Swimming in the sea on Boxing day

bed count: 53

I am sure that there have been members of my family mad enough to swim in the seas off Scotland on Boxing day. I'm not that stupid. The water off westshore in Napier was cold enough, but the lovely sunshine made up for it.

Christmas day itself was very pleasant. It started, for us, in Napier cathedral which is (like everything else) art deco style and very pretty inside. Being a cathedral the midnight service was a little more formal than I am used to (there was a Bishop and everything) but it was all good and well attended by our fellow hostel guests.

We did the normal Christmas day stuff - had a lie in, ate lots, opened pressies, ate some more, had a wee drink and some more food and some more drink. But we also went to the beach and basked in the sun. Turns out I quite like sunny Christmas. I like the freedom of being outdoors. However, I wouldn't relish the prospect of a winter without the distraction of Christmas, so I think it's fair to assume Christmas in the summer will remain a novelty for me.

Our Christmas dinner consisted of BBQ'd steak, asparagus and salad since there was no oven for the turkey. Oh and some traditional German noodles. (The majority of the clientele in hostels at the moment appear to be from Germany. Not sure if it is a tradition there to go away for Christmas). After sharing dinner with our fellow hostel guests we then watched Christmas TV whilst waiting for the UK (and Latvia) to catch up with us so we could phone people and wish them a happy Christmas. Or a happy Boxing day by the time we'd done.

More Christmas pics in the Christmas in Napier set on Flickr.

Now in Plimmerton, having had a sunny Boxing day in Napier and spent last night in Wellington.

Plimmerton is lovely and we are at a great little backpackers right on the beach. We're doing a work exchange here (4.5 hours a day between us for free accommodation) and will be here to see the new year in. Planning to explore Wellington a little more on our afternoons off as it's only 20 mins by train / car.

Really looking forward to heading back to Te Papa ('Our Place' - NZ's national museum), which we only saw a small slice of this morning. It's an amazing building and has loads of great exhibits in it.

V tired right now though so think I will just lie on my bed and listen to the sound of the sea...