10-10-10 at 10.am

a special date, and lots of events happening. we chose to go to a geo-caching event in Auckland domain. our first social event, and we had a great time. met lots of fellow geo cachers, and able to put faces to the names we have seen signed in logbooks and on the website. It was a fun day, and the couple that organised it, had gone to great lengths, and put in place a type of scavenger hunt around the park, using GPS to find way points and solve clues to gain points. it was a beaut day, and quite busy in the park, the locals must have wondered what was happening, seeing lots of adults (and kids) racing thru the park, rooting in the bushes, groping statues, and generally looking dodgy! we teamed up with this Dutch guy and his 8 year old son, and we were amazed to find that we actually won it! go team Howick! More photos here

It must be here somewhere?

The Winners - Team Howick!

The Geeks gather at the Geocaching Gala

Dino Island

Matty's Legs apres Cutty Grass!!

Motukaraka Island

There is a small Island off a headland near us, and if you get the tide right, you can walk out on the sandspit to reach it. Its called Motukaraka (or Flat island as its affectionately known, due to it looking like a big cake!) there is also a geocache on the island, that we've been meaning to do for a while. so off we set one bright and early morning, armed with the GPS to find the cache. it was a lovely walk over, but once on the island there wasn't much else there (apart from the geo cache!). This cache hadn't been found for 7 months, and the whole site was overgrown with cutty grass and bush. We had never really heard of this grass before, but it is aptly named, as you can see from poor Matt's legs. We located the cache, after ploughing our way through (which when opened revealed an Island scene, complete with little volcano, sand, rocks, trees and dinosaurs! Cute az!) and signed the logbook before having a little walk round the beach and a look at the birdlife around.

Bay of Islands

View from apartment

Time for a break. Jax had been working lots of extra hours and got Friday off. This meant we could sneak off for a long weekend and after the recent storms we decided to head towards the sun and go North. The bay of islands is where modern NZ started with the first European settlement in Russell.  We stayed in Paihia (across the water from Russell) which although is only about 5km away from Russell is a boat ride or a long drive around.

View of Russell from ferry

We got a great deal on wotif and stayed in a lovely seaview apartment right by the beach. We walked to Waitangi (where the treaty between the Maori's and the English was signed), had some great meals and took the ferry over to Russell.

Police station in Russell

Hunternwasser's Toilets

Beach at Paihia

The weather was fantastic and it was a wrench to have to go home. On the way back we stopped off at NZ's most famous toilets - (Hunternwasser's in Kawaka) and the Shakespear Regional park on the Hibiscus Coast just North of Auckland. More photos here

Lambs in Shakespear

Raglan

Aranui Caves

Last stop before home - Raglan the home of NZ surfing on the wild West coast. On the way we stopped off at the Wiatomo Glow Worm caves - here (we went on a little boat which floated into a cave filled with millions of Glow Worms which was amazing) and the Aranui caves (full of stalactites and stalagmites).

In Raglan we stayed at a lovely backpackers which was right on the waterfront. It would be lovely in summer as you could go swim, kayak and surf - definitely worth a trip back.

Raglan Beach

We did go and check out the surf beach but it was so choppy the sea was like a washing machine and no-one was out. More photos here

Viewpoint

Taupo

famous for its huge lake and good fishing of trout. whilst here we did a walk to Huka falls, and the boys went snowboarding for the day at Mt Ruapehu. an hours drive from Taupo to the snowy mountains. they had great views of 'Mount Doom' (from Lord of the rings)



snowboarding



at Huka falls

Waikato river(check out the guy having a bath in thermal pool!)

Napier

Napier is famous as it got hit by a massive Earthquake in 1933. all the buildings were then rebuilt in the style if the time- Art Deco. the buildings today have been preserved in this style and its a real retro feel as you walk down the street.



shops in town



art deco fountain. all lit up neon at night

famous tobacco building

WET AZ!!!

off for a 9 day tour of the North with the kids, and had the wettest week ever! record rain falls and flooding in the next town meant for a miserable time in Rotorua. we stayed in some funky backpackers during the holiday, and Niall made lots of new friends along the way..


rain in Rotorua



polynesian spa by Lake



Rotorua is a very geo thermic area, with hot bubbling steaming and stinky pools everywhere. just walking down the street you can see steam rising and smell the sulphur fumes!



Meg at a Maori Marai

we found this amazing cafe called 'The Fat dog cafe' whic was very cozy, funky and served great food in huge portions! a hot chocolate after a day out walking in the rain made it all worthwhile!


this is a bowling green..honest





bowl of hot choc mmm!

 





Matty's burger