Hi all,
We have had a busy few months, after Dad and Sandra left we had Jon (Andrea's Bro) for 10 days, and then a few days after that Mum Piv come for 2 weeks and her 60th Birthday! (Sorry Mum)
We have done a little travelling between visitors to Whangerei which is north of Auckland and then a bit along the west coast around Piha, Raglan, and Kawhia then inland to Cambridge and around there. We decided after a lot of deliberation to give in and go to Hobbiton to see the Shire (from Lord of the Rings), and it was actually pretty cool, we are officially tourists again! We are in Auckland at the moment for the comedy festival and going to see Jack Dee tonight!!! After that who knows!! I have got together some of my favorite pics, so hope you enjoy.
This is called Sledging, you basically go down white water rapids on your belly holding on for dear life to a float! Great fun! We did this with Jon near to Rotorua.
This was taken on a Jet boat in Taupo, at this point I had major whiplash from being thrown around all over the place but Si and Jon seemed perfectly happy - Boys hey.
After the jet boat i insisted on some hot pools to nurse my injuries! This was right neat Taupo and you can see all the boiling hot water running down the rocks and into the pools, The top pool was soooo hot it was great, felt much better after that. We were the only people there too which was a bonus.
This is the view from the top of Mount Maunganui, we stayed here for a few days chasing some sunshine as it had rained nearly the whole time Jon was here up to this point. However it didnt take long for the rain to catch up with us, we just managed to get down before it started again.
Beach Hop in Whangamata, yey found some more sun! Si and Jon were in their element here, there were thousands of old American muscle cars all parading around the streets we were walking around for a couple of hours and still didn't see all the cars.
This is Piha, one of our favourite spots in NZ, it was a stunning day and there was hardly anyone there, brilliant! The surf here is crazy, we went in on our body boards and got wiped out straight away, Good fun though!
We went to the top of Mount Donald Mclean which is near Huia, the views were stunning, it is on the west coast but you can see all the way over to Auckland city centre.
Easter weekend and between visitors we met up with some friends Jim and Noleine at Gulf Harbour just north of Auckland. We went cockle picking and they all ate them up, I had to make do with some wine instead - shame hey!
These photos are in Whangerei, In the top picture if you look in the background on the left, you will see the mountain with all the finger like bits sticking up, we climbed that and nearly died! It was only 45 minutes to the top but it was all steps and our legs ached for days after! The view was worth it though (bottom picture)
Back at the Mount Maunganui with Mum Piv. Ice cream was a well deserved treat after climbing to the top of the Mount.
Feeling energetic we decided to go on a bike ride, was good fun but ended up with sore bums! The bonus being we went for a great smoothie after!
This is a hot springs in Rotorua, there is steam coming off all over the place here, is too hot to sit in and too smelly! smells like rotten eggs - Yum! If you can hold your nose it looks cool!
This is our holiday home that we booked in the East cape of the North Island, it was so beautiful, set in huge grounds right on the beach. This is where Mum spent her 60th, she found a new friend here, Inca the owners dog, was at her side all day, wanting sticks/pine cones throwing. For her birthday the Owner (Chris) cooked us all dinner which was really lovely, unfortunately a few days later Mum lost her camera in the sea! So we lost those pictures :(
How you are supposed to concentrate on driving when the scenery is this good I dont know. This was the road through the East Cape
View over Gisbourne, from Captain Crooks lookout. There is a statue there supposed to be of Captain Cook, however it apparently looks nothing like him so who the statue is of - no one knows!
Simon on his birthday, stuffing his face as usual lol.
Beaches around Whitianga in the Coromandel, over Black Jack hill.
A crazy train ride in Coromandel town, A guy who wanted to get clay down from the hills, built his own railway, now it takes people up to the top for the views, which are great, you can see all over the Coromandel.
Fishing in Raglan, unfortunatly no fish for Si this time!
Kawhia harbour
Well who knew! A hot water beach that New Zealanders keep all for themselves, no one knows its there unless you stay in the campsite down the road. We actually got some room to make a huge pool in the end, sitting right on top of the hot water coming up through the sand.
We did a walk, then bike ride, then canoeing around the Waikato river, was a really good day and the sun was out most of the day too which is always a bonus in Autumn.
A crazy town near to Cambridge called Tirau, this is the information centre believe it or not! All the shops have artwork made from corrugated iron, very strange!
Hobbiton! The set has been left as it was in the film, there are loads of doorways built into the hills and the Green Dragon pub (bottom 2 pics) is great, we got a glass of cider in hobbit cups! Didnt expect to enjoy this really as we are not that bigger fans of the films but it was really good. The detail is crazy.
Waiere falls near Matamata, we climbed up to the top it was really windy and the water was getting blown in our faces. Was actually quite nice after the hike up.
Well thats it for now! Hope I haven't bored you all to tears. Will get some more pics on soon.
Missing you all- Cant believe we have been here over a year already. Lots of love
