Sunday morning began with a quick video call with Carrie, Charles, and Avery on Skype and then the 4 of us piled into the car with our stuff for a four day adventure to the Northland of New Zealand. Our first stop was at the Parry Kauri Park where we took a short walk through the woods and saw a HUGE Kauri tree which was over 800 years old. We made it to Whangarei ('Wh' is pronounced with an F) where we stopped for lunch and Dad had a few complaints about his sandwich as he asked for the cheese to be removed, but it appeared that they forgot. Arriving in Pahia around 2pm we checked into our 2 bed/2 bath apartment which had 2 huge balconies over looking the water and the wharf, it was AMAZING! We headed over to Russell which was a 10 minute ferry ride across the bay where we saw the oldest Church in New Zealand and had a couple drinks at the first Pub.
On Monday morning we jumped on the Mack Attack boat which took us 15 miles out to the Hole in the Rock which doesn't sound too great but sure is amazing. We then headed to Keri Keri and learned about the olden days and went into a bunch of shops looking for chocolate, fudge, and other various goods. Today's lunch was interesting as we went to a stone grill place where we are responsible for cooking the food on our own. When Dad's meal arrived he looked very nervous and said "My chicken isn't cooked!" After we explained to him again, he calmed down, but he wanted to send his food right back to the kitchen.
At night, we went to a great Maori cultural show and I was chosen to be one of the chiefs. I was responsible for leading the group to the show and greating the warriors before entering. After entering I was also responsible for performing the Maori greeting which entails touching noses with the chief male and female Maori's. The show was outstanding and we all had a wonderful time learning about their culture.
On Tuesday we headed north of Paiha and had a day filled with various adventures. The adventures included:
-walking and surfing down giant sand dunes
-eating lunch on a huge beach by ourselves
-Cape Reinga Lighthouse
-The meeting of the Tasman and South Pacific Oceans
-Driving on 90 mile beach
-Eathing Fish and Chips at the famous shop in Mongonui
Wednesday was unfortunatly our last day up north, but we all wanted to make sure that we finished our adventures up strong. All 4 of us went Parasailing. Erin and I have had previous experience with this in Hawaii, but not my parents. They showed a little nervousness as we headed to the boat, but were the first pair to go 1200 feet in the air and did GREAT! (They both loved it as well).
We started our drive back south and stopped at a cave where we saw glow worms, stalactites, and stalagmites. Our stomachs started to get hungry so we stopped for another meal in Whangarei. Similar to other meals my Dad was slightly unsatisfied with his meal as he ordered a plain pizza, but got an "everything" pizza. So I decided to eat it, and ended up getting a little sick. I powered through and we made the lovely drive back home to Auckland for a few more days of fun.
Stay tuned for the rest of our fun. "Hello to all of our friends" love, Wendy and Paul
2011 Start Location and Backstory
13 years ago
2 comments:
Dad's sounding a bit like a wet blanket... and who wears sneakers (and socks) when they're para-sailing? Inquiring minds need to know the back story on that move. Seriously, thanks for the stories and photos - it's cool to see all the fun things you guys are up to (when do you have time to work?).
The sneakers and socks are an interesting move for sure. They enabled him to have good footing when landing back on the boat after being in the air. And he really didn't want to go in the water and figured if he wore them, he would really let the captain know not to do a water foot touch.
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