A Weekend away

It was Russ's birthday on Friday. A special one too...the big 30! We decided to steal away for the weekend to a bach (NZ term for an informal holiday cottage/hut) on the slopes of a nature reserve not more than an hour's drive from us. It turned out not to be a "bach" at all...but actually quite a plush place! I loved the wooden interior with the high domed ceilings (How do they bend the beams like that?!) the roof windows and just the general, serene feel of the place. 

What really sold it though, would be the jacuzi overlooking the forest, with its jets delivering delicious bubbling water massages. Mmm. 

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It was here that I finished reading "The famished road" by Ben Okri; a fascinating read close to home. Thought I'll share this quote from it with y'all: 

"Heaven means different things to different people. They (the dead) wanted to live, to be more alive. They wanted to know the essence of pain, they wanted to suffer, to feel, to love, to hate, to be greater than hate, and to be imperfect in order to always have something to strive towards, which is beauty. 

They wanted also to know wonder and to live miracles. 

Death is too perfect."