Luckily this year there were three days between the Easter holidays and Anzac Day, so like many others in New Zealand I took those three days off too. But I didn’t want to stay at home, I wanted something to look forward to so I could set up a countdown of the sleeps till I went away and I wanted to go somewhere I could get away from it all and stare at the ocean.

It took me ages to find somewhere that definitely had an ocean view, was available, and wasn’t hugely overpriced because of school holidays, but after weeks of random searches I found the Castaways Resort which is only just over an hours drive from where I live, and is situated on a cliff overlooking Karioitahi Beach, so it definitely has ocean views.

Prior to and all throughout Easter we had a massive storm Cyclone Tam which brought us a lot of rain and really strong winds, so I was hoping it would all be over by the day I left for the beach… and just in the nick of time, luckily it was. And on Wednesday the weather was picture perfect, warm with no rain or wind so I could sit out on the deck all day enjoying the sunshine and then watch an amazing sunset that evening. It was like a dream come true and I felt incredibly lucky. My villa and the view were stunning.