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!

Camping Trip #2 - Marlborough!

So I figured it was about time that I (Dave) contributed to this blog thing...and not just because Renee is busy baking some more of the best cookies in the world (check out the link in her Facebook page for the recipe - if you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out!)

We had hoped to combine the St. Arnaud trip with the Marlborough one and make a nice loop out of it, but ended up doing them separate.  So here is a little bit of Marlborough, which is the region in the north-east corner of the South Island.  Or upper-right corner if you prefer.  It has the Sounds (kinda like fjords), vineyards galore, one of the best collections of WWI aircraft in the world, and a pig.

Above is the Pelorus River, which is a refreshing swimming spot on a hot summer's day.  The main highway bridge across is only one-lane wide, of course, and when you're standing on it taking a photo of the river and a truck drives across, the whole thing bounces up and down.  Awesome!  But not for Renee.  Being dedicated home-schooler's we demonstrated how gravity makes a big rock and a little rock accelerate at the same speed.  Actually I just like throwing rocks off bridges; strangely enough, so did the boys :-)  And yes grandma, we checked to make sure there was nobody in the river first.  I think.

 

 This is one of many such views on the road from Nelson to Picton (where you can catch the ferry to the North Island - later blog). Lots of hills and lots of channels.  Very picturesque and one of Renee's favourite drives, well, the views are anyway.  The actual road is very windy and a bit narrow, and sometimes a little bit terrifying for her.  Lots of fun as the driver though!

 A scenic little bay somewhere in the Sounds.  The actual location is a secret to prevent over-tourism.  Or I just forgot...

 And this would be a silver fern, the flora emblem of the country.  Green on top like a regular tree fern, and you guessed it, silver on the underside.  Real silver.  There are pockets of high silver content in the soils around the country and this type of tree fern absorbs it and it appears on the underside of the fronds.  Kinda like gold leaf, only silver.  (OK, as I'm proofreading this, I just incredulously asked Dave if he's serious??  Yep, I'm just as gullible as some of you may be!)

 We took the boys on the first part of the Queen Charlotte Track, a very popular hiking and mountain biking track that follows alongside the Queen Charlotte Sound.  Beautiful lush green forest and stunning views over sparkling blue water.  The boys did well hiking for a couple of hours with their own little packs (water and snacks).

 

 If you had ever wondered how the NZ bush gets so green and lush...here's the boys giving nature a helping hand!

 Jackson on the beach, contemplating the return hike.

 Camping for the night in Blenheim, this is our home away from home away from home!  By now the boys are used to the concept of tenting and sleeping on the ground, but the nights are still a bit chilly so they're in pajamas, track pants, hoodies and sweaters.  Then snuggled down into their sleeping bags!

 The boys playing with the ducks in the river beside the campground the next morning...

 So the drive from Blenheim to Picton is about 20 minutes along the highway...since we had driven down the highway to get to Blenheim, we thought we'd take the coastal road back. The map said "42km" so figured even if it was a bit twisty-turny it couldn't take more than an hour.  Unfortunately the map didn't show that it was a rather bumpy, rutted gravel road for most of the way and twisty-turny for all of the way!  Sooooo two hours later we finally arrived in Picton with a very dusty van...however it was a drive worth taking as there was some beautiful coastal scenery.

 After Renee decided to visit the local "facilities" at one bay, I got to wondering why anyone would go to the trouble of fencing around a dunny?  And a rather sturdy-looking fence at that...

 When this porker then came trotting over to investigate who was using the dunny, the fence seemed a rather good idea.  If you were having trouble going, a big pig suddenly smashing through the dunny door would solve that little problem!

 Renee's normal relaxed passenger pose...great fun to drive though! (Corners here are often marked at 25 km per hour and can be between 90 and 180 degrees)

 Each bay only had a couple of farms/houses.  If you're looking for a quiet life, this is the place to come!  And if you like to eat shellfish and fish that swim, then there is an abundance of that here.  Went for a walk around one bay and found a bunch of paua shells for Renee, which made up for having too much fun driving :-)  If you don't know what paua shell looks like, Google it, then you'll know why she likes them so much!  (We hung them up on our Christmas tree for decorations, photos to follow soon!)

 Alright then, something for those who like airplanes or things military.  Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre is the place to go.  A whole bunch of beautifully restored WWI aircraft (with a sizable number still in flying condition...and get taken to air shows around the country) and memorabilia.  Peter Jackson (think director of Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit, etc) and his special effects company put together the dioramas and the detail is stunning even to those not interested in the actual hardware (i.e. Renee lol).  As you can imagine, some of these aircraft are the only ones left in existence in the world.  Above is a DH2 pursued by a Fokker E.III

An R.E.8

 The Red Baron's crashed Fokker Dr.1

 Depiction of how a NZ pilot had to fly his SE5a aircraft to a crash landing after getting shot up...he had to stand on the wing to balance the aircraft so it would fly level and then jumped off just before it crash-landed.  Brass balls.

A Taube pursued by a Be2c

For those who really weren't so interested in the airplanes, we did stop in to a gourmet chocolate factory afterwards that had free samples!  (Yummiest macademia chocolate toffee bark ever)  We had to eat the chocolate we bought pretty quickly because we didn't want it to melt on the way home ;-)  And now it's time for me to sample one of those chocolate chip cookies Renee has made...

Oh, and Go Patriots!   

(Tough for me to ease up on the reins and let Dave blog, but he did MUCH better at the airplane photos that I would have, but missed these special black swans - special request for my lovely sister Laura!)