New Zealand: North Island: Rotorua

After such a lovely first day in NZ, it was time to start driving. No time to stop in Hamilton where Hobbiton is b/c the only way to see Hobbiton is on a 3 hour tour (and we all know what happens on those -- we had places to go, things to see, fun to have). We needed to get to Rotorua before heading off to Wellington and then catching the ferry and then...

Not only is this the place Alida bungee'd (see earlier post) it was the place we discovered just how hot this place is beneath the surface!

Our motel had complimentary hot tubs with every room and after the bungee (which took up the whole afternoon) we went to a nearby park to check out the bubbling mud...

But first! A playground:)

 Now for the serious stuff...

The ducks didn't seem to mind the bubbling water...

And the foot baths felt really nice;)

But seriously! There was steam, bubbling mud & a lake you could walk across -- inbetween all that steam! Like a steam bath, only walking...

I wasn't anxious about the steam -- just trying to get the steam in the picture! This was during my walking steam bath;) Nice!

The green trees in circles are surrounding the areas where the steam is (the mud or the lakes you saw in the pictures above). Picturesque, eh?

To cap off our day, we headed to the restaurant street -- you walk between retaurants on either side, all with outdoor seating. We wanted to sit outside so that pretty much determined our pick. And then we put our hoodies on and headed to the suspiciously very round lake just over past the park.  Yes, it too is a volcanic crater.

I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. It was nighttime...

And it was fairly soon after Christmas, so we weren't too surprised to see a Christmas tree. It looked rather unusual and when we got close we saw it was made up on bicycles! Very cool.

After the end of another full day we retired to our motel for the hot tub, a good night's sleep & adventure in the morning!

New Zealand: The North Island: Auckland

Ahhh.... NZ. The population of Canada in a land you can drive across in 24 hours. Please note, this time includes a ferry ride between the islands but only works if you don't stop anywhere.  We spent 10 days in NZ and started near the top of the north island, but didn't get to the southern end of the south island. There's so much to do & see everywhere in this country.

We went soon after my sister left. Jon left the day after they did and the girls and I flew out the Thursday following. What wasn't planned was the internet outage the day Jon left.  Sigh. I depend on my internet -- to know my sister got home safe & Jon safe to NZ. We had it by the evening, but lost it again for half the next day. Here are my girls making sure they've got the new code & yes! Back online!

Even though I thought I lost our passports I didn't and I got us all safely on the plane & to NZ where Jon was waiting to whisk us off to our first Air BnB stay.  Oh it was lovely! Walkable to a lovely community and beach with ocean views (of course).

I walked to the beach soon after we arrived & we all went down the next morning before heading out to see more of Auckland. Jon & I walked back down that evening and we all went again the next morning before leaving to see more of NZ. Beautiful.

Our one day in Auckland was awesome! We didn't let Alida bungee off the historic bridge so we had lots of time to enjoy climbing volcanoes & wondering why people lived near 'em. Yes, lush & beautiful & yes, hasn't exploded in quite a while, but.... :)

The girls ran ahead of us. They're on the edge of the crater.

My first successful selfie;) With Auckland in the background.

My first volcanic crater -- I walked around the circumference.

Now it was time to head to Signal Hill, where sheep roam freely & kids write their graphite in rocks.

 

More views of Auckland -- this time from atop Signal Hill.

Now it was time to head home, but first we'll stop at playgroup for Emma, where we discovered that NZ playgrounds have zip lines;)

By the end of our travels through NZ and Australia, even I was playing on play grounds. They're fun!

Alida Bungee'd!

I am mother to two beautiful girls. One asks for everything in sight (well, it feels like it). The other? Hardly anything, ever.

So when Alida asks for something she usually gets it. But this?

She found out we were going to NZ and asked, "Mom, can I go bungee jumping?"

Now, Jon had left before us to go to NZ to conduct some interviews. In the time he was away our Internet was down the first day & half of the second. It was a little stressful for me.

I don't think I said a flat out ARE YOU CRAZY?!!!! But that was what I was feeling.

I looked at her, asked why?!!!! and then said, no I don't think so.

MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then we were off to NZ. I mentioned it to Jon. As an off hand thing -- after all, it was a stupid idea.

He said, "Why not?" SERIOUSLY? WE ARE NOW ENTERTAINING THIS IDEA?!!!

I was the only one feeling like that. So in Rotorua, capital of exciting sports, we went to the bungee place before checking into our hotel. We watched someone bungee and Alida said, "Yup."

So we signed her up. And we sat down to wait. In line. Shuffling around a bench as people got to go on the Giant Swing, or, rarely, bungee. She read 18 pages in her book. I read 3. I was a little distracted.

Bless her, she listened to the guys, did everything right, got up there...

And fell. Off a crane way high above my head. My 14 year old daughter.

She was cheered like crazy by those waiting in line. I took a video and prayed. And marveled. This was my daughter. Crazy. 

She did just fine. Here she is, after, waiting to see the pics & video -- the pics are just above but she wouldn't let me post the video. While they were checking out gear I was sitting down recovering. Well, she did survive. Just fine. And claims to have kicked her fear of heights. I'll say.

 

Friends & a couple funny Aussie things..

Hello again:)

God has richly blessed us in this time. A church we can call home, a choir I can sing in, a soccer team for Alida to play on and friends for all of us. Also some zany signage to laugh at;)

People DIE on Canberra roads.

STOP. REVIVE. SURVIVE. 

Drive & Text
   UB Next

& more witty blunt slogans. Plus! Have I told you? They park on their lawns here! Honest!

But back to reflection...
When we first came to Canberra, Pete and Sharyn, who have children close in age to ours invited us out to dinner. We had a great time and chat regularly after church. We also met some crazy Canadians who live here now.. wait, maybe they're not so crazy...  There are many lovely people at church who chat with us and I am amazed at how many have been to Canada, want to go to Canada and have family/friends in Canada!

We even discovered a contest that let you fly to... CANADA! :) We didn't enter.

We finally managed to have Pete & Sharyn and their family over for dinner in April and really enjoyed out time together. Our children have become friends and so have we. Wouldn't everyone want to be friends with this family? :)

I also met a lovely woman at church, Vanessa, who homeschools her children and was thrilled that I was doing the same. She told me about a homeschooling network which had sports once/week. I emailed them and I didn't need to join but could participate in the sports. I was thrilled! My girls a little less so but they went along;)

It was there that I made another good friend: Ellie. She lives in Cooma, about an hour's drive from Canberra. She homeschools her two children and I met her by sitting down beside her while our girls played sports & chatting away. We got along wonderfully -- both of us needing a friend:)

Sports are cancelled frequently due to holidays (and our adventures), so Ellie invited us all down for a day. Her whole family was there and we enjoyed lunch together as well as a hike & exploring the family's property. 

On the way down Emma announced she'd had enough scenery, thank you! And when we asked Alida, we received the same response, although a little more politely.

So when we went for a hike, we didn't invite the girls along!

We couldn't stay long enough to see all the kangaroos that show up in the evening but we enjoyed some good chats & found it hard to go. 

We had to up boot it back b/c Alida had soccer and Jon a meeting. Turns out only 3 girls showed up at soccer b/c it was a changed venue(!) Jon dropped her off on the way to a meeting, and I walked to get her. Only I walked the wrong way. So I hitchhiked for the first time in my life. A lovely young woman, Casey, gave me a ride & I was on time. We found our way home no problem -- Alida had run that way before.

So... Ellie & Joel are the only family we managed to take pictures with, but we are so blessed to be welcomed warmly and have really enjoyed making new friends:)