A Family Adventure on Easter weekend...

Photo by Ben

James & Kari and Judy & Mark arrived in Auckland on Monday 14 April, the eve of Passover, and toured the upper North Island for three days before arriving in Wanganui on Good Friday.  We had a wonderful time together!  Hence, heaps of highlights...

Saturday, 19 April, in Wanganui...

Whanganui River-Traders Market

Coffee at Mud Ducks

Sushi Curious

 Nancy dropped us at Kai Iwi Beach where we all took turns on the flying fox!

We strolled along the black sand beach from Kai Iwi back to our house in Castlecliff (about 6km). The sunset was awesome and we laughed hard all the way. Finally arriving after dark, we quickly dashed into town for a delicious meal at Spice Guru.

Sunday, 20 April, in Hawkes Bay...

On the way, we stopped in Norsewood for hot coffee and some authentic Scandanavian hospitality : )

After arriving, we unpacked an Easter picnic feast at the Clifton Beach Reserve campground...

...then we set off, hiking along the Cape Kidnappers beach

Minneapolis Moline tractors in NZ!

Exhausted, we found much needed respite at this nearby vineyard, open for tasting...

Tasting galore at Beach House Wines

Last stop, Napier, to enjoy the Art Deco architecture, a gorgeous East Coast sunset, and some much needed Burger Fuel.

photo by Julia

Monday, 21 April, in Wellington...

After a relaxed morning at the beach house in Castlecliff, we set out for Welly.  Unfortunately, a high centered tour bus created a holiday traffic jam & delayed our arrival.  Once traffic started moving again, we stopped for an impromptu picnic on the harbour in Plimmerton...

so good to get out of the car!

In Wellington, we found some favorite Lord of the Rings film locations on Mt Victoria & made a quick stop at Weta Cave as well.

Then we concluded the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread at The Chocolate Fish, a cast favorite whilst making the Lord of the Rings movies.  The Wellington sunset was spectacular!

Tuesday morning our family departed for New Plymouth & Mt Taranaki, completing their circumnavigation of the North Island before returning to Auckland for their flight home to America.

We had so much fun and are very grateful that you came half-way around the world to visit us!  It was quite sad to see you leave, but, G-d willing, will see you all in July when we also farewell New Zealand...

A Lovely Weekend on the Coromandel Peninsula

It was a 7+ hour drive from Wanganui to the Coromandel Peninsula to visit a most lovely vacation area of this beautiful country.  It's been on our list of places to visit since arriving in country and, with a promising weather forecast, we made a last minute decision to make it happen.  We were able to rent a great holiday home in Hahei near two must-see sights: Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach.

Sunrise view from Hahei

View of Hahei from our front porch

We enjoyed our hike to Cathedral Cove.

View from the Cathedral Cove trailhead

Julia is ready to do some tramping!

Getting closer?

Hmmmm...

This "cathedral" was amazing!

Another picturesque beach…
they ALL are in New Zealand

                         

The Amazing Hot Water Beach:

"Some volcanos develop huge underground reservoirs of superheated water. Over time, this water will escape to the surface — cooling on the way. There are two fissures at Hot Water Beach issuing water as hot as 64ºC (147ºF) at a rate as high as 15 litres/minute. This water contains large amounts of salt (NOT salt water), calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluorine, bromine and silica. There are other hot water springs nearby but the location of these two springs on the beach make them unique."

We've got the equipment - we're ready to dig our spa!

A perfect way to spend the morning

We took the ferry over to Whitianga for dinner and a beautiful sunset.

Waiting for the five minute ferry ride that
saved us 45 minutes of driving.

The ferry ride proved to be interesting and longer than
expected due to a rescue of a paddler and
his overturned kayak halfway across!

On our way home on Sunday, we stopped in Thames to meet the Gackles from Sioux Falls and get a tour of their town.

The garden where Cheryl volunteers is
a lovely place to spend some time.

A feijoa on the tree

Banana tree

A prized red pineapple

Thank you, Tom and Cheryl, for the yummy
treats and tour of your town!

On our way home we couldn't resist a stop in Paeroa, to see the home of L&P, a delicious fizzy drink that is "World Famous in New Zealand!"