russell is a cute little wharf town a ferry ride across from the waitangi treaty grounds. i swear this town felt straight out of a nicholas sparks movie. it was so quaint and perfect. from eating oysters on the dock while watching a wedding procession to wandering the cute streets, it was such a sweet day spent with some of my favorite people. and if i ever come back to new zealand, russell will be the first place i want to go.
our church has a night service on the beach every sunday that we help out with. before the service this week, we took a stroll on the beach to collect shells and enjoy the setting sun play against the waves. seeing the beach at golden hour is so magical.
we frolocked in the sand, took lots of silly pictures and read books for class in the shade
i love these girls so much and i’m so blessed to have them in my life
this past weekend, we had a girls day to the beach in tauranga, which is a beach town about an hour away (past post here). we climbed up to the top of the mount on the beach and despite the millions of stairs and hot weather, the view at the top made it completely worth it. after, we grabbed lunch and smoothies, walked around the town, got some of the most amazing gelato i’ve ever had (who knew pineapple and blood orange were such a good combination?), tanned a bit and collected shells on the beach. one of my favorite feelings in the world is coming home after a long day at the beach exhausted and sunburnt, taking a shower and just chilling out. after we got back, we watched breakfast at tiffanys and had mexican food and proclaimed this one of our best weekends in new zealand yet
i know i say a lot of things and places are my favorite but of all the places i have ever been, big sur takes the cake. it is beautiful beyond words and this time seemed even more magical than our usual stops. we were just driving through on our way home from carmel but we decided to stop at a few of our favorite places like nepenthe, big sur bakery and the big sur river inn. it started raining and within minutes, the brightest rainbow i’ve ever seen appeared. i tried to capture it but the pictures really don’t do justice. it was a great way to end such a wonderful trip
on our road trip, we saw so many beautiful beaches. it was too cold to go for a swim but they were sure beautiful to look at! the beaches around big sur are by far the most breathtaking i have ever seen with their steep cliffs and majestic rocks. carmel by the sea has a cute little beach that allows dogs to run free which is quite a sight to see. i’m so blessed to live in such a beautiful state.
