Last week Daisy and I went on a short bush walk with some of the beautiful tamariki from her Kohanga. A kereru flew overhead and landed on a spindly branch high above. On landing, a gust of wind swept through the canopy and the kereru, gripping the branch, was tossed about. The tamariki swayed in time with the bird and watched in awe. “Woooooah, woooooah, wooooah” they chanted with every gust, willing the kereru to kia kaha and not let go! The tamariki didn’t want to stop watching the kereru.

What an adventure!

I told James this story that evening. I likened it to the “new” adventures life has brought with our little girl. Days of running in the bush or bike packing with few belongings have been replaced with short hikes to sit by the river and bike rides down the road to count the neighbour’s pigs.

Pffffft. They’re not adventures my former self would have silently thought of the latter. I was so often searching for a longer run to complete, a harder route to follow, a faster time on my commute.

But to Daisy, and to us, they are life’s biggest adventures right now. Sitting in the paddock stroking a dandelion puff for the first time, watching piwakawaka play on the fence, having a large oak leaf flutter down onto you.

Yes, that beautiful moment happened during our epic 6km gravel adventure from Little Bay to the north end of Waikawau Bay a few months ago, stopped on the side of the road due to an urgency for Mama’s Milk now please!