To the North we go

 Only in New Zealand I reckon would we be on a passenger and vehicle ferry ride across the Cook Strait (between the South and North islands) with a truck load of sheep.  The boys thought it was hilarious, but we didn't spend much time on the back deck because of the smell.  It was also windy and rainy, so we just caught a glimpse of the mountain ranges and then headed inside to introduce the boys to Phase 10 (card game) for the 3 hour journey. 




We went to the Te Papa Museum in the heart of Wellington (NZ's capital city) where they have great children's hands-on collections and lots of interactive and media displays along with Maori and Pacific Island cultural collections.

 There is a colossal squid on display with neat footage of how it was collected by a fishing vessel and donated to the museum. 

Traditional Maori village home with 2 kiwi kids. 

 Maori Marae with artistic carvings

Boys jamming on Fijian drums.

The chef's attempt at a large gingerbread house.  Anyone who knows me, might guess at my one criticism of this endeavour. . . . yep, way too little candy, but it did smell good.

 Apparently we tired them out and this was only Day 2 of 12  LOL

Well, the next morning they sure had their energy back and enjoyed jumping with  Daddy on the the jumping pillow (inflatable) that many campgrounds have here.  Totally cool!

 The campground was on the Wanganui River and the historic steam riverboat come right down tooting it's horn for us in time to snap a photo.  Oh, and there was also a pet goat at this campground . . . on a leash. 

 Fun little playground filled with painted concrete and fairytale and nursery rhyme themed play structures. 

 The funniest part of my day was watching this class from a visiting boys school (and their TEACHERS!) take turns running up to and climbing on this parachute structure.   My boys just starred in disbelief as they all stripped off their socks and shoes and launched themselves at the challenge. 

 Our kids were happy enough with the whale (with steps).

Chilling out with the moa.  Moa are extinct, flightless birds who only lived in NZ. They were hunted to extinction - apparently very tasty.

 Ahhh!  There's always one who just can't get it together for a photo shoot. 

Wild west coast, few swimming beaches here.  A few surfing ones though!

New Plymouth

The Mission?? 
Paratutu Rock

  The Method?  

Easy staircases to start with and then a steep climb up the rock with a handy chain to pull yourself up with.  Mountain man Xavier was great. 

 Jackson had a great time, but wasn't sure if Grandma would approve. 

20 minutes to the top and the view was (albeit grey and cloudy) priceless.

On to the beach via a huge sand dune.  Your eyes do not deceive you, the sand is black, there's a high iron content on the west coast shores of NZ. 

You'll be entertained to note that Jackson ran up and down 4 times, doing face plants on the first 3 trips downhill and he kept going back up to try and have a successful run down.  As you can imagine, we took his glasses off after the first face plant and he needed a shower that evening at the campground, but it took days to get the black sand out of his ears. 

We had a wet and wild night in New Plymouth, with a campsite right on the coast and apparently a tornado up in Auckland (5 hours north) that night too.  We drove past Dave's old flat from his working days and headed out to Lake Mongamahoe to hike up the hill (easy 10 minute trek) to "our spot".  Yep, back to the place where Dave popped the question and offered up the ring. 

 And now we're back, nearly 13 years later with 2 boys.   We didn't have a chance to linger long as rain was threatening, but we collected 4 pinecones to bring back with us and they are presently hanging from ribbon decorating our Christmas tree.  

 There's a mountain here.  I know you can't see it, but it's there, right in the middle of the photo, on the far side of the lake, a nice conical shaped extinct volcano called Mount Egmont.  For those of you who have been in our home in St. Cath., we have a painting of this exact spot hanging in the rec room.  I explained to the boys that what they've seen all of their lives in that piece of art was right in front of their eyes at this very moment . . . sort of.  So, now they can look at it and say "We've been there!"  

The rest of the day was filled with some country highways.   That means lots of sheep and cattle, hills, pastures and trees.  Rural NZ.

Last great stop of the day was Waitomo Glow worm caves.  Not allowed to take photos inside the caves as the light disturbs the glow worms.  So, they try and sell you a package of photos where they superimpose your family photo on different backdrops and display information about the caves for only $40.  You're right.  That didn't work for us either!  We enjoyed the tour, both walking and on a small boat through the cave and spotted lots of glow worms shining their lights on the end of their fishing lines trying to capture the flying insects who get stuck in the cave and "fly towards the light".  Boys loved it.  This is the exit of the cave where you disembark the boat.  They have lots of black water cave rafting and inner tube floats and rappelling tours for the young and adventurous in nearby caves, but none of that's do-able with boys as young as ours (and it costs a fortune too!)
   

You won't want to miss the next blog - the sun comes out and we make it to the Coromandel peninsula - it's back to the beach, and the hot springs!