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....

Lake Taupo activities...

Day 13 Saturday
FOSTER (& on behalf of FERRIS)
Our first planned activity for today was Bungy Jumping for Lisa, Jackson and Izaac.
It is the most beautiful part of the Waikato River...the water is crystal clear and such an amazing colour. The jump was 48 metres high and Lisa was the first guinea pig...

Lisa....

then Jack....

then Zib...

We then drove to Huka Falls. 200,000 litres of water go over these falls per second. They can however control the flow up at the control bridge further into town. The water comes from the mountains above Taupo (melted snow etc) into the lake and down the falls. 

When water is so scarce at home, it seems so wasteful watching all this water go, but so beautiful.

Home for lunch and then a trip to the bee farm where we met some very chipper bees...

To Whangamata and beyond...

Day 7 Saturday
FOSTER (and FERRIS – sorry Ferris followers, Lisa isn’t feeling well so my ramblings will have to suffice)

A few days behind again...

Had a pleasant evening at Whangarei with my NZ folk. Ate one of Cushla’s cows for dinner... Thought my asthma was starting up, but woke up feeling like crap with Bronchitis. Fortunately the emergency medical centres here are open more hours than ours (given it was Easter Sunday), and I was seen pretty quickly by Dr Rupert. Worth every cent of the $140 consultation fee!! Hopefully our medical insurance will cover that. 

Arrived at Whangamata around 2pm. This is where Stephen feels most at home – many happy summers as a kid and surfing weekends as a teen. The bach is just as I remembered it... 

 Whangamata

Boogie (our best man at our wedding)and Ellie (his wife) called in. He’s such a lovely guy. Pity we only catch up every ten years or more!

The Ferris’s arrived around 4.30 and the boys all left for a surf.

Days 8 and 9 Monday and Tuesday

The next couple of days were the same story, boys surfed and Lisa, Harley and I looked around the shops, bought hot lunches for our cold men folk for when they returned from surfing (rainy, cold weather), watched movies and read. Still feeling pretty lousy it was nice to just do nothing... 

Day 10 Wednesday

Packed up again and headed south to Rotorua – land of the bubbling mud.

Whilst we did actually see the bubbling mud for free, it is the only thing that has been.

I find it very disappointing that EVERYTHING (craters, springs, mountains etc) all cost money to see. They are natural wonders belonging to the country and its people, and all of them are under commercial operators who charge like wounded bulls.

Rotorua was definitely not what Andrew and Lisa expected. It is a little tired looking and doesn’t really give you the safest feeling.

Izaac was approached on our walk by a kid asking if he smoked weed. Not too sure if they were buying or selling.

The first night we did the cultural experience with the Mitai family. A bus collected us at 6 and we were driven to their property just outside the town.

We saw how the food was cooked underground (Hangi), 

 Andrew's serving

then walked through some forest to watch a reinactment of the Maori warriers in their Waka (canoes). Lisa and I bagsed one each – they are not too unappealing in their loin cloths with their buff bodies (well some of them) and Moko’s (face tattoos),although somewhat fierce looking. 

We then saw some of their traditional Maori greetings and fighting techniques. The women demonstrated some Poi action. A lot of the local Maori language and some rather humorous translations. Izaac adopted a Maori lady sitting next to him as his second mother and was lucky to get some running commentary and translations as the show went on.

57 hours of tattooing on his legs and bum

As expected, we Aussies were the target of a few barbs, though the Maori elder did apologise if the NZ  Rugby Haka scares us and he assures us they are being friendly...

Our hangi dinner followed and was wonderful...even I ate a bit of most things. Even Andrew managed to fill up, though he was still overcoming the shock of paying $36 for their cheapest bottle of red wine.

 With full bellies after the hangi...

Home and a good rest before our next adventure.

Day 11 Thursday

Headed out of town for some fun on the Luge. 

Lisa and I played photographer while the boys luged their way down hill and chairlifted back up 4 times each. The competition was on, but unfortunately for some, the Foster’s were just too good on the day. The Ferris’s may say we had the weight advantage, but we’ll just take the victory....

Lunch and a short wander around the shops before heading to the twilight markets ( mainly local food and crafts) and a lovely Thai meal.

 Boys will be boys....need I say more

Day 12 Friday.

Went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. 

Did a 3km walk around observing the “spectacular nature and natural thermal wonderland”. A rather fancy description of some sulphur smelling smoking pools, mineral terrace formations, volcanic craters etc. Was really quite interesting, especially the Lady Knox geyser (or geeza as Andrew likes to say) which miraculously goes off at exactly 10.15 every day – with a little help from some soap powder!

We then headed further south to Taupo - a beautiful city which is host to the largest freshwater lake in the country. We were lucky to get some very nice accommodation as the Ox Fam charity 36 hour walk taking place and I think there are very few places left to stay.

 Lake Taupo

Day 2 Tuesday

FOSTER

Linda showed us some of the amazing houses around Half Moon Bay where they live.

We then went to Frank’s (Stephen’s Dad) for lunch – pizza and pies.

The Ferris’s then headed North on Tuesday to stay with Michael at his beach house, while we visited Bernadette’s (Stephen’s mum) resting place and those of her parents.

Back to Kevin and Linda’s where Frank joined us for take away Chinese.

Day 3 Wednesday

Up fairly early and headed North.

Arrived at Whangarei around midday and had lunch with Colleen & Trevor (Helen’s NZ parents), Cushla & John (Helen’s NZ sister and her husband), Paul & Brenda (Helen’s NZ brother and his wife) and Caitlin (Cushla’s daughter who at 15½ has her restricted licence and can drive on her own)

After lunch we continued on to Totara North where Stephen’s bother Tony lives with his wife Judy. He runs a business where he charters out houseboats, gives bushwalking tours, harbour tours in his boat, rents out kayaks and has written a book on native fauna. He lives a very self sufficient lifestyle catching fish and growing his own veges.

Tony's place

Day 4 Thursday

Met up with the Ferris clan and drove up to Cape Reinga right at the tip of the North Island. It’s my second favourite place in NZ after One Tree Hill (which sadly no longer has the one tree). The Cape is where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea and where the Maoris believe souls are set free.

On the way back we visited 4 beaches -  including Tapotupotu, Spirits Bay, the Bluff on 90 mile beach and Shipwreck Bay – looking for non-existent surf...because some people need to see in order to believe....not mentioning any names hey Andrew!!

Day 5 Friday

The Foster’s headed to Paihaia and checked out the shops before getting the car ferry over to Russell. One of the oldest places in NZ with some really beautiful old houses.

Called in to visit the Ferris’s and their host family on the way home. They are lucky to be staying in a beautiful part of NZ – much more spectacular than the Bay Of Islands in my opinion.

Michael's bach

The view around where the Ferris's stayed

 

Harley & Jackson went donuting behind Michael's boat

Tony took Zib and Stephen fishing and all caught fish but Zib  - had his tongue the wrong way I believe Tony said. They had Kaiwhai and Snapper for dinner and Zib was in heaven – so was Tony’s cat Hokey who followed the boat up the driveway – funny how she knows when he has used it to fish or not.

Day 6 Saturday

Left Tony’s early and headed back down south. We are spending the night with Colleen and Trevor at Whangarei. When push came to shove, I couldn’t do the camping weekend. Had a minor meltdown on day 2 and had to cancel. Luckily Cushla understands and said she was surprised I had agreed in the first place...We will be heading to Whangamata tomorrow for a few days of R&R before we start the Rotarua, Waitomo caves adventure. And Andrew should get in some surfing at last.

Day 1 - Auckland City

A good nights sleep was had by all......well maybe not Jane who gave up her bed for Helen & Stephen and is staying with a friend or Jeremy who gave up his room for us & had to sleep on a mattress in the study (thanks guys!!!) Lucky for them the Aussie rellies & their cling-ons only come over once every 5 years!

After a hurried breakfast we set off by 10am heading down to Half Moon Bay to catch the ferry into Auckland City. We joined the local senior citizens & their cut lunches and climbed on board. The trip was only 1/2 hour & the bay is beautiful, the houses that perch on the side of the cliffs are stunning, amazing architecture.

Along the way we passed the New Zealand naval base, two battle ships, not the biggest fleet on the ocean.

It had been decided last night that we would head to the Sky Tower first as both Zib & Harley had decided to jump. Harley had talked it up insisting that he would jump, (we were not so sure!). We approached the tower from the harbour & Harley's eyes were like saucers, it is a 192m or 630ft jump, they say it is like base-jumping with wires!

We watched a girl jump, it looked easy enough (says me who had no intention of doing it). After much discussion where we asked the crew whether we could get our money back if Harley decided once he was up there he couldn't do it (no, a transferable voucher), could one of us go up with him (no, jumpers only), Harley decided he couldn't do it. Zib was in, he was not backing out, money was paid & he was getting kitted out. Harley's eyes welled, he really wanted to do it.......

Time for inventive solutions........a proposal was put to Harley.......what about if you give it a go & go up with Zib, if you really can't do it I'll (Lisa) jump in your place! His smile was as wide as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, he was jumping, I had my toes, fingers & eyes crossed that he would jump!!!!! He was off, getting kitted out with Zib, he stuck to him like glue. Andrew & Jack took off to the Observation deck underneath the jump to take picture from that perspective & the rest of us head down to the landing pad soooooo many metres below.

Standing down the bottom looking up I really wondered if this was one of Andrew's & mine better parenting decisions? Before we knew it the crew told us Harley was jumping first, 40 seconds to launch, he was going, 20 seconds, still going........jumped! Or should I say dangled, he dangled up high for what seemed like  ages then began his fall to earth. He approached the large red target holding the back of his harness with a look of.......actually I don't know what! He said it was fantastic & asked could he go again!

Next came Zib, dangling over for eternity, posing for photos, not camera shy that boy! His fall to earth was in Superman style, aiming for the target which he hit with a rather large thud!

Mission accomplished, Sky Jump ticked off.

Next mission, shopping (well for Helen & Lisa). We walked the streets of Auckland looking for bargains, found a few, had to try really hard to resist the possum fur knitted jumpers, not!

Experienced a supermarket, got really excited thinking we would discover a new world, mmmmm,  reality was a Woolworths world disguised as 'Countdown', talk about a let down!!

Black Night Licorice not as nice as Darrell Lea (Helen beggs to differ), Smarties called Pebbles & L&P (a soft drink), not sure where to start with that!

It is getting late now, been at this for a while & need to go to bed.....

E haere rā