Karekare beach walks and waterfalls

In our Karekare days, we would often divide up - I'd stay home to catch up with work emails and finish a pending grant proposal, David would walk with the kids to a waterfall. Or I'd take the kids on an afternoon dune climbing/beach scramble, and David would try to sort out our bank transfers (yes, our wonderful Karekare refuge had high speed internet :)). Some images from those calm, peaceful days:
 

New Zealand is reminding me so much of Hawaii!! These red blossoms are what I know as ohia in Hawaii. They call it pōhutukawa here, turns out here in the Southern Hemisphere it blooms around Christmas, they call it the Christmas flower, comforting red/greens for European settlers so far from their white Christmases at home. Plays prominently in Maori tradition - an 800 year old pōhutukawa still clings to the cliff face on the very northern most point of the North Island, the Maori leaping off place for the spirits. Turns out the Hawaii version is endemic to Hawaii, the NZ one to NZ, so they are different plants, but both from the same genus, Metrosideros.