Life's a Beach

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Easter has arrived in Waiheke along with it an influx of tourists. Lots of people own houses around these parts which they only use for weekends like these. And what a weekend, the temperature on the beach is ideal, around 24 degrees, a cooling zephyr and warm sea water make this the ideal beach time of year, better even than summer. The boats from Auckland line up in the bay and people pile into little dinghies to access the beach. And what a beach (see even more photoes of it!) A place to really be in the moment, full of mindfulness.
Autumn's here and the cicadas have stopped singing. It's also cooler at night- around 15 degrees. The nights are fair drawing in! It's dark at half past six, just as well we've got Tunein radio as the television needs improving. Two programmes are good- 'House' on a Sunday and 'Person of Interest' on a Monday night!! As a contrast to Britain in Autumn the leaves remain on the trees (evergreen palms, ferns and pines). Flowers and butterflies abound, and the summerlike sunshine feels about 25 degrees. Fruits such as tamarillo and figs are in season in our back garden and we're waiting for the lemons to ripen. Any good recipes for tamarillo? They're almost ready for picking.
Today, Monday the 9th, is the last day for a number of the winetours as many of the buses that take people to the vineyards stop today. Thus there are adverts in the Waiheke Marketplace offering cheap/ free glasses of wine for the whole of April. Peacock Sky are offering their rose for 5 dollars a glass- a bargain no less considering the most amazing cheese platter for two ever invented that you can get to go with it.
Peacock Sky offers a clever learning experience/ wine tasting in the form of food and wine pairing. For seven dollars you sample 4 wines and 4 tiny bites of food while they explain the benefits of the combinations. These tiny tasters act like starters to the real glasses of wine and platters that you can buy and encouraging intellectual interest in their wines to buy a bottle or two.
A light chardonnay was combined with a creamy pumpkin and ginger soup. which cuts the acidity of the wine, Dry rose paired with crab salad, but could have been paired with anything light. A rounded merlot malbec and beef roll went nicely, tagines and spicey dishes were also suggested. My favourite, cabernet sauvignon (cab/sav) with a dense chocolate cake-yum. Now I'm educated the cab sav might need to take more of a backseat to the merlot as I'm not a big wine and chocolate person. Mind you I could adjust......

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Photos

idyllic scene
Could paint this with ochre and cerulean blue

Sealegs boat
out of the water straight onto the road

Waiheke Jazz Festival
every Easter Jazz in the vines, olive groves (Rangihua estate in the picture) and local venues.