Adventure in the Bay of Islands

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

First 2 days with M&D Ciaccia

My parents arrived safe and sound on Friday afternoon. Their luggage was one of the first ones off the plane and we headed back into the city to drop stuff off at our apartment before heading to dinner. We had dinner plans with some of our friends and we didn't want to be late for that.

Although we had a few problems with getting the correct meals to our table, we had a very nice 3 hour meal and decided to head back into the Viaduct. 8 of us made our way to Minus 5 which is an ice bar. (Erin and I went here probably about 4 months ago) We bundled up in winter jackets, boots, and gloves and headed into the bar. The cups were made out of ice and we had a fun time seeing all of the ice sculptures, etc.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed to both PwC and Hudson to give them a brief tour of our places of work. We then hopped on the ferry over to Waiheke. We spent the day on the island hitting numerous vineyards and tasting A LOT of wines. The weather cooperated pretty well for the day, but we had a few passing showers that came through, but for the most part the weather was great.




We made it back to Auckland and just relaxed at our apartment for the rest of the night. Now it's time to get ready for our trip to the Bay of Islands...

Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! Down here in New Zealand it's still a pretty big event, but there isn't nearly as much marketing surrounding it or as much candy in the stores to be sold. None the less, the restaurants were packed and the florists were very busy charging very high prices for roses. Erin and I went out to have some "Fresh Asian" food at a new restaurant called Chow. It was great!

In addition to that our night was spent cleaning and doing laundry to prepare for the arrival of Mom and Dad Ciaccia tomorrow. They are enjoying their last night with their tour group in Queenstown and have a flight up here to Auckland tomorrow afternoon. We are looking forward to their arrival and have a great dinner with a bunch of friends planned for tomorrow night at a restaurant called Pontoon.

Cricket time

On Tuesday night I (Jeremy) went with a bunch of people from my work to see a Cricket match. It was New Zealand Black Caps vs. England.

Cricket is a very interesting game which appears very confusing when looking at the score and watching a little bit of a game, but in actuality it's not too difficult to understand. After asking a bunch of questions, I finally understood "most" of the rules. Cricket matches can last for days, but we went to a 20/20 cricket match which usually lasts about 3 hours. Unfortunately NZ couldn't pull out the win, but it was a great experience and I will be looking forward to attending another one in the near future.

Hopefully I will be able to convince Erin to come along to the next one.

Day 12 - Up up and Away!

We woke up for our last day of vacation hoping that we would be able to finish things off with a hot air balloon ride. I called the hotline and...Yes! The flight was still on. We hurried to get ready and meet our team to prepare for the ride. When you ride in a balloon, there is more than just riding involved. We helped to prepare everything. Jeremy was in charge of the high powered fan.

Upon takeoff we were gently lifted into the air. It was amazing how quickly we rose. Above the trees, above the clouds, pretty soon we were up, up, and away - 5000 feet off the ground and rising!
The ride was calm and scenic. We made a safe landing in a local farmer's pasture and finished the flight with a champagne toast and a Balloonists Prayer from 19th Century Ireland:

May the wind welcome you with softness

May the sun bless you with his warm hands

May you fly so high and so well

God joins you in laughter

And may He set you gently back again

Into the loving arems of Mother Earth

We then headed back to the hotel to pack our bags for our flight back to Auckland! This wraps up our first trip of 2008. We had an amazing time filled with experiences we will never forget. We are glad we could share some pictures and stories with you. Stay tuned for many more adventures. Coming soon...Auckland and Northland with Wendy and Paul!

Day 11

We woke up this morning at 4:00 am to phone the hot air balloon hotline. We were very sad to discover that our flight had been cancelled due to wind and clouds in the vicinity! It was back to bed for a few more hours before embarking on the other adventures we planned for the day. Luckily we were able to reschedule for the following day. Fingers crossed that the wind and clouds wouldn’t be a problem again.

We started the day watching a volunteer fireman competition. It was a hot and sunny day, so those guys had to work really hard! Jeremy we brave enough to stay in the sun for a quick game of chess.
By mid-day it was already 34 degrees (93 F), so we decided to cool off by visiting the Antarctica Museum. Christchurch is the world’s gateway to Antarctica and is home to the New Zealand, United States and Italian Antarctic Programs. At the museum we learned a lot about Antarctic exploration, met some penguins and rode on a Hagglund which is an all terrain vehicle used to explore the area.

We also experienced the snow and ice room which simulates a storm in Antarctica. We were given warm hats and rubber shoes, but no extra pants, which is why we look a little silly!

After a nice cool off we headed back into the city. We saw this guy driving with his girlfriend buckled in to the back seat. We told him it was rude to make her ride in the back, but he didn’t seem to care!
Tonight was our last night of vacation, so we enjoyed a nice celebratory dinner. We did have one final adventure planned for our last day so we went to bed praying that our hot air balloon ride would “take off” without any problems in the morning.

Day 10

Today we got up very early in hopes of getting on a whale watch. We were on standby and ended up catching the second boat out! There were warnings of rough seas so we were sure to take sea sickness pills. Sure enough, the seas were rough! Within a short time, I was already getting sick. Our trip was enjoyable because we ended up seeing three whales and tons of dolphins! Next time I’ll just have to take some stronger medicine.



After our whale watch we had a delicious lunch at the Kaikoura Seaside BBQ. This famous restaurant is literally a woman cooking on a grill by the side of the road. The fish is fresh, cheap, and delicious – one of the best meals we had all week!

We then hit the road towards Christchurch. The drive to the city took about 2.5 hours. When we go to the city we checked into our hotel and then did a walk around town – stopping at the Botanical Gardens to enjoy the flowers and fresh air. We enjoyed yet another early dinner because, you guessed it, we had another early morning adventure planned. Tomorrow we were going on a hot air balloon ride!

Welcome J.J.!

We're taking a break from our holiday posts to welcome J.J. Warden to the family. Little J.J. was born Thursday January 24th. Weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz, he sure is a cutie!!! Congrats Jake and Katie!!

Day 9

Today we drove across the country from Greymouth to Christchurch on the east coast via Arthur's Pass. We did a nice uphill hike to The Devil's Punchbowl - one of the waterfalls in Arthur's Pass.


Along the way we also stopped at Castle Rock which is a unique and GIGANTIC rock formation. We were able to climb amongst the rocks which was really fun. Can you find the tiny Jeremy along the rocks?

We decided to head north to a town called Kaikoura which is the best place in New Zealand to see whales. After checking in to our hotel, we did a quick walk along the ocean and saw a seal sleeping near the parking lot!


We had a nice seafood dinner and nestled in to bed. Tomorrow was another early morning as we were on standby for the 6:15 am Whale Watch!

Day 8

We got up nice and early this morning to capture some more photos with our new camera. Unfortunately we were greeted with a whole lot of fog! Rather than taking photos, we slept a little bit longer and then headed off to Franz Josef for our heli-hike. Upon arrival we learned that the heli-hike was cancelled due to the fog. We were so sad, but decided that rather than sticking around for the day to see if the fog cleared, we would head off on our adventure and head back to Franz Josef at a later date.

Next stop: Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth for a tour. This was the best tour ever! We went behind the scenes and saw everything that goes into making beer. Then we got to taste seven beers and practice serving our own beers from the tap! We weren't that good at pouring the perfect beer, but we had fun trying.

After our beer tasted was hit the road towards Pancake ROcks which is an amazing site. Somehow these rocks came to be, I can't remember how, but they were really neat.
Finally we hit the road to our hotel. We saw a huge Koru (fern), which is a baby in this picture, growing into the green plant that we know.

After dinner we enjoyed some Monteith's on the beach watching the sunset. A perfect end to a great day, even though we missed out on the heli-hike!

Day 7

After dropping Jochen and Susanne off at the airport we started our drive north, up the west coast towards Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The drive took most of the day, but like every other day of our trip, we really enjoyed all of the amazing views! We did a few short walks, but our most exciting one was around Lake Matheson where we enjoyed a view of Mount Cook reflecting in Lake Matheson. Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand.


Once again we hit the hay early as we wanted to get up early to capture some more photos of Mount Cook before heading off for a heli-hike on Franz Josef!

Day 6

Today was our last day of travelling with Jochen and Susanne. It was also the first time that we had rain on our entire vacation! We had hoped to do a hike first thing in the morning, but the rain postponed that, so instead we had a delicious breakfast in the town of Wanaka, which is north of Queenstown. By the time we had finished breakfast, the rain had started to clear, so we drove off towards the Rob Roy Glacier Hike that we hoped to complete.


We knew that the drive was an hour outside of town, but then learned that 40 minutes of that was on an unpaved road. We decided to take a risk (why not, we'd taken so many already), and test the road. After crossing several fords:

(A ford is a much cheaper form of river-crossing than a bridge but it may become impassable after heavy rain or during flood condition. A ford is therefore normally only suitable today for very minor roads. Most modern fords are shallow enough to be crossed by cars and other wheeled or tracked vehicles - a process known, fittingly, as "fording"), we made it to our destination.
The uphill hike (felt like both ways!) took us a little over three hours, but was well worth it for the views of the glacier that we saw.

We had officially exhausted ourselves with one final hike and filled out tummies with steaks and ice creams before spending the evening relaxing with drinks under the stars, by an outdoor fireplace at Barmuda in Queenstown.

Day 5

Today was another day packed with adventures in Queenstown.We started the morning with a ride on the Skyline Gondola, which provided us with amazing views of the city.
Then we took a few rides (that might be an understatement, it was more like 7 rides!) down the Luge before heading back to town to meet up with Jochen and Susanne.
Our next stop was the Shotover River where we rode the Shotover Jet. Here we are all ready for some more adventure.
This was a high speed boat ride that took us twisting and turning through narrow canyons while spinning 360 degrees at various times. Good thing it was hot out, as our clothes got a little wet!
After that we geared up with wetsuits, life jackets and paddles to raft down the Shotover River. The river was rather low, so the rapids were sparce, but it was a fun adventure in the end - plus our raft never flipped, which is always a good thing! Once back in town, we hit up Winnie's Gourmet Pizza. The food was delicious and we were impressed with the roof that opened up like a skylight. Another busy day had us to bed by 11, but I guess that happens when you do one adventure after another!

Day 4

Today a few brave souls decided to do one of the highest bungy jumps in the world: The Nevis Highwire Bungy in Queenstown! The Nevis is 134 meters (440 feet) high and includes 8.5 seconds of free-falling. After a nervous ride back to Queenstown, we boarded a bus for the 40 minute ride to the canyon where the jump would occur. Everyone (spectators like myself included - apparently I have a major fear of heights) was suited up in harnesses, for the trolley ride to the jump station which dangles high above the canyon:
Jeremy had an awesome jump:
Everyone had a great time and we were starving after the experience! We stopped at Fergburger, a Queenstown favorite for some burgers and fries before settling in for the night. We had another day full of adventure awaiting us in just a few hours!

Day 3

We made the beautiful drive to Milford Sound (which is actually a Fiord) this morning and did a Milford Sound cruise which was beautiful and we were able to see many water falls and dolphins.


I met a RedSox fan on the boat from CT who was living in Perth Australia, so we talked about the World Series and some of the talk which has been occurring in the post season.

In the afternoon we did a 3 hour hike (tramp as it's called over here) to Lake Marian which was absolutely beautiful. It was so hot on the hike and I had high aspirations of jumping in the lake at the top, until I actually put my feet in the water and realized that it was probably 40 degrees.