Saturday in Beer

After a couple unplanned detours we arrived in Seaton, it was wet and we sought solace in a devonshire tea cos our second thermos broke as we got it out of the boot (we had managed to use it once so I guess a record had been made!!). We wandered around a bit - went to the beach with umbrellas. The beach was a very big pebbly pink stone - I read somewhere that it was an upper class beach cos in the 1800's the upper class considered that sand attracted the 'riff raff'. Needless to say the 'riff raff' would have had more fun playing in the sand, sunbathing and swimming in the sea. It was a lovely beach and we walked along took photos of the bathing sheds (a reminder of our time in Melbourne with Leigh and Ken).

Then continued our wander up a hill (we must have walked for miles and certainly felt it by the end of the day). There was a Labyrinth ( a circular path in the lawn which only has one way in and one way out). Apparently you are meant to let go all your worries and concerns going in and relax and feel peaceful coming out (we didn't read that till afterwards). The garden photo is by the labyrinth and I took it cos there were a number of flowers that Mum has in her garden.

In Beer, a little fishing and smuggling village, we found a lovely little B and B to stay in on the main street called the Bank House. It was full of pictures of England etc and a lovely dining room of which there is a photo. There is a creek that runs down by the main road - a trap for those who drink a little bit much on a Saturday night we reckon. In some places there are plants in concrete pots over the creek.

Went for a neat walk back to Seaton over the hills and on the way back met a bunch of harriers out for their Saturday jaunt. Some looked exhausted. One of the photos is on the beach, there are tables, deck chairs and rubber mats. A woman was going along getting the stones off the mats. We laughed about this - but after walking along the beach for a while and reminiscing of our walk along Makara Beach with David we were very grateful to come across a rubber mat to walk on. The beach is suffering from erosion in places and because the cliffs are limestone and soft, there have been a number of large concrete blocks put down to try and stop the cliffs from caving in. Had fish and chips on the beach for dinner - the best place to have them - and they weren't bad at all (except the gulls were always trying to help themselves).

There are lots of little things to remember on our first day like:

• the coastguards house and boat garage are right on top of a hill a long way from the beach (probably they can see the whole coast line better and the smugglers that used to arrive).



• the sailing club which is in the photo above the umbrellas was also away from the beach.



• the umbrellas advertised zespri gold and green kiwifruit which we thought was interesting cos there was no NZ to be mentioned anywhere.



• we listened to the youth orchestra playing while sitting on some church steps just before it got dark - quite nice in the still evening



• Harry fed his first robin



• saw our first caravan park close up (in the background of one of the photos) - they don't seem to have motels here but caravan parks instead which is quite a good way of having a cheap holiday



• they spell bylaws 'byelaws'



• we forgot to take cash and very few people take cards in these little villages - we had to go to a money machine that charges for transactions



• it isn't a good idea to open the sun roof in the car and tilt it when it has been raining!!!.