'Our Hill".....

We've been taking a few jaunts up Kopu Kairoa, the Maori name of the hill (or 'family' of hills - we live on Daddy Whale, there are Mummy and Baby Whales (hills) close by) we live on the side of. We've been taking dessert up some nights - strawberries and chocolate sauce with a view, lol!, but today we took the camera up. It takes about 15 minutes to walk down the road to the track to walk up (got that?), and we pass a lovely patch of wild flowers that the mowers always leave when they do the sides of the road:


A view from part way up, of what we've got left to climb:


Some of the views from the top of the hill. Tauranga City and Welcome Bay with the harbour in between them and the Kaimais in the distance (through the shelter belt across the road from our house):


The Mount, with Matakana and Bowentown etc. behind it (looking towards the beacon on the top of the hill from the girls' bedroom):


This one is out to Mayor Island (to the left if you were looking out of our kitchen window):


Motiti Island behind Papamoa (straight ahead out the kitchen window):


Across to the Papamoa Hills Regional Park (to the right of our house):


Looking back to our house, it's the one with the orange roof ;o) :


One of the bonuses of going up, is that you get to come down! The kids all run flat tack through the long grass and leap off the little jump at the bottom if they're still upright:




On our way back down we saw Sharon from across the road clipping the toenails of the horse who lives here and the one of hers she grazes here, The Lad would be horrified at the size of the offcuts from these babies!:


The pedicure process was scarily similar to our own, after the clipping there was the cleaning of gunk from underneath:


Then the 'emery board', lol:



Jericho is a bit of a rascal horse, and was getting told off a lot, but when he's not being naughty he's very loveable:


Tiara was having a bit of a nosey while she was waiting for her turn:


A11's favourite bovine - the bull that petrifies him every time, doesn't he look scary, like he's going to leap up and bust through the fence?"


Kaiser jumping for the kids. We left L9 there in the end, and Sharon dropped her off when they were finished: