Holiday on the North Island

We just got back from our lovely holiday trip up to the very tippy top of New Zealand’s North Island. (WARNING!!! THIS IS GOING TO BE A VERY LONG POST!) It was nice to get out of South Auckland for a while and see some of the beautiful country we are currently living in. First we went up to the Bay of Islands, named that because it has something close to 150 islands in the bay. We stayed the first night in Paihia, which is a total tourist trap, and yes, they trapped us! It really stressed me out when we first got there because there were just so many choices of boat rides to do and places to stay. We finally ended up deciding on a place to stay and we got a deal on the boat tours because it's still "winter" as far as the tourist season is concerned. The next night we stayed in Russell, which used to be the "hell hole of the Pacific," according to someone who came through there in the mid 19th century. It is now a quaint little town that quadruples its size every summer. This first picture is of us on the top of a lookout point over the Bay of Islands.



















This picture is of some waterfalls we went to see (I can't remember their name) and the water was pretty low so we could climb around there and goof off. Why are waterfalls so soothing to listen to?

We went on a boat trip for about 6 hours one day. This picture is of the Black Rocks out in the Bay of Islands. I can't remember what is really special about these rocks. I'll have to ask Travis for a reminder. I swear we saw something there.

These next two pictures are just of some of the water and islands we were cruising around on all day. Doesn't get much better than that! I don't have any really great pictures of the dolphins we saw, but Travis may include a video of them somehow on his blog. Anyway, we saw real live wild dolphins in the ocean! It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. They were so playful. One of them swam along right in the front of the boat and would speed up every once in a while to do a nice jump for us. We also saw a pod with babies, and they were jumping around out of the water having a great time. I can't even describe what it was like to see it in real life. We also saw seals sunbathing out on a rock. It's a lot different than at the zoo! :)















This is where we stopped for lunch while we were on our day trip. I kind of felt like a dork sitting on the same side of the picnic table, but the view was so great, we didn't want to look at each other during lunch, we can do that anytime! :)


"The Hole in the Rock" Yeah, pretty self-explanatory. :) But it is a famous rock formation out on the very edge of the Bay of Islands. We actually got to drive through it. It doesn't look that big in the picture, but it really is. Sometimes when the sea is rough, the hole gets completely filled with waves. We were thankful for a calm day at sea. :)

This is in Historic Russell. It is where the first New Zealand printing press was made and used to make Bibles. They still use the press today to print Bibles in the Maori language. But now they print them more for tourists than for anyone else. I am standing near what used to be a tennis court back in the day. This place stood empty for quite a few years before someone bought it again, and they found a bunch of mummified rats inside. Yup, they had them on display.

This is one of the sunsets we watched on the beach. I just really liked how the sand looked in this picture so I thought I'd share it with you all.

Ahh, this is the life! :) This was up at the tip of New Zealand, at Cape Reinga. The grass is so soft, you just kind of sink into it. It would make an amazing bed. And the sound of the waves crashing is one of my favorite sounds. Here is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. You can actually see a line in the water from where the waves crash into each other. We took a bus up to this point, and on the way back, we drove on the 90 Mile Beach (which is not even close to 90 miles). It was so funny to be driving on the beach in a big bus! I had never driven on the beach before. Anyway, it was great. We went sand sledding down a huge sand dune. I have to say, I think snow sledding is better. I think I realized how spoiled we were in Michigan because we have the big lake that looks like the ocean, amazing sand dunes, and snow. It can be so fun!

While on this trip we learned a lot about Kauri trees. These trees only grow in northern New Zealand. Back in the day (I say that when I can't remember any specific dates) people cut almost all of the ancient Kauri trees down to use them to build houses and things. They just decimated the forests. Well, come to find out, these huge trees are very slow growing, so the biggest of the trees they were cutting down were around 2,000 years old. The trees are amazing because they shed their lower branches as they grow, so they have no knots in the bottom of the tree, thus being perfect to build things out of. Their diameter could be as large as 12 feet, I think. This carved face was done in a Kauri carving competition with a chain saw. Some farmers came across really old Kauri trees that were completely covered with soil in their fields. Something happened a long time ago that caused many Kauri trees to fall into swamps and get covered over the years. These logs are being excavated and carved into beautiful furniture and things. We saw a table and chair set for only $24,000! Yeah, the comma is in the right place. The other picture is of the second largest Kauri tree still surviving. It is just amazing to look at. This picture doesn't really show how big it is because we were not able to stand next to it.

We ended our trip in a very relaxing way. We stopped off at a winery/vineyard about an hour from home because at the rate we were going, we were going to hit rush hour traffic in Auckland. The place is smaller, family owned, and the owners even live on the vineyard. As you can see, it was a beautiful place. We got to sample wine, then had a glass along with some amazing snacks out in the vineyard. We appreciated the fact that the owners wanted things to be beautiful and enjoyable, even the way the food was arranged on the platter. It was great to sit out and enjoy the countryside before driving back through the city.


















While this trip has been very beautiful, I still miss all of my friends and family back home (wherever home is!). I've come to think about the fact that it's not the scenery that makes a place great, but the people. I love you all and miss you!