosquito around. 😉