Hey there! Here are the beach photos!
It was such a sunny day over at the Mount, Lauren and Juanita, stopped for a refreshing drink!
Juanita was even kind enough to share her drink with us!
Kylee was determined to get us down to see the beach, she said its really pretty down there, and she was right! It was pretty, even though it was a slightly overcast day, it was muggy and hot and there were lots of people swimming, or sun bathing and walking along the beaches walk ways...
Here we are with Kylee's Mum, her Mum parked really close to the look out area over the beach so we could get out and walk the short distance up to the viewing platform.....
Can you see the lifesaving flags? It is a well known surfing beach. We say, there were a few people out swimming that day, but BOY, was it rough. We wouldn't have wanted to be out in it, a bit scary!
That is a wee island behind us, that has rocks that you can walk along to it to visit, mostly when the tide is down. Kylee didnt know what it was called, she hasn't been across before, but sees lots of people walk it.
It sure was windy! We only stayed up there a short while, but Kylee was excited she was able to take us!
People overseas must get confused when they call it the Mount (we know we were), because the Mount is actually the beach, and behind us is the Mount. You can walk right around the base and it is so pretty. It takes about an hour, and there are a few steep hill's for wheelchairs, so we didn't do it! But she said its really pretty, she used to walk around it as a kid with her grandparents. But its been changed a lot since then.
This is what the Mount looks like from the top... There are beaches on both sides! The side we are on is the left side in the photos, thats the surf side of the beach. The other side is a lot calmer, quieter and nicer for kids and families, as it does not get a lot of waves.... There is a port where big ships come in on the right too. If you follow the green tree's around to the end of that cove, thats about where the port is where all the big cruiseline ships come in.... There are some nice parking spots on both sides.... The sun rises on the left side of the beach, and sets on the right side, so they are really lucky because they get the best of both worlds!
This is a panoramic is the Mount. (I took both these photos off Wikipedia). Mount Maunganui is its full name, but its mostly just known by nic name as "the Mount". Its actually an extinct volcano can you believe? Its official name in Maori (the native culture to NZ) is Mauao. There is a legend behind the Mount, you can read more about the legend, and story
HERE because it explains it a lot better than I ever could. hehe....
The Mount is really seasonal, the place is PACKED in summer, and everyone loves it there. If you would like to learn more about the Mount, you could go
HERE or even
HERE, both give more in depth information!
Here is Lauren and Juanita on the beach, Kylee and Dianne went back to the car, but the girls came back up and took us down to the ocean, it was a little cold.....
Can you spot us with the girls walking down to the water among all the other people?
Today we had another lake day, at our lake which is just down the road. We have managed to slowly build up our own little spot where only certain locals can enjoy it. We leave our kayaks there outside a lake house and bike down whenever. Today we took the car because we had to take the grill for our BBQ dinner also. Lake Rerewhakaaitu fun with our neighbours. The Broton's almost got away with taking off on the jetski, but they forgot the key! 
