A very early morning rise and shine today so we could pack the car and set off to the airport to take the hire car to the depot at 7am.  It was actually nice to wake up and see the pretty lights of the Sky tower and was also very exciting for Jennifer.

The plan worked and we returned the hire car and caught the courtesy shuttle bus to the airport.  Full points to Omega Car rental for having two car seats in the bus ready to go.

We checked in and decided to have ham croissants for breakfast before going through customs.  The Auckland airport was very considerate of families and we were fast tracked to the front of the queue which was very helpful.

We caught a 747-400, a double decker jumbo and it was great!  The ride was very smooth and both Jennifer and James were perfect.  We were spoilt again with another breakfast - hotcakes, bacon, apple and manuka syrup, fruit salad and white choc chip muffins.

It took 2 hours to get our luggage and get through immigration and customs and it felt like forever when we were treated like royalty in Auckland.

Jennifer and Mummy enjoyed a baby chino and chai latte while Daddy collected the car and James slept in the pram.

We all agreed that we had a fantastic holiday filled with lots of fun activities and were all saddened that it was over but know we have some great memories to cherish.

One of the best laughs of the holiday goes to Jennifer, who while driving around in our hire car, asked when we were getting a hire car back in Australia.  When we asked why we would want a hire car in Australia when we have our own cars, we discovered that she didn’t mean hire car, she meant higher car, you know - like the Toyota Kluger.

Jennifer said she really enjoyed the whole holiday.  She said she thought it was very special to see the kiwi birds and had lots and lots of fun.

The holiday was a fantastic experience for James, his use of words quadrupled.  There’s nothing quite like having intensive one on one time with the whole family and talking about so many different experiences.  We asked James what he liked best about the holiday and he said, “bus ride”, he was rather impressed each time we hopped on one.  When we asked why he said, “up high”.

As for Mummy and Daddy, we thoroughly enjoyed the company of our two priceless children.  We had so much fun every day sharing in the joy on their faces as we spent time as a family and enjoyed the experiences and sights of New Zealand but also the simple things in life.

Today we drove to Muriwai to see the Gannet colony. There was a path to walk on to go and see their home. When we got to the first lookout, Jennifer fell in love with the baby gannets because they were gorgeous, looked soft, fluffy and cute, so she sat at the rail and sang them a lullaby.

The number of gannets was amazing, they were on every ledge along the cliffs.  We were amazed at how fast they can fly, but it gave Jason a good challenge to photograph.  Apparently astronauts are in awe of the gannets wing design and only wish they could exactly replicate.

We walked to Muriwai beach, it had black sand. Mummy read that a volcano erupted in the ocean a long time ago and that made the sand black.

 

Now just what is one to do when the water looks so inviting and you have no swimmers – well, we decided go in anyway so we walked down to Muriwai beach across some rocks.  We took our sandals off as we had to walk thorugh some water to get onto the sand.  James decided he could find a better place to wait while we were taking off our shoes, so he moved over to the sand where the water was just deep enough to wet his toes, next minute a wave rolled in and soaked him, so off came the soaking shorts.  We also took off Jennifer’s skirt and we went for a paddle along the edge of the water until we got to where the life savers were watching the beach. Mummy, James and Jennifer went into the water and had fun when the waves rolled over us and splashed us. We all got soaking wet, it was hilarious as we were in ankle deep water and then the waves rolled in with such gusto.

We walked up to the grassy picnic area and had a late picnic lunch in the park before we drove home.

Our finale dinner in New Zealand was a yum char dinner at restaurant called China Yum Char in Auckland.  James, Mummy and Daddy were very adventurous and ordered lots of yummy food like pork buns, seafood dumplings and pork rice rolls to name a few while Jennifer enjoyed the fried rice and sweet and sour pork.  We had a lovely dinner and all agreed that we had a fabulous family holiday.

After saying goodbye to Ian we set off on our journey to Auckland with our navigational trust in the hands of Tom Tom.  Our journey was to be approximately 3 hours and we enjoyed a mystery cooks tour from Cambridge to Huntly.  We think that at least 3 other cars were doing the same as we continued like a procession on this obscure path, lucky our Tom Tom navigator knew where it was going.

 

We stopped in Huntly for a drink, eat and play before continuing our journey.  As we drove into Auckland we decided to detour via Mt Eden.   The mountain is the highest natural point in the whole of Auckland and is on the list of the top things to do in Auckland.  It is the site of an old volcano and gave us a great 360 degree view of Auckland.  James and Mummy walked around the rim of the volcano as Jennifer had just fallen asleep in the car.

We were all honestly quite tired this morning from our late night out so we played lego and more magic Wonder colouring in at our holiday home.

After James’ rest we drove around Lake Rotorua.  Ian suggested we stop at Hamurana Springs and we were delighted with the gorgeous spot.  As soon as we approached the stream we were surrounded with geese and ducks swimming in another of NZ’s famous clear water. We decided to set off on the walking trails, firstly walking along the side of the stream.  James enjoyed the freedom again of running along and finding sticks, flowers and leaves to play with along the way. 

 

We walked down to the spring and back to the start via the redwood trees.

    

Once we arrived back at the start, Jason pulled out the kite and had tremendous fun flying it as the wind from Lake Rotorua was quite strong.  It looked so much fun, we all had a turn and had to hold on tight but it certainly was great fun!

Our exciting adventure tonight took us on a bus trip (with seatbelts which impressed Jennifer and James) to the Mitai Maori village. 

We were greeted by Johnny from the Mitai family who was rather jovial and we knew we were in for a great night.  He greeted every country and said hello in their native tongue and there were 20 countries in attendance tonight, not bad attendance for a Sunday night dinner out. 

 

We were shown the hangi meal lifted from the pit and our taste buds were watering with excitement as it certainly looked great.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered through their home, being careful to stay on the paths hoping we would not come across any unfriendly warriors, although Johnny said if we were to come across any that we should ask to have our photo taken with them.  Our journey took us to the most beautiful clear stream with bubbling mud in the middle.  We were amazed that the entire stream was not muddy, it was so clear we could see the trout swimming around the mud.  As we continued our journey we came across the waka an ancient war canoe travelling down the Wai O Whiro stream.  The warriors on board sang a chant and we admired their traditional dress.

Our next stop was to see the cultural performance which was held on an outdoor stage with a traditional Maori village as the backdrop.  We learnt about their instruments, weapons, games, beautiful poi dances, the haka and heard tales about the Maori tribes’ past told through songs and dance.  The Maori people have tattoos on their skin and we learnt about the significance of the owl that is tattooed onto the women’s chin and how it represents wisdom and how this is significant as the women are considered the wise keepers of their family and this is very important to them.  The Mitai Maori chief has four birds tattooed onto his face, the bat on his forehead, the parrot on his nose, the Kiwis on his cheeks and the Owl on his chin.  Mr James was quite wriggly throughout yet enjoyed sifting dirt through his fingers and was no doubt was waiting for that famous hangi meal.

We certainly were not disappointed, the menu included New Zealand Lamb & Chicken, Potatoes (Rewai), Sweet Potato (Kumara) and stuffing (a combination of Bread, Mixed Herbs, Corn, Carrots & Peas).  The side dishes include scalloped potatoes baked with a cheese topping and freshly baked Garlic Bread plus a range of salads including Corn salad, Cauliflower with Sesame Seeds, Rice, Ranchslaw and Freshly Tossed Garden Salad, brown gravy and thick mint sauce.  The desserts were also sensational and included tropical Fruit Salad, chocolate Log, and Trifle with Cream.

We were all very impressed with the meal.  James loved everything, he even got to try the fruit salad and some trifle (“cake peese”) and Jennifer was particularly keen on the bread, rice and chocolate log.  Mummy loved the lamb, sweet potato, the cauliflower which was grated and in little mayonnaise dressing with sesame seeds and the trifle.  Daddy loved the meat and the smoky flavoured potatoes. 

 

After our delicious dinner we collected a torch, Jennifer was proud to use her own Disney Princess torch and we set off to see the glow worms in the the Mitai family village.  It was very special to see the tiny glows from the worms especially above the stream.  Of course James and Jennifer loved playing with the torches.  Unfortunately Jennifer’s batteries went flat and James somehow managed to take the head of his torch off in the dark and the batteries fell out so we then played a hide a seek game searching for the batteries.  Another guest must have felt sorry for us and came to our aid with a torch and we got sorted in no time.  Along the way we came across a Maori house that would sleep two.  We learnt that the door was narrow so it was hard for any unwanted guests to get in and that the roof was made from the trunk of trees that absorbed a high quantity of water.  They chose this particular timber because it was difficult to burn the house down due to the retention of water.  We also saw the famous NZ silver fern, their national emblem, when we shone our torches on the underneath it really was silver and quite impressive.

We caught the bus back to our holiday home at Atsala, singing the Wheels on the Bus and sharing stories of our special night.  And our little people were asleep within about 3 minutes!!

Today we sat, soaked and splashed at the Waikite Thermal Springs.  The Maori name “Wai” means water and “kite” means clear and clear water is certainly what we enjoyed ourselves in all day today.  We were attracted to these pools because they empty each of the 6 pools at 8.45pm every night as well as replacing the water throughout the day.

The family pool was about 36 degrees and was gorgeous.  We played ball with the other children and their families and floated around, swam, splashed and enjoyed the views.

 

 

 

After lunch we walked the Eco trail and followed an amazing boiling river up to the Te Manaroa spring.  We had never seen anything like it before and is certainly not what we expected, it was just so foreign to us to see water in a river boiling like it was ready for pasta on the stovetop.  The calcium deposits were quite pretty and very interesting to see.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw how the water flows down from the river and across a series of pools and it cools from 98 degrees celcius to the temperature range for the varying thermal pools (35 – 40 degrees).

We enjoyed ice creams for afternoon tea before a final soak, splash and then drive back to Rotorua.

Happy New Year!  We decided to spend New Year’s Day at  Lake Rotorua.  We had a play in the fabulous Volcanic Playground, a bbq and walk along the lake front….  AND Jason enjoyed flying the kite!

 

After dinner, we drove down to the Government Gardens and did the sulphur walk. It was a bit smelly but rather interesting.  We saw boiling water in the geothermal area.  Along the way we found some great tapping sticks and sang the fun “Tap your sticks in the air” song that Jennifer learnt at Pre Prep with Mrs Trudgian.