Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe...

Day 14 Sunday
FOSTER

Today we took a drive up to the mountains. Wikipedia states "Ruapehu is one of the world's most active volcanoes and the largest active volcano in New Zealand. It is the highest point in the North Island.......
At about 8:20pm on 25 September 2007 a hydrothermal eruption occurred without warning.William Pike, a 22 year old primary school teacher had a leg crushed by a rock during the eruption and a rescue operation was mounted to rescue him from the Dome Shelter near the crater. The rock crashed into the Dome Shelter, landed on him and was too heavy for his companion to lift off"
The companion, James, was a friend of our in-laws, who risked his life getting help for James - who did unfortunately lose his leg. Lisa has read their book and I will be getting a copy at some stage if anyone is interested...

 Mt Ruapehu

Personally I prefer Mt Tongariro (below) in shape...

The chalet at the bottom of the Mt was beautiful....

however the actual Mountain looked more like a lunar scape as Andrew pointed out... it's hard to believe snow ever covers these jagged rocks!

Day 15 Monday
Reluctantly we left Taupo to head to Waitomo caves to see the glow worms. Rather than some hang around for 3-4 hours while the others did the black water rafting tour, we decided we would all do the walk/boat trip through. Izaac kept us amused with his Andy impersonations (from Little Britain) stating at the most dark and quiet times...."I don't like it...." or "I want that one" as the tour guide is pointing out rock formations...
If ever I wished I could sing it was here....the guide from the next tour sang Pokarekare Ana in the Cathedral Cave and it sounded amazing...

The glow worms trap their food in pretty threads they make (with saliva and mucous...)

The glow comes from organs in their body and is used for different purposes. The females use it to lure a mate (like moths to a flame...), some use it to warn predators not to eat them as they are mildly toxic, and the larvae use it to attract prey into their sticky snare lines to eat.

The boat ride, while short, was very pretty. You cannot take photos in the caves so these three above are images taken from the internet.
Next we visited the Kiwi House at Otorhanga.

If only I had a $ for every time we were blamed for introducing possums into NZ.... mind you, Stephen's photo doesn't help our cause ... They have resorted to hunting the possums and turning them into beanies, scarves, jumpers etc after adding Merino wool... ask Lisa about that...

Day 16 Tuesday
We spent last night in Hamilton where our worst meal of the trip was eaten. Lisa, up until now had developed a liking for Tarakihi fish. This liking, however, came to an end tonight, as did the remnants of her meal come to and end wrapped in serviettes in my handbag!! The lady was too nice to us to insult by sending it back uneaten...
We drove on the road that was being prepared for theV8 races being held there on the upcoming weekend.
The boys (minus Harley) headed off to Raglan for a day's surfing...or so they hoped. Alas, this was not to be (no surf) so breakfast was enjoyed at Nana's Nosh instead before heading back to us...

Meanwhile we three were looking forward to a morning's shopping and perhaps a movie for Harley. Given they arrived back at 11am instead of 4pm, our plans were foiled... Some of the menfolk (no names...but Andrew) were keen to immediately head to Whangamata, but given we hadn't finished shopping, were made to wait, ever so patiently. I know nothing about surf, but I'm guessing if there was no surf at Raglan on the west coast, they may have been hoping for some at Whangamata on the east coast?? I could be totally wrong there.........
We arrived back at the bach in the afternoon and Jack and Zib enjoyed a bike ride and some fish and chips, while Stephen and Andrew left to forage for firewood to replace the wood we had used heating up our showers...

 The Foster's bach known lovingly as The Lodge where Stephen has many fond memories..

Andrew prepared a lovely meal of soup and pasta before heading towards Auckland the next day.


Day 17 Wednesday
We stopped at hot water beach on the way north where Lisa and I sat on the beach while the boys, surfed, boogie boarded and body surfed. An hour was the agreed time limit and they very obligingly stuck to it.

We didn't hire spades and dig holes to enjoy sitting in the hot water at low tide, due mainly to the huge crowd who beat us to pole positions...

A drive to Whitianga for lunch and then the windiest road we have ever been on to visit Coromandel town which we had been informed was the best arts and craft place to visit....it wasn't!!
Next was a drive around the Firth of Thames which despite being beautiful, was so windy (crooked - not lots of wind!) Stephen got carsick while driving!
He educated us that a Firth is a body of water surrounded by 3 land areas -  it is used a lot in Scotland to describe coastal waters, or would be called a fjord if located in Scandinavia.
If we weren't in such a hurry to get to Auckland it would have been nice to enjoy a leisurely drive through these parts..


Day 18 Thursday
Andrew was disappointed to miss a full day shopping....not!! however he had commitments elsewhere. He very successfully navigated his way to Cornwall Park (and back) to enjoy lunch with Michael who had been their host on their visit to the Bay of Islands.
Linda showed us Sylvia Park Shopping centre which was the largest shopping centre in NZ (200 shops and 6.5 ha, or 16 acres, of indoor space) , and one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere...until 2007 when it was pipped by Westfield Albany. (I think Tuggerah seems longer but am obviously mistaken...) It also boasts the biggest 35mm permanent movie screen in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Linda then prepared a wonderful roast dinner to celebrate Frank's (Kevin and Stephen's dad) 85th birthday.
We then drove to One Tree Hill (a night time must do on every visit to NZ for Helen) and Ollies for an ice cream. In incident occurred here, however I feel I must adopt the "What goes on tour, stays on tour Mantra" to protect Andrew's identity...

 One Tree Hill before some idiot cut down the tree!

One Tree Hill now....still a beautiful place and the obelisk still gives me goosebumps

Nephew Jeremy took Jackson and Zib on a scenic tour of Auckland's more interesting night spots.... while we drove via Papatoetoe where Stephen had his first job, Otahuhu where I (Helen) went to school many years ago while on exchange, and Otara - one of Auckland's lower socio-economic suburbs. The movie "Once Were Warriors" depicted a family living in a suburb very similar to this one...

Day 19 Friday
A visit to the Supermarket to stock up on lollies and licorice you can't buy in Oz and a morning packing were Friday's activities. Stephen enjoyed a few hours of one on one time with his Dad at Franks lovely village. A special time for both from all accounts.
Online check in saved us much time at the airport, before boarding our A380 airbus to come home.
Being delivered home via Dee Why in the shuttle was a bit of a drag (long story) but we finally made it...
It's nice to go away, but always nice to be home too... I think Morgan was pleased to have some company after a solitary 3 weeks, and Noodle only took a few hours to forgive us for leaving her...
I just want to thank everyone in NZ who put up with us (Stephen, Helen and Zib) - Kevin and Linda, Tony and Judy (we really appreciate how much of an imposition this was given the lack of water and it being Tony's busy time) Colleen and Trevor, and Frank for allowing us the use of the bach.
I'm sure Lisa, Andrew, Jackson and Harley would echo our sentiments to Michael and Deirdre, Kevin, Linda and Frank.
Our friendships remain in tact- pretty good for 3 weeks in each others pockets!!
In fact 5 of us wonder how Andrew and Stephen will cope without each other when they return to work on Monday....
Might see you again from the road in the South Island in a year or two....