Matheson Bay

Here are a few photos from our lovely stay at our friend Scott's family bach in Matheson Bay.  We pitched our tent on the deck, because one of the bedrooms was inside and the other one was outside, so we "camped" at the bach.  I love that the bach had the classic Kiwi feel to it, toilet out in the backyard, small cozy rooms cluttered with dusty books and dated magazines, cans and supplies on the shelves (some of them of them rather old, i.e. the Marmite jar the expired in 2001).  But the bach was a 5 minute walk to the beach with a fabulous ocean view in a quiet little area.  For traveling fools like ourselves, we really enjoyed having a base spot for a few days while we explored the Warkworth area.  The photos of Dan and the beer are from his tasting kit from the Sawmill Brewery in Leigh.  I liked that when I told the owner that since I keep dragging the family to wineries that I should let Dan take in a brewery and she replied, "yeah I think about 10 wineries to 1 brewery should be about the ratio."  While in Matheson Bay we went to the beach, the Farmer's Market, the Warkworth Museum, the public library, a few small walks...  I read an entire book...  Perfect!

Brick Bay Wines and Sculpture Tour

I keep dragging the family to different wineries through out New Zealand, but today we stumbled upon a real gem.  Brick Bay Wines and Sculpture Trail calls itself “art & wine entwined” and in addition to the super modern glass house tasting room suspended over a small pond there’s a 2 kilometer sculpture trail.  The trail leads past ponds, through forests and up and down several sets of stairs.  Some sculptures are hidden in the natural environment, while others stand proudly on the side of the hill. Ben is fairly keen on sculptures and really enjoyed the treasure hunt experience through the amazing gardens, constantly checking his map to see where we were on the path.  Dan and Josh stayed behind and Dan took a glass of their red wine to the sand box next to the playground. When we finished the sculpture tour I did a wine tasting and had a lovely chat with the woman working, as we happened to be the only people there at the time.  It was another fabulous winery experience, if you are every outside of Warkworth I would definitely say go check it out.  They say that the sculptures change fairly often (as they are all for sale), so it would be something you could go back and revisit more then once.

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!