The Coromandel

Well, you know us. We can't sit still for too long. Don't want any dust to start to settle! So on Saturday, we packed up the station wagon and headed off to the Coromandel.

The Coromandel is about 2 1/2 hours southeast of Auckland. A holiday spot for many kiwis who want to escape Auckland. Essentially it's a very large mountaneous region that jets out into the Pacific Ocean. Absolutely breath taking! It became best known for its gold operations during early settlement.

Lucky for us that Margaret and Selwyn have wonderful friends who live there and who invited us to come and stay. Fay and Bill were wonderful! We arrived to a hot meal and our very own two bedroom apartment! It was simply perfect. The house was located in Whangamata, a very central location that allowed us to do day trips throughout the entire region. We zigzagged our way to visit Tauranga, Mt Maunganui, Coromandel town, Whitianga, Thames, Cooks Beach, Cathedral Cove and Hahei. Some of which are home to some of the best surf beaches in New Zealand.

Again, simply breathtaking. However, we did do a couple of fun things as well, in addition to enjoying the scenery! We boarded a miniture train that took us through native forests to a magnificent lookout and we dug our own "kiwi hottub" at Hahei beach. Not something you do everyday - find hotsprings rising through the sand!

Exactly what the doctor ordered! Fay, Bill thank you so much for having us!

Some nesting time...

These last few weeks have been uneventful and really quiet for us. We decided to stay close to home and take it easy before our travelling schedule kicked in again.

It's been really nice. We realized that we have been so busy making sure that we were visiting everything around us that we hadn't taken the time to checkout our own neighbourhood. So our daily excursions have taken us to several beautiful parks and play areas where the girls have enjoying everything from feeding the ducks to just running around in open green spaces.

Whangarei is a wonderful community. A great place to raise a family!!!

Halfway there...

Can you believe that we've already been in New Zealand for 6 months! We can't. It only seems like yesterday that Scott picked us up at the Auckland airport and that we made our way to our new home for the year. Time has gone by too quickly. Breeana is crawling and Mackenzie is a little lady now. They have grown so much since we've been here.

While we miss everyone back home we are deeply saddened to know that we only have 6 months left to spend with our new friends here. Leaving will be very difficult. The good news: we already have a few friends who are planning to come and visit. :)

So what have we been up to these last few weeks you ask? Well guess??

That's right! Beach, beach, beach and more beach! It was amazing. We were lucky enough to have Eric, Andrea, Cecilia and Tyler come and visit and practice being beach bums with us. We had an awesome time. The kids got along great. They shared toys, sand and many laughs. It was wonderful to share our kiwi experience with our travel partners, even if it was for a short while. We toured our favourite beaches, visited and stayed in Paihia for a few days and next thing you knew, it was time for all of them to make their way back home. Mackenzie really misses her play buddies.

So, we've managed to distract Mackenzie with gymnastic and swimming lessons (as Breeana continues to blow bubbles) and Michael and I have kept ourselves busy with diving lessons. Poor Knights here we come... one of the top ten diving locations in the world, as ranked by Jacques Cousteau!!!

What does it takes to be a beach bum?

Well we've been working on mastering our "beach bum" abilities! It's quite a challenge to leave every morning and ensure that you have enough snacks, sandwiches, fruits, drinks, sunscreen, beach toys, beach shelters, towels, nappies, etc to last the entire day. You don't want to find yourself on any of the spectacular beaches without some of the key amenities! You would then only have a great time instead of an amazing time. So, to improve our "beach bum" abilities we've put ourselves to the test by going to the beach everyday this week:
Monday - Oakura Beach
Tuesday - Ocean Beach
Wednesday - Whananaki Beach
Thursday - Oakura Beach
Friday - Morrisey Bay Beach

It hasn't been easy. Lots of sun, sand and hot weather! Always at least +24C. The ocean is very warm and full of waves. Makes it a real challenge not to spend a couple of hours playing in the waves with our buggy board or walking along the beach. We always have to remember to reapply our sunscreen.

And we can't forget all that white stuff. It's everywhere when we come home. In our chilly bin, in the pram, in our beach bag. Mackenzie and Breeana have some everywhere, not including the bulk they ate at the beach!

But you know what it's all been worth it! Probably only another week or so and we will have it down to a science.

A Kiwi Christmas Holiday

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Where has the time gone... these past couple of weeks have gone by in a flash. It feels like it was just yesterday that we picked up aunt Jacqueline, Mr. and Mrs G. in Auckland and yet, aunt Jacqueline left on the weekend to continue the rest of her journey on this side of the world and Mr. and Mrs. G. left two nights ago to make their way back home to snowy, cold, white Ottawa/Gatineau.

Time went by quickly because we were so busy taking it all in...

We didn't give Mr. and Mrs. G or Jacqueline, any time to rest! Everyday was a new adventure.

We started off with a drive out to Oakura and Helenas' Bay. You will all remember this one since it is one of the winddiest roads on the North island. We also took them to some of our favourites beaches - Pataua, Matapouri.

Then we all got to experience an authentic Kiwi Christmas at the beach thanks to Glenis and Chris, Leon and Lea and Aaron (Sara's family). We had so much fun. As promised, there was amazing company, tons of food (mostly all barbecued items), lots of drink, sun, heat and ocean. Santa even managed to know that Mackenzie and Breeana were going to be there. They both received some beach gear and most importantly - kiwi icons: their very own "busy bee" and "marylou doll". Since then "busy bee" and "marylou" are part of the family and travel everywhere with us.

We also spent a few days up North at Cable bay so that Mr. and Mrs. G and Jacqueline could tour around Cape Reinga on the 90 mile bus tour. The weather was fantastic so we obviously had to go to the beach as well. It's been great not only to admire the beaches and the ocean but finally swim in it as well.

You can't come to the North island and not visit the Bay of islands. So we drove along old Russell road (very scenic drive along the coast) to make our way up to the Bay of islands. When we arrived we booked our boat cruise to see some of the 144 islands that are found there. The high points of the cruise were to see hundreds of dolphins and to actually sail through "the rock".

Over the entire holiday period we spent lots of time enjoying good food and great company with Margaret & Selwyn (Fraser's parents), Glenis and Chris (Sara's parents), Cheryl & Tommo, Frog, Johanne and Jessica. They have all spoiled us and made sure that our Christmas here in NZ would be unforgettable. Thank you for making it so.

Finally, we spent New Years' eve at Ocean Beach, New year's day at Ruakaka Beach and then finished it all off with some shopping and sightseeing in Auckland.

The house feels empty now...

Leading up to Christmas...

Over the last couple of weeks, it's been a challenge for us to get into the Christmas spirit. Not because it's not celebrated here, only because it's not snowing and -15 degrees. Since this is our first Christmas without any of the white stuff, we've been extremely surprised at how much the white stuff influences our mood and plays such an important role in the Canadian Christmas.

Snow + cold weather = typical Canadian Christmas
vs
Hot & sunny + 24 degress = kiwi Christmas


However, we finally had a Eureka moment. If we are in NZ for Christmas, let's do what the kiwis do to get into the swing of things... so we have and guess what, we found our Christmas!!!

It started with Christmas in the Park. Over 12,000 people gathered in the local park to have a picnic, sing Christmas carols, and welcome Santa who arrived via helipcopter to be escorted by the firefighters to the main stage. It was awesome! Very special when you consider that there are only about 45,000 people in Whangarei. We all really enjoyed singing "White Christmas" while sitting on the green grass.

Then it was the Christmas parade that took place just at the bottom of our street here in Kamo. It's the only Christmas parade in the area and you could tell since everyone was here for that one too. Mackenzie loved watching all the floats, musicians and people cheering on as the parade took place. It was 27 and sunny. One of our hottest days since we've been here. There is something to be said about cheering on Santa and not simply clapping to keep warm.

Of course, another important ingredient to spreading the Christmas cheer was decorating Fraser and Sarah's tree. This was so much fun. Christmas really came alive to see Mackenzie's eyes light-up as we wrapped the tree with as many Christmas lights, garland and decorations as we could! The tree looks amazing! Fraser, Sarah, you've herited some extra Christmas decorations thanks to Sue and Jan!

We can't forget the Firefighter Christmas party. How wonderful and different! Picture all the kids playing in a swimming pool, running and sliding on the "wet banana", having water fights and jumping around on the inflated castle. Back home there would also be a lot of slidding and jumping around, it would just be in the white stuff!

Finally, the most important ingredients of all arrived this past Sunday: family -Aunt Jaqueline and Mr. and Mrs. G. Jaqueline still can't believe she is here and Mr. and Mrs G. had an amazing time on their trip. WE are so lucky to have them here for Christmas!

We all can't wait to spend Christmas with Sarah's family at their batch on the beach enjoying a real kiwi Christmas filled with lots of sun, sand, food, and great company.

Michael, Mackenzie, Breeana and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. While we are having the time of our lives here we do miss all of you very much.

Love you all!

The South Island...

After giving Mr. & Mrs. G (Kathy's parents) some time to settle in and discover some of their new immediate surroundings, it was time to pack everyone up and fly out to our camping adventure on the South Island.

Off we went and in 15 days... we travelled 1922 km in our 6 person camper, visited 10cities and crossed 1437 one lane bridges! I am very happy to report that we would all pack our things and do it all over again. It was absolutely spectacular and magical. No wonder they selected the South Island as the backdrop for the movie "Lord of the Rings". There was no need to embelish the location. It really is as beautiful as it appears in the movie and then some.

First and foremost, we want to thank Margaret and Judith for all of their travel advice. Thanks to them we were able to cover the "must sees and dos"efficiently. Margaret put together an excel spreedsheet timetable for us! My kind of women!

Not to bore everyone with a diary account of our 18 day adventure, we thought that we would give you our Top 10 (not in any particular order).

So here we go:
1. Checking-in at the Christchurch airport:
This one Mr. G will never live down... you need to try to visualize and picture this one - Mrs. G is using a whellchair at the airport to minimize any strain on her bad knee. As everyone fumbles to gather their things after going through security, Mr. G gently gives Mrs. G a push to move her along to free-up the line not realizing that Mrs. G is on the edge of a slope. That's right folks...Off she goes - heading directly for the wall. All you hear is a "Ohhhhh" from Mr. G as he rushes to try and stop her from crashing into the wall. Everyone around is speechless and watches intently wondering whether or not Mr. G will cath-up to Mrs. G before she hits.... Are you laughing yet.. Michael and I were....luckily for Mrs. G, Mr. G was able to cath-up and stop her because, had he not everyone would have been unable to assist because they would have been laughing to hard! Luckily, this event didn't set the tone for the entire trip. Sure wished we had caught it on video... it would have one won Funniest home videos for sure!

2. The entire drive - all 1922 km of it:
This entire drive was absolutely spectacular. If we would have stopped everytime we saw something worthwhile, we would still be driving around the island! Just to give you an idea, here are a few pics that we took while we were driving...

3. Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers:
This was really special since none of us had ever seen or been so close to any glaciers before. Michael actually went up to Fox Glacier and touched it as Mackenzie and I cheered him on. The pictures don't actually show you how far back the glacier really is. You know.. objects appears closer than they actually are...Michael still had a 10 minute jog from where Mackenzie and I sat before he could touch the glacier!

4. Our flight onboard a 8 persons plane to Milford Sound:
Who would of thought that the firefighter who can't stand flying would have jumped on a 8 seater plane and fly over the fiordland! Well he did and we have pictures to prove it! This was undoubtedly the high point of our trip. The views from the plane of the snowny mountain peaks of Mount Aspiring, Mount Cook and of Milford Sound itself will be with us forever. Not to mention the ride!

5. Our day at Milford Sound:
This place is really magical. Milford Sound is a fiord - essentially a valley carved by a glacier during the ice ages and later flooded by the sea as the ice melted and the sea level rose. After arriving on our little plane, we took a boat tour to admire the steep mountains that are covered with thick rainforest and its fur seals. The area receive approximately 9 metres of precipitation annually.

6. Queenstown and Dunedin:
Both these places had something special to offer. Queenstown is a great city! Lot's of fun. To give you an idea, we would compare it to Tremblant.

Dunedin was wonderful! A university town filled with lots of old historical buildings. These old buildings are of particular interest as they were designed to resemble Edinburgh, Scotland. Mackenzie really enjoyed the butterfly exhibit at the Otago University. It just so happens that Dunedin is also in close proximity to the only mainland royal albatross colony (they are black and white birds) which we didn't get to see... the weather was horrible! Gale force winds mixed in with torential rains. Even the birds were hidding our from this one. We've got the video to prove it!

7. Christchurch
Christchurch was a great walking city. You really felt that those who designed the city wanted it to be pedestrian friendly and filled with lots of parks. It was laid out as a provincial capital city back in the 1850s. It is filled with wonderful old buildings. Their botanical garden is quite impressive given the city population.

8. Morning tea in Cromwell:
As you can imagine, after nine days of travelling, sleeping and eating inside the camper, some friendly faces and some home cooked treats really hit the spot. Judith, Brian, thank you so much for having us over. It was really wonderful to spend time with all of you. It was as though we had known each other for years! There's that kiwi hospitality again...

9. The Moeraki Boulders
Just one of those natural wonders. As described in our guide: "They are subject of much legend and curiosity. They are almost perfectly spherical, with a circumference of up to 4m (13ft). They are scattered along a 50m (164ft) stretch of beach. They were formed on the sea bed about 60 million years ago as lime salts gradually accumulated around a hard core."

10. Akaroa
This place was so picturesque. We had a wonderful relaxing time there. We wondered around, shopped and ate. We also took a boat cruise that was a lot of fun. It was Mackenzie's and Kathy's first time seeing dolphins and fur seals in the wild. Mackenzie was so excited. She loved the afternoon cruise around the Banks Peninsula.

As you can see, our camping adventure was amazing.

Mr. & Mrs G are off tomorrow to catch a flight to Sydney, Australia to hop on a cruise. While they are gone, we will try and get into the Christmas spirit ... not easy thing to do when there is no snow:) Cathy D. any tips on how to get into the swing of things?