Today is my dear husband's birthday.
Given that it's Monday, he's travelled up from the farm to Papakura so that we can celebrate together. There was a feeble attempt on his part to postpone or reschedule the event; there is a bit of a Robertson joke about birthdays sometimes being inconvenient. It's not an argument that flies with me: birthdays are birthdays and are meant to be celebrated on that special day, even if we don't make a huge deal out of it. John doesn't like huge deals or even presents for that matter. (Tools are okay.)
We're having dinner tonight at a wonderful restaurant called Agave, which is perched on rugged, windswept clifftops overlooking Karioitahi Beach in Waiuku. It's a drive out to the beach through rolling hills of green paddocks, not that far but a world away. A perfect place for a special evening. West Coast beaches on NZ's North Island all have black sand, and this is one of those. And like all West Coast beaches, the sea is turbulent and not that safe for swimming. Often race horses are brought here for training on the wide, open stretches of sand that go for miles (or shall I say kilometres?).
Early after we met John and I walked and talked together on this beach getting to know one another. John's daughter Sarah and her husband Matt got married at Castaways, the event venue and conference/accomodation facility at this special location. So it's a memorable place for us all.
What's particularly amazing in this extraordinary landscape is to watch the sun sink slowly into the sea at sunset. At Agave the entire restaurant pauses to watch in suspended animation. We experienced it for the first time with my friends Laura and Grace Olinski when they visited us from California, and again at Sarah and Matt's wedding. Both were magical moments.
Happy Birthday John, thanks for making the effort to spend it with me at one of our special places. If it can't be Struan Farm this year, at least it can be Karioitahi Beach! xx
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