New World In New Zealand

When preparing for this trip, every family member was able to choose one country to stay in for a month. Andre and Owen each selected Japan (so Andre reselected and chose Italy), I selected Namibia, and Jeff selected New Zealand. He enjoyed Lord of the Rings (LOR) and had always heard it was stunningly beautiful. Well, let me tell you, this place is a “I would move here in a heartbeat” kind of place.

Mountains, Sheep, Clean Water, SHeep, Hiking, SHEep, Glow-worms, SHEEp, Kayaking, SHEEP, Good Food, sheep-sheep, Stargazing and so much more. We started our NZ adventure in Auckland. As we settled in, we didn’t really know what to expect, but the coffee off-the-bat was excellent. We did experience a little sticker shock on the prices, recently coming from Bali and India. I am very happy we started in Auckland because it feels like a typical city and, to me, there isn’t much to write home about. However, Kate Flanagan (the lady who played the main character in Fisk) was doing standup so the city must be kind-of cool.

As we walked to another coffee shop, the boys found a piano and played solely for the joy of playing.

We were very excited as well for NZ because we were going to have a special visitor: GRANDPA! This was going to be an epic adventure for our 79 year-old Dad. He is an expert time traveler and handled the jetlag better than anyone I know.

The kids were beyond thrilled to see family and, of course, the candy slinging started before we put our bags down in Hahei, where we stayed for 3 days. This is a tiny coastal town (as many are in NZ), and it had kayaking, cute homes to rent, and great hiking. It is known for the famous Cathedral Cove, reachable only by water. We had to kayak there from the beach. Very unfortunately, nobody will ever see the video of me first flipping the kayak with the car keys in my pocket, then Gary (79 years-old), flipping twice, and then us trying to crest the waves by ourselves. The kids were absolutely cracking up as Gary and I almost died. The tide was NO JOKE.

Either way, we made it and crushed the kayaking. Gary and I struggled a bit on which side to paddle as he (IMO) kept trying to take us out to sea, and I tried to hug the coast just in-case my arms decided to stop working. The water was very clear and freezing.

Once we made it, the boys played in the sand and the waves. It was getting close to Jeff’s birthday, and I don’t think we could have had a better time. The scenery was very dramatic, which would be a continued theme of this amazing island.

The next day we decided to go to Hot Water Beach to dig in the sand to find the thermal water. Also, side note, the New Zealanders are pretty pragmatic; the naming conventions of things are pretty straight forward. I thought the whole beach would be hot, and of course that makes no sense. There was a hot spring in one particular spot, and it was easy to find because all the people were there. We took our newly purchased shovels and started digging. It was super fun, and once we struck gold, we built ourselves a little hot tub. The kids then started wanting to charge people to go into our tub.

We cleaned up by running fast along the beach and headed for some dinner. The next day was a hiking day overlooking the town. It was a very moderate hike, and the top was such a relaxing viewpoint. The boys played around on the hilltop, and I ventured to the loan tree on the edge of the cliff.