Marsden is Here

Some months ago we were given notice of my brother (B) and his fiancé's (R) wedding, to be held beach-side in the the Coromandel. After looking at the costs and logistics of flights, rental cars etc just for a weekend trip versus the cost of the ferry, and discovering that there was a quilt show on that we could feasibly visit en-route, the decision was made that we could afford for me to take a week and a half off work, E would be taken out of school (which she could mostly keep up with remotely) and we would make an overdue family holiday of it, visiting places that D hadn't been in years and completely new territory for the other two of us.

( long post is long )