We’re back in one of our favourite places in the world – Raglan on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Yesterday I walked from Manu Bay to Whale Bay, stopping many times along the way to enjoy the spectacular views of the Tasman Sea. It was a calm, sometimes sunny afternoon and the sky was a wide blue arc over the sea. There were surfers out in the waves at Manu and Whale Bays and also further along at the world famous surf spot, Indicators. The waves crashed onto the boulders at the shoreline and the pebbly sand was innumerable shades of brown and grey. I had a swing at the Whale Bay reserve and watched two Monarch butterflies fly overhead. I walked back to Manu Bay where Jim was still in the surf and watched as the light began to fade and the far hills disappeared into the dark, with the wonderful thought that we would wake up the next day in this paradise.