Hobbitton, North Island, New Zealand (January, 2015)

After leaving the gorge, we headed to Hobbitton to see the set of the Lord of the Rings movies.  We really didn't know what to expect, but since we were there we thought we'd make a stop.  We were pleasantly surprised.  It was a beautiful area and fun to walk around all of the little hobbit houses.

 Family picture just outside Bilbao Baggins' home.

 Zander and Addy trying to sneak into their new playhouse.

 Famous tree on top of the hill.

 The kids playing in the field.

 They gave us ginger beer after walking around in the sun.

 Ryder with Harvey and Levi.

 Beautiful lake at the bottom of the hill.

 Great scenery, great friends.

 More hobbit houses.

 Pretending to be hobbits (wasn't too hard!)

 Pretending to be hobbits (wasn't too hard!)

 Looking into one of the houses.

Zander and Addy having fun.

Karangahake Gorge, North Island, New Zealand (January, 2015)

After leaving Hot Water Beach, we headed south towards Rotorua and made a stop at Karangahake Gorge.  We had a good time going across the bridges and walking along the river and were able to walk through a ~1km tunnel in the dark. 

Nash...all smiles.

Sawyer and Paige are inseparable.

 Eliza with Zander and Addy.

 Ryder and his best mate, Levi.

 The river that we followed.

Zander got to ride in style.

Nash's with his buddy, Harvey.

Coming out of the very long tunnel.

Climbing down into some of the sealed off mines.

The crew on the trail.

Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand (January, 2015)

After we had completed our loop north of Auckland, it was time to head south and begin our southern loop.  Our friends, the Kemps had planned to meet up with us and the meeting point was to be Cathedral Cove or Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island of New Zealand.  Cody's brother, Kip, was living in Hamilton, New Zealand at the time so they met us in various stops along the trip.  

We started out by meeting Kip, Emily, and Cy at Cathedral Cove, which is a beautiful beach a little bit off the beaten path.  The girls hiked down to the beach while Cody and Kip paddled the gear across on an ocean kayak.  The beach was beautiful, there was a beautiful beach cave that split the beach in two parts and a natural waterfall spilling right onto the beach.  There were also some great cliffs...great scenery all around.

Eliza and Cody paddled the sea kayak a couple of miles off shore to the nearest island and made a circle around it.  Cody did some cliff jumping, and the kids had a great time playing on the beach, in the cave, and in the waterfall.  It was a hot day and this was a great place to play and relax.

Cody, doing a gainer off the cliffs at Cathedral Cove.

Video of Cody's gainer off the cliffs at Cathedral Cove.

 The kids playing in the waterfall at the beach.

 Zander and Cy, reunited and enjoying lunch together on the beach.

 Looking through the beach cave.

 The kids playing at the entrance to the beach cave.

 Sawyer, playing in the shallow water on the beach.

 Sawyer and Ryder hiking back up from Cathedral Cove.

Zander, playing with the kayak.

After Cathedral Cove, we headed over to Hot Water Beach to meet the Kemps. Hot Water Beach is the combination of geothermal hot springs that come up right on the beach, so when the cold ocean water mixes with the hot springs, it makes warm baths.  People come from all around at low tide with their shovels to dig bathtubs in the sand and relax in the warm water and take in the views. You have to pick your spots quite carefully, because the hot springs are really hot...I mean SCALDING hot, so you need to pick a spot that has enough cold ocean water flowing into the pool.  Sometimes you will come across a nicely dug bath that is completely deserted...don't be fooled, it is likely that this "bath" is too hot, which we found out many times by stepping into scalding hot water.

 Our group, relaxing in the hot baths at Hot Water Beach.

 It's not exactly a deserted beach, but it is a pretty awesome natural phenomenon.

Chilling in the hot baths.

Opononi and Kauri Trees, North Island, New Zealand (January, 2015)

After Tutukaka, we headed north and west to Opononi and the Waipoua Forest to experience the Kauri trees, which are some of the largest trees around.  We took a few short hikes to see some of the trees, and, as always in New Zealand, we loved taking in the scenery.

Tane Mahuto, the king of the forest.

 Ryder and Daddy on the Hike to Tane Mahuto.

 The tree had some sort of disease and looked like it was dying.

Nash is our little boy that loves to give out kisses.

Tutukaka, Matapouri, and Poor Knights Island, North Island, New Zealand (January, 2015)

After Whangarei, we headed north to Tutukaka and Matapouri and decided to take a full day cruise out to Poor Knights Island with "Perfect Day Ocean Cruises."  It was a bit pricey, but we had a great time.  We did some snorkeling (which was a bit difficult for the kids given the cold temperature of the water), went through a huge ocean cave, did paddle boarding and swimming, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery around us.

Daddy, Nash, and Ryder paddle boarding around Poor Knights Island.

Daddy and Nash, paddle boarding along the cliffs and through the caves.

Nash's and Daddy's first paddle boarding experience.

 Zander with Mommy and Daddy at the front of the boat.

 Captain Zander.

 Nash was loving every minute of the paddle boarding.

Sawyer's answer to "Do you want to go snorkeling again?"

Underwater video of Ryder snorkeling at Poor Knight's Island.

Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand (January, 2015)

We took a 2 week vacation on the North Island of New Zealand.  We were able to redeem 20,000 American Airlines Miles + $125.80 tax each x 6 people = 120,000 American Airlines + $754.80 tax for roundtrip flights between Perth, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.  We rented motorhomes and were able to travel around the North Island, staying in caravan parks and taking in the sights for 14 days.  We decided to head north of Auckland and do a loop before hitting some of the more popular destinations south of Auckland.  Our first stop was Whangarei (pronounced "Fangarei").  We were able to do a small hike to the Whangarei Falls, which were beautiful.

A view of the Whangarei Falls from the top.

The kids below the Whangarei Falls.

Sawyer, demonstrating her photography skills, taking a picture of mom and dad below the falls.

Sawyer and Zander, relaxing after a bit of a hike.

We woke up the next day and headed out to do a ropes course with the kids (Adventure Forest).  This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip.  Everything was completely safe.  They had a pretty innovative system where the kids could do everything on their own and even though they were clipping in and out and connecting and disconnecting to different ropes, there was always a safety line that couldn't come off.  They were also able to learn some good skills and became quite adept at maneuvering the courses.  There were about 10 different courses and depending on the kids' height, they could go on different ones.  Zander was able to do about 3 of the 10, which was sufficient.  The 3rd course was challenging and a bit scary for him, so that's just about as far as he wanted to go.  We spent a good 5 hours at the course, climbing, zip lining, and enjoying ourselves.  We were definitely exhausted, but it was a very fulfilling day.

Nash, navigating his way across the rope web.

Zander, conquering the hanging rope bridge.

Zander on the rope web.

Ryder and Nash, best buds.