New Zealand Part Three - Heading South

The day after Cape Reinga it was time for us to head south to the Hamilton area!  We packed up our stuff and headed to church in Paihia where my grandparents served part of their mission!  Unfortunately we didn't meet anyone who had known them as the last older members had passed away a few months earlier and the rest of the ward members hadn't been around that long ago!  We walked around the town a little bit and got ice cream (sinners, I know!) before starting the drive.

Charlie would just hold onto my hand and eat all the ice cream.  It was Amy's first time trying Hokey Pokey ice cream and it became her goal to eat it whenever we could find it from then on!

Amy in front of the church building with her sinner ice cream!

We stopped at Whangarei Falls for a little break!

Pretty falls!

We made it down to Hamilton eventually, and stayed with Stephanie and Brandon Stewart.  It is so sad I don't have one picture with them there!  (Although if you're reading this Steph, I know you took one that last day, if you send it to me I will put it up!)  Our first day there we headed west to Raglan Beach, but we ended up getting a little bit distracted before we made it there!  It was pouring rain and we saw a sign for Bridal Veil Falls so we decided to make a detour!

Luckily it stopped raining shortly after we got there!  These falls were pretty neat!

Over 300 steps down later... we were at the base of the falls!  Going down and up with Charlie was quite the workout!

On the map we saw that there were supposed to be some thermal pools nearby... well what looked close on the map turned into a 2 hour detour on a super windy gravel road that lead pretty much nowhere - Kawhia to be exact!  And there were no thermal pools just a creepy out of the way black beach where we got sand blown into our eyes!  Charlie (and I) were not impressed!  Don't ask me why we didn't just turn around....

We saw some really pretty scenery on the way though!  

We finally made it to Raglan Beach!  There were some of the biggest waves I've ever seen there!

Again, it was really windy so we didn't last long.  Right after I took this picture a big gist of wind came and covered Charlie!  He was very angry.  It was funny, there were a couple of asian tourists there trying to get him to smile at them and taking his picture!

We went into the town to try and find some food, which was actually surprisingly difficult since it was the off-season and most things were closed!  We tried this "Great Kiwi Shake" and found it less than great...

Gas was so expensive in New Zealand!  Amy made me take a picture of the price so we could remember.... we had a tiny little car and this was filling it up!

We stopped at the Warehouse (where everyone gets a bargain!) and found these two carts!  One for short people and one for all people!  How thoughtful of them.

The next day we headed out east!  We stopped at the Hamilton Gardens on the way and they were as amazing as I remember them being!  Amy was quite impressed also, and they're free which is always nice.  My favourite are all the theme gardens...

They didn't have this India theme one last time I was there!

I have a picture in this exact spot from 10 years ago!  Italian Renaissance Garden.

 Traditional Maori Garden 

In front of the Marae

Well, it's off to Hobbiton from here!  I took so many pictures there that it's going to need it's own post...

New Zealand Part Two - Cape Reinga

For our second day there we headed up to Cape Reinga, which is the northernmost tip of the mainland and where two oceans meet!  The Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east crash together and its really cool!  It was ridiculously windy though, it felt like we were going to blow right off the cliff and into the ocean.

The Cape!  We made it!

Where two oceans meet!  It was really neat to see them crashing together and swirling all around!  I was surprised there wasn't a constant giant whirlpool or something!

So far from home!

I hate it when you ask someone to take a picture for you and then they mess it up!  For example, the top of the lighthouse being cut off!

Amy and the dunes!  The water is such a pretty colour!

It was SO WINDY 

Charlie is just the cutest little world traveller!

There is a constantly flowing freshwater spring down there!  There is a maori legend that all spirits leave the mainland here and return to the land of their ancestors 

Te Paki sand dunes!  Wind+sand=no fun!

These dunes were massive and hard to climb!

Charlie didn't like getting sand blown in his eyes so we walked back and took a little break!

We did manage a few little rides :)

Amy tried chasing some sheep and she was not impressed when they ran away!

All the way up to the Cape we saw little roadside stalls with fruit! They just have little honesty boxes where you put in your money and take the goods!

We stopped at Coopers Beach for some seafood to eat on the beach!  This was my first squid ring in almost 10 years (Shan and I got them all the time when we were in NZ before and LOVED them)  I'm sad to report that it wasn't nearly as delicious as I was expecting :(  I guess that's what happens when you build something up in your mind for 10 years!  you get let down...

It was actually quite chilly!  And no good shells... Amy was disappointed!

It was a LONG day with lots of driving on really windy roads.  Luckily the scenery was beautiful and Charlie did really well!  It was also really exciting because Cape Reinga was one of the places I didn't make it to last time I was in New Zealand!

New Zealand! Part One

Since just coming to Australia wasn't good enough for Amy, we had to take a little side trip over to New Zealand!  Our trip started off... unfortunately.  We got to the airport and were informed that our flight was delayed for 3 hours!!!!!  Ugh not fun with a little monster.  We got some vouchers for food which was nice!  The flight over was actually quite nice, we flew with Emirates (who I'd never flown with before) and they had good food and a little packet for Charlie with baby toiletries and a blanket with a stuffed animal!  High class!  Because our flight was so late, we almost missed out on picking up our rental car because they closed at 7pm (which I think is ridiculously early!), but luckily we got there just in time and managed to avoid having to pay extra to do an overnight pickup.  It had been a long time since I was in NZ and I had forgotten how windey the roads were!  What I thought was a quick drive up to Paihia ended up taking around 4 hours on super windey roads and it was also raining... not a good time!  Once we got there we were lucky enough that there was a night manager who lived on site since check-in had closed hours earlier!  I was really impressed with the place we were staying, it was nice and new and there was actually hot chocolate (usually there is just coffee and tea) and chocolates waiting for us!

Amy and Charlie taking a little nap during our 3-hour delay

This is a super gross picture, but its us walking around the little peninsula to get some groceries in Paihia our first day

Drove around KeriKeri a bit and found out the Snows are still alive and well!  Shan and I stayed with them 10 years ago when we were in NZ, their house has THE BEST VIEW overlooking the Kerikeri inlet

Little Stone Store, Kerikeri

On the hike to Rainbow falls, we didn't quite make it... on foot!  After about an hour one way of taking turns carrying Charlie we admitted defeat!

Best food ever at this little cafe!  We snuck in right before closing

Rainbow Falls!  They now have a spot where you can drive in and then walk a very short distance, which they didn't have 10 years ago!

Then we went to the Puketi Kauri Forest, but it was raining and Charlie was asleep so we took turns on the track and had to make do with selfies...

Then we took the back road out which was never ending on a gravel path, but we saw a beautiful rainbow, which made it all worth it!

Last stop for the first day (which honestly felt like 3 days in one) was  Matauri Bay! 

Best friends!

Amy went a little crazy with the shells... funny story - she found this totally amazing shell!  It was amazing and she was so excited about it.  We took our shells back to the car and were driving back up the cliff, when we realized that something smelt like rotten poo!  It was Amys shell!  It had a decomposing sea creature in it!  And then all its nasty smelling juices got all over her hand... and the car seat... oh dear!

He is just so cute!

More Adventures with Aunt Amy

After Charlies birthday we had a little less than a week before we were heading to New Zealand, so we did a few more fun things around Ipswich!  We had to take Amy to the Brisbane Markets of course, she loved the selection of food!  

Cup of Bacon

Profitteroles

We also drove down to the Gold Coast - Surfers Paradise to be exact!  It was during spring break so it was a lot busier than when we were at the Sunshine Coast, and I'm not a fan of busy beaches!  Charlie was hating it and wouldn't let me put him down!  So Amy tanned on the beach while I walked up and down the boardwalk with Charles.  We also had Groupons for Ripleys Believe It Or Not, which was pretty neat!  We had always wanted to go in San Antonio every time we were there, but were too cheap!  So this was our opportunity.  The one I found most fascinating was probably the shrunken heads... they were so neat but also creepy!!!

Surfers Paradise

Amy is a shrimp compared to the tallest man!

Charlie liked the skeleton guy being tortured

I have a picture with this guy in front of the San Antonio Ripleys!

One of Amys goals was to see Kangaroos in the wild!  So we drove out to the prison and we were in luck!  We saw a heap of them.  I made her get out even though I secretly thought she might get in trouble from the guards (but she didn't)  That's on the way to the Inala shopping centre (its like being in Vietnam or another asian country) where my friend Diana took me for lunch this one time (to a Vietnamese place) and it is delicious!  So we went there and ate and bought face Chanel earrings from a dodgy little shop!