st mary's church, tikitiki

One of the places we stopped during our drive along the East Cape was St. Mary's Church in Tikitiki. The church is set on a hill and looks like a plain small church building from the outside. We had read in our trusty Lonely Planet guide that the inside was stunning, so we stopped in for a look. It was really beautiful with Maori wood carvings, paintings, and flax weavings. There was a memorial plaque to men from the area that died as soldiers in World War I, and the stained glass window at the front depicted Christ on the cross with soldiers kneeling toward Him at each side. It was inspiring to ponder the sacrifices of those who worked to build the structure as well as those who served in New Zealand's armed forces.

tokomaru bay

After leaving Lake Waikaremoana, we drove east through Gisborne and then north along the coast to Tokomaru Bay where we stayed for two days, celebrating our five year wedding anniversary. We rented a beautiful three bedroom vacation home right across the street from the beach. Almost every room of the house had great views of the ocean and mountains. The yard had a huge fenced grass area where the kids loved to play. We enjoyed sitting on the porch looking out to the ocean while the kids ran around the yard.

This is the beach that was right outside our door. We spent a morning collecting shells and building sand castles. We even saw the nest of what I think was a sand piper.

We enjoyed the beautiful sunrises. Tokomaru Bay is in the East Cape of New Zealand, which is the easternmost part of the country. In a sense (due to New Zealand's location near the international date line), East Cape is where the sun rises first in the world.

We also enjoyed quiet time reading the huge stack of Dr Suess books at the house.

The house even had a jungle gym. It was a bit big for our little ones, but it still helped to keep them entertained.

The kids enjoying cookies and milk after nap time.

We spent a morning at the beach collecting seashells and building sand castles.

lake waikaremoana

We left Rotorua and went up into the Te Urewera mountains to Lake Waikaremoana. Google maps had the drive estimated at about 2 1/2 hours, but they had obviously not driven the road because it took closer to 4 hours. A good portion of the road was not paved, but the dirt sections were graded and in pretty good condition. We knew in advance that the road had unsealed sections, but the drive was well worth the extra drive time because the road took us into a secluded and relatively untouched area within Te Urewera National Park. The landscapes and native forests were extraordinary.

As we got closer to the lake, we drove along a gentle river that gained force and grew into a torrent.  Then we saw an amazing waterfall...followed by several more.

We spent the night at a motor camp on Lake Waikaremoana. The camp had simple cabins for accommodation, and we stayed in one with a bedroom on the main level as well as a small loft. The kids were thrilled to sleep up in the loft, and we explained that they were sleeping in the "barn" loft of a because they are pretty fascinated with farms these days. (We immobilized them with straight jackets and had them sleeping in their cots/pack n' plays so they couldn't fall out of the loft in the night.)

After a good night's rest, we went on a very short walk to Papakorito Falls and then a longer hike through the forest. We really enjoyed the forest walk because the trees were amazing. One tree was a highlight by itself with a 13-foot diameter trunk. We found it especially interesting to see the native trees and plants because they're different from those back in North America.

If you look closely in the photo, you can see wild horses down by the water.

 Click here for a list of easy hikes from the Lake Waikaremoana motor camp.

waimangu volcanic valley

Rotorua is known for volcanoes and geothermal activity with a number of different geothermal areas to visit in the vicinity. Having a geologist in the family, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to enjoy the scenery. Following the recommendation of another geologist we met in the public park, we decided to take a trip out to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, which is a geothermal area that formed as a result of the eruption of the Tarawera volcano in 1886. The Waimangu geothermal area includes a series of geysers, hot springs, and lakes located in craters that formed during and following the 1886 eruption.

The kids spent most of the time in the backpacks pointing and telling their slaves where to go, but they also did a bit of walking on their own.

Lonnie and the kids surrounded by mist from Frying Pan Lake.

hot pots

While in Rotorua, we went to the Waikite Valley Thermal Pools, which are fed by a boiling hot spring (the water comes out of the ground at 98 C). The hot spring water is then cooled through a pond/plumbing system and fed into pools of varying temperatures. So you can choose a pool with temperature of your liking. With a constant supply of boiling spring water, they drain the pools each day and refill, so the spring water is fresh.


With the hot spring water plumbed to pools and tubs, it wasn't quite the adventure of hiking to Diamond Fork hot springs or spontaneous midnight trips to Meadow, but it was definitely more accessible with our kids. And the spring water was absolutely delightful. The kids couldn't get enough of it. I was a little worried that the kids would get bored with sitting around in the hot springs, but they loved it and didn't want to leave when it was time to go.

travels

The day after we got back from our Playcentre trip to Kawau Island, we took the kids on their first official Kiwi holiday (one not connected to traveling for Lonnie's work, and lasting longer than a weekend). We are thrilled to have many amazing places to see as well as much more vacation time than we had in the US. The trip included about 18 hours total of driving, lots of backpack time for the kids, and fabulous scenery.

Our first stop was Rotorua, the top tourist destination in New Zealand. Rotorua is an interesting place with natural beauty, including lakes, forests, volcanoes, and geothermal areas (similar to Yellowstone), mixed with Maori culture and a healthy dose of adventure tourism.

We chose to stay at a motor lodge that had a huge playground and, most importantly, farm animals that we knew the kids would enjoy. During the three hour drive to Rotorua, Max and Maya kept asking when we would get to the farm. They were thrilled with the friendly dalmation dogs, sheep (and 1 week old baby lamb), gigantic pig, alpaca, and little ponies. The cow wasn't intersted in socializing so I told them he was grumpy. They proceeded to talk about the grumpy cow for the next two days (Maya: "cow grumpy").

We enjoyed a nice early evening walk through the California redwoods in Whakarewarewa Forest.

It has been a very wet winter, and we worried that planning a trip with lots of outdoor activities might backfire on us. Thankfully, we were able to have sunny skies at least for part of everyday of our trip. Have I mentioned that I see more rainbows in New Zealand than I have ever seen before?

More photos of our trip in the days to come....

happy kids

camp bentzon, kawau island

We spent the weekend at Camp Bentzon out on Kawau Island with our friends from Playcentre.

Friday evening, we drove about an hour north of Auckland and then took a water taxi out to the island. The sun was setting, and the view was beautiful. Max and Maya were thrilled with the 20 min boat ride (we found it ironic that they were so fascinated with the boat given the Mercer family's obsession with boating...if we lived in Utah, the twins would have been on a boat many more times than they have). They were also thrilled to find their Playcentre friends already on the island. After dinner and some running around, we put the kids to bed and enjoyed campfire conversation. We were even joined by three wallabies, which I was really excited to see.

Saturday morning, the sun was shining, and we walked up the hills and through the ropes course. Then we took a short kayak ride out into the protected bay and found a lovely little tree cave. We were impressed by the 10 (and some even younger) year old kids who were out in their own little sail boats. Max and Maya ran around with their friends and played. By the time afternoon naps were over, the rain came in and lasted most of the night.

Sunday morning, the sun gradually pushed away the clouds, and we were able to enjoy a little bit more time outside before hopping on the ferry back to the mainland.

still alive

We have emerged from our forced confinement of sickness. It feels like it has forever to get over this illness. Max and I are still coughing but we are thankfully feeling much better. Lonnie, we hope, has manged somehow to miss this one. Maya had a light case early on and has been sweet enough (she really had no other choice) to hang out at home while Max and I recover.

Yesterday we went out socially for the first time in about a week. We were lucky enough to get better just before the Polkadot's Body Bop concert at Vauxhall School. Maya is amazed that her friend Brooklyn's parents are rock stars. Lat night the kids asked me to tell them a story about the Carebears and the Polkadots. Maya said she wanted a Polkadot Dez doll and Max said he wanted a Polkadot Sarah doll.

This morning we went on a field trip with Playcente to fly kites at the top of Mt Victoria. Our Placyentre is located at the base of Mt Victoria in Devonport (for some of our photos of Mt Victoria click here) so while everyone else enjoyed a nice walk up to the top we decided to not push ourselves so we drove to the top. It was the prefect place for kite flying. The weather thankfully cooperated with blue skies and no rain. Each kid was given a plastic shopping bag tied at the handles with string. The wind was perfect to fill them up with air and make a lovely rustling sound.

***Arughhhhh!!!! Just now as I was writing a small bird flew into our house and flew around the living room. This had happened at least three times since moving here, but this bird was not as trusting of me as the previous birds had been. He fought all my efforts to help him outside....which is hard in a small house with large picture windows. I felt like Mitchell on Modern family. ****

This kids are taking a nice long nap for while I am very glad, so that I can get ready for our trip Playcentre weekend trip to Camp Benzton. Ah....I've lost my train of though after trying to save that bird, which I was finally able to take outside. Lots of fun photos to come....

earthquake and ear infections

We didn't feel the 7.1 magnitute earthquake centered in Christchurch, NZ yesterday morning. Where we live in Auckland we are more than 660 miles (1000 km) away from the epicenter. It really is amazing that no one was seriously injured in such a large earthquake. If you want to read more about the earthquake you can click here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10671218

We hope those in the affected areas continue to be safe during aftershocks and are able to quickly return to their lives.

In other news we have spent a lot of time at home this week. On Wednesday morning Maya woke up with a bit of a cold so we decided to cancel our playdate and get some rest at home. Thursday Maya's eyes were crusty and Max had also joined in with a runny nose and some coughing. By Friday afternoon I decided I should take this kids to the dr because Max's fever was over 102f. The dr said he though he had double ear infections and prescribed antibiotics. Thankfully Maya was acting brighter and wasn't given any meds.

Our weeks go so slow when we can't go our and participate in fun activities. We spent a lot of time watching Planet Earth and reading books while we all slowly went crazy. Lonnie went to Napier over night for work making the days seem even longer.

Late Friday night I decided I would join in the madness. My throat has swelled up and my neck and ears are sore. Thankfully sweet Lonnie is home and hopefully his trip out of town has saved him from the contagious period of this yuckiness.

Happy Father's Day (New Zealand) Lonnie. It looks like I am the one who will be eating breakfast in bed this morning.