Building sand castle on 90-mile beach

We spent 2 nights at a holiday park in Ahipara at the southern part of 90-mile beach.  The first day we were there was hot, but the second day was overcast and kinda cold.  We still managed to get some beach fun in and if you look closely you'll see that Josh was sitting in the puddle of water.  We've acquired a few more sand toys and are perfecting our sand castle building skills.

Cape Reinga

We’ve made it to the end of the road and looked over the edge.  Dan had said before the trip that his goal was to go from the very bottom to the very top.  I didn’t expect Point Reinga to be so beautiful.  I’m still in awe of the amazing views we keep discovering around all these twists and turns.  We’ve driven a lot of miles, but we keep finding million dollar views.  The sea was an amazing green and blue color and you could see the waves where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean met, even on a calm day like today.  The photos don’t do justice to the special spot, so book your airplane tickets now and go have a look for yourself!  It’s a bit of a drive, but definitely worth it.

Bay of Islands

It's another e-postcard, this time from our lovely stay in Bay of Islands.  We realized, after a few too many meltdowns and a few wrong turns (literally, we drove through Auckland and yes I will accept some blame for why we got on the freeway the wrong direction) that we needed a break from our traveling.  So we rented a little 2 bedroom house at a holiday park in the Bay of Islands and it was lovely.  We needed those lovely things we all take for granted- like doors, couches, dining room tables...  It was nice to have a little extra room.  Fun to be a real tourist and do things like expensive boat rides.  In addition to the boat trip we made some sand castles on the beach, took a tour of the Waitangi Treaty grounds and played at the holiday park.  Great time had by all...  I will confess that the boys said their favorite thing one of the days was "watching tv."

Waipu Cove

Waihi Beach Jumping Pillow

Many of these photos are a bit out of focus, but I thought I’d include them in this collage so you can see the family fun we had on the jumping pillow.  These photos are from the Waihi Beach Holiday Park, one of the plushest holiday parks we’ve stayed in to date.  If you’re in the Bay of Plenty and need a nice holiday park to stay in this one fits the bill.  Not only does it have the normal jumping pillow, playground, 25 meter swimming pool, hot tub, family room complete with toys and an indoor play structure, a gym, beach access…  get this my favorite thing—the magazine stand in the laundry room full of trash mags! 

Ohope Beach

Greetings from Ohope Beach!  The Bay of Plenty is stunning, beautiful beach (I think the book says it’s 13 kilometers long).  We’re camped at the Ohope Beach Top 10 holiday park, which is lovely.  The boys are in heaven because in addition to the normal fun (game room, trampolines, playground) it also has a beach volleyball court (aka sandbox) and a pool with 2 hydroslides. That’s just what’s at the holiday park, it’s also on the beach.  I love that New Zealand beaches rarely have any people on them, so it feels like you’ve got the whole place to yourself.  I posted on my Facebook status that our travel agenda was “pool and beach” which was perfect.  We never even got in the car.  For a road trip that’s covering a fair bit of ground days where you don’t drive at all a real treat.  I will confess that the swimming pool was freezing, but the boys braved it for a brief play.  Dan jumped in the ocean, which he declared to be at least 5 degrees warmer then the pool.  I got to take a walk along the beach in the afternoon, always a treat to get some solo exercise time in.  We finished the day off with Dan’s stellar pizza.   

Wainui Beach & Waiotahi Beach

Here's a cute snapshot from our brief trip to Wainui Beach in Gisbourne.  My friend Cathie said we had to go, so we took the detour, checked it out, but it was cold and very windy, so we packed it in quickly.  Lucky for us the drive over to the Bay of Plenty gave us more opportunity to hang out on the beach with some sunshine!  The boys used a milk container to help create this awesome sandcastle.  Love creative thinking with limited supplies.