0900 21Feb2019 Hawai’i 🌺 time

0800 22Feb2019 New Zealand 🇳🇿 time

We are here!!!!

a white faced heron

A mud crab in the shell.

Lil crabs.

A jeweled cicada

Godwits taking flight.

Daddy teaching Josiah how to skip rocks.

Photo creds: JoJo

Whitianga: \240Staying with my lovely host family that I used to live with in the 90’s!

Berries in the forest at the lookout.

Waiwawa River

“Wai” means water in Hawaiian and Maori!

A gorgeous lookout area.

Sibling love.

Here is my host family and us!

This is Juno. The kids’ new best friend.

Terns

Chilly all wet and in the wind.

Found a sea star!

It was windy today, so we switched where we planned on going.

Headed back to the batch (beach) house, but made a stop on the way.

Stopped at a knife forger.

Stopped at a gorgeous overlook.

I forgot the name of this bird. It starts with a d. They will act lame to get you to follow it away from their young.

Lunch was at a pizza place called, Luke’s Kitchen. Mussels were super fresh.

He had all kinds that he made himself!

Had to try out another swing.

Had to stop for ice cream.

Here is the skinning knife John chose. It is from a kauri tree.

Us with the bright sun in our eyes.

Found a fun swing on the beach.

It was morning tea time when it was time to hit the road. So we stopped at Coffee LaLa-quite a crunchy little place.

Triple P pizza-pepperoni, pesto and prawns! It was aaaaamazing!

A puriri tree. Look up what the moth looks like! It’s a pretty cool green color. Endemic to NZ!

We walked along the shore in Kuaotunu and played all afternoon, watching birds, finding treasures and even a sea star.

Played endlessly on this beach in Kuaotunu and collected heaps of shells.

Otama Beach. Photo creds: Lynette

A pohutukawa tree. It is an evergreen tree but these red flowers usually only show themselves in December.

Lovely Muter’s. ❤️

Birds photo bombing

Holly Noelle caught a lil sand hopper.

Hot Water Beach

The only beach where all the adults have the shovels (spades) in hand and not the kids.

We made it a bit later from low tide than planned. But we’re still able to dig up a trenc and enjoy the hot hot hot water!

My Johnny loves.

Lots of ferns in NZ.

Saw some quail along the way.

Gemstone Beach.

An oystercatcher.

Had a coffee and chai at Hot Water Beach. There’s something bout the chai here. Maybe it’s because we are vacationing. But it tastes spicy and gooood.

This morning’s amazing sunrise. God’s glory on display. No filter.

Kids found a caterpillar along the way.

We were greeted with an amazing sunrise today.

This is the info center i sight) in Matamata.

God’s paintbrush. Just gorgeous. (No filter.)

John was pretty stoked.

This is at the Green Dragon where we all had around it drinks.

Here is my dear host family and my master teacher, Jude, when I lived here, with her husband.

There were tons of butterflies.

The party tree.

And Holly Noelle was trying to catch them.

A beautiful treat: pavlova by Jude.

They glued fake looking moss/algae to all the fencing. And also put yogurt all over the fence to speed the process up.

A pukeko

The color red was associated with nobility and power by Māori in New Zealand, so the bird was held in high esteem and held as a chiefly pet because of its red beak and legs.

I hollared at the fam to come watch.

Every ticket had a different pic.

Holly Noelle was drawing pix for everyone.

After clearing out their beach (batch) house, they headed to their home in Hamilton and set to host dinner for us and my master teacher. It was a fabulous night of reminiscing and sharing. (John was putting kids to bed during the photo.)

Stepped inside a Hobbit house. There was absolutely nothing inside.

And today was Colin’s birthday! So we topped the day off with birthday cake!

This one looked like dried pig skin.

A zip line.

Stalactites.

We actually got to take pix of the glow worms.

Glow worms are very interesting worms. The bioluminescence is their waste. They are hanging with their mouth down and they make a saliva that is the long string you see here. The insects come along and then the glow worm sucks it all up close to his mouth. Then he bores a hole in the insect and injects it with something (I forget what) and then sucks it all into his tummy. They are only alive for 48 hours as adults!

Even daddy tried it out.

We took a boat ride through the cave but were unable to take photos. It was like looking at a constellation of stars above-from the gloworms’ bioluminescence.

This was a second cave: Ruakiri Caves. Supposedly a Maori saw 2 dogs emerge from the caves, but the chief ate them.

This one looked like cauliflower.

Stopped at an amazing park. That hole is actually a trampoline!

The owner of the land above the cave was the first person to take others down through the cave. There was a tussle over property rights between the Holden family, NZ government, Maoris and maybe others. The Holden’s put up this sign during that fight.

Crazy picture.

The Maori actually believe that there is a darkness in the cave that takes your spirit when you die. So this “cleansing” of the water was for “protection.” Of course, we know the real Protector.

This was a second cave: Ruakiri Caves. Supposesly

A scallop fossil.

Nice picture. \240

This was looking up. I think the guide said, 43 metres up.

God’s amazing design.

But first, eggs. Look how fresh these eggs are. They are sold on a shelf in the store-not in the cooler.

A rabbit in his hiddey hole trying to run from Holly Noelle.

Saw some deer on the way down.

Holly Noelle was stoked to find a koru! This unfurls and becomes a new fern.

Pumping. Pumping. Pumping.

An extinct Moa statue.

A moorepok!

Took a lift back up each time.

Cruising down a luge.

At the Agrodome: JoJo was amazed at the wool.

A noisy tui.

They had a cool area where you could pump water from an aquifer.

A close up of kiwi feathers.

Holly Noelle learning about kiwis.

We went on a hatchery tour and saw a baby kiwi! But we weren’t allowed to take photos. Kiwis are at risk of extinction so this agency is taking the eggs and raising them-an incubation of 75-80 days. Then, after they hatch, they are nursing them and placing a tracking device on them and then releasing them where they found the egg after nursing them and ensuring their health is good. If you’re worried about imprinting and the parents’ reactions, I will tell you that the mom leaves the egg and the father incubates them. And they don’t imprint like ducks. And they are hatched at a large size, ready to go forage for food on their own.

Stopped at a pond to feed fish, but the ducks were more appealing to Holly Noelle.

A beautiful mute swan.

SKYLINE:

First, a trip up the gondola.

A cabbage tree.

Here is the sheep show. This sheerer sheered this sheep in about one minute. Afterwards, they put him out in the paddock, where his wool will start growing back in a few days.

Great view up top of Rotorua Lake.

Holly Noelle diplaying the wool that was just sheared.

A tuatara.

There was an artist that made some interesting things here! This is an “i site” info center.

AGRODOME:

A nod to Vegas!

A stop for some morning tea. We got off on such an early start we had breakfast in the car.

Rainbow trout and some others. Female trout are called, “hens.”

An eel in the river.

Holly Noelle in a giant kiwi egg.

He asked for kid volunteers and here was the first one.

This guy wasn’t so lucky. He got tightly loved by her.

These spun and were meant to mimic a kiwi egg.

Holly Noelle with one of the kuri.

Petting the baby alpacas and sheep.

Crazy kids.

These were ways you could “see” like the animals. Holly Noelle is in a weta. It is a really big and ugly insect. I really don’t know how they see. It’s a bit like looking through a kaleidoscope.

Check out those horns! He’s real too. They actually cross breeded him with another kind to get rid of those ginormous horns.

We all loved it.

I don’t remember what the alpaca did for JoJo to have this expression.

This guy is real!

There was a fun water ride too.

Kids loved the cheezles.

RAINBOW SPRINGS:

This was a beautiful place with little pathways to see reptiles and birds, as well as play areas for the kids to pretend to be the various animals.

Here is a kaka. See his cross cross beak?

She got to feed the baby alpaca some milk.

A close up of kauri tree.

Daddy explaining how this worked.

Here are several of the types of sheep there are and his kuri (dog) \240jumping across their backs.

The one the kuri is on is a merino-an amazingly thick coat that is trés cher!

There were seats open behind the kids so we snuggled up for a little.

Kids excited to be watching tv shows. 🙄

Christchurch.

The rest of the photos are driving over Arthur’s Pass to get from Christchurch to the west side. In many places it made me think of northern Nevada. Additionally, the sun was setting and it was a fantastic view all the way through!

Beautiful view over the South Island.

And here is my reward for spending an entire day traveling!

They have a competition with driftwood and I guess this one is still standing.

The kids were pretty happy with their pancakes that were topped with berry compote and whipped cream.

We had a rumble in our tumblies so we went out to eat for breakfast in Homitika.

Another lovely spiced chai.

A real rainbow fish.

They even got to touch them!

I have never had eggs benedict so good!

I’ll have to ask my sis what this is...a lily? It was growing wild along a footpath in a dell.

The tuataras they had in captivity laid eggs!

On the road to Franz Josef:

They immediately started exploring and found berries to eat.

Holly Noelle proudly displaying her certificate. They both caught crayfish.

Kids trying to catch crayfish.

Feeding the eels beef heart.

A Sengal Bichir are noctornal predators from Africa.

They had baby eels too.

We explored the beach and looked for greenstone.

HOKITIKA:

We arrived late last night and laid both kids in bed, asleep, from the long drive. They awoke and were able to enjoy the big tub for a bath as well. I have had a migraine since yesterday, so all that traveling wasn’t the most fun. Still recovering today.

Soooo many different ferns!

A tiger oscar fish.

Stopped at Lake Ianthe-it empties into the Wanganui River.

This fern looks fake.

Pano of Lake Ianthe

FRANZ JOSEF:

John found an Air BnB for us.

I went grocery shopping and John took the kids to a kiwi centre. It had all kinds of activities: feeding eels; catching crayfish, watching kiwis! There was even a section that you could peer into the kiwi enclosure with no glass!

Photo creds: Holly Noelle

Our lil rock hopper.

Here is her glacier and she drew herself and Josiah too.

Peter Lake-named after a 9 year old boy who was camping out here on his own and found it.

Holly Noelle especially liked the fresh water.

Photo creds: Josiah

And some kind of cricket.

Lunch on a rock selfie.

Trail head.

It was only able to hold 5 people at a time.

We were all stoked to come to a swing bridge!

One of Charlotte Mason’s fundamentals are creating habits. When we go on a hike for school, I have the kids bring their field notebooks and sketch something interesting. Today, Holly Noelle brought her NZ notebook and sat down during lunch, all on her own and began to draw the glacier.

A shot of the glacier. It used to come to where we were standing in 1908.

Do you think those “hairs” are soft or bristly?

Came across lots of running water. So beautiful and peaceful.

Holly Noelle was being our tour guide and explained about fern spores. (Something we had learned about before we left for NZ!)

We have lived in Hawai’i for almost 2 years and the only waterfall the kids have seen was on a long arduous hike. They were pretty excited to see so many today.

We found a big koru all in its own.

Trekking

Headed back across the bridge.

We made it to 2 different hikes. One went to the bottom of the Franz Josef Glacier. The other went along the other side of the glacier.

And back at the lake again. It was made from the glacier melting.

We came back to our Air BnB and made some lamb and brusses sprouts. You wouldn’t believe the price here for lamb! We have had at least 5 meals with lamb. The meat is so fresh and smells so delicious-even before it is cooked!

Another type of fern.

We were able to get so close to the falls!

Kids found a dragon fly.

There was this huge long area along the footpath that was covered in shamrocks!

JoJo found some quartz.

Grapes growing on the land of the place we are staying at in Franz Josef.

I don’t think I have ever seen a mushroom this color blue The pic is not edited.

Made it to Lake Matheson. Between Josiah and John is Fox Glacier. And between Holly Noelle and Jihn is Mount Cook.

Holly Noelle taking off after big bro.

Obligatory selfie.

Always in the search for koru. It’s where a new fern unfurls. It is also a sign of rebirth.

Flax: “harakeke“ in Maori, was used for clothes, fishing nets, rope, baskets (kete) and even rafts!

We were able to cross a suspension bridge.

Here is the white pine-“kahika” in Maori. It is the tallest tree here. It provided timber for spears, weapons and, canoes.

The clouds were moving in and you cannot see the high peaks behind them.

The red pine.

Finally made it to a good spot to see the beautiful reflection everyone talked about. It did not disappoint-even in a cloudy day, mid-afternoon.

Found some amazing mushrooms.

And this one means no stopping.

Found a bench to eat lunch.

And mommy found a necklace. It’s two koru.

The red pine’s red fruit cup that has the seed is edible. The gum was bitter and used on wounds to stop bleeding; the leaves for healing wounds; and the inner bark fir burns.. The seeds are only produced every 5-6 years!

The kids saw this foam in the water and had to investigate. When leaves, twigs or other organic substances fall into water and begin decaying, they release compounds known as surfacants. This interaction breaks the surface tension, which in turn allows air to more easily mix with water and creates bubbles. These bubbles congregate as natural foam.

Look how still the water is!

This fern’s name is “The Prince of Wales Feather.” It is flat on the bottom, but the top is almost feather like!

Holly Noelle found these amazing berries. This photo is not edited! They are bright purple. I have no idea what they are though.

A cloud covered mountain view with the trees reflecting.

The parents.

Washing off in the fresh stream.

Ponga-“whekī” in Maori is a very common tree fern. It was used for temporary shelters and the hard slivers were used as spear points.

We all got in a reflection shot. That’s another pic of the water!

Looked up some road signs that we didn’t know. Imagine that, they allow people to use common sense when driving.

Holly Noelle was showing her excitement.

Lake Matheson is named after Murdoch Matheson who ran cattle in the area of the Cook River Flats in the 1870’s. He opened a store and butcher shop about 15 kilometers away for all the gold miners.

This is a picture of the Kidd’s reflection in the water! See Holly Noelle’s hair to the right?

John liked his spot. He kept finding small bits there.

A few flecks and small pebbles that had gold flecks on them.

Checking out what a jail cell looked like.

Holly Noelle holding the pans. \240

And then...driving about 3 1/2 more hours through Arthur’s Pass. The scenery was beautiful and reminds me of Nevada.

Johnny set to work.

The kids enjoyed playing in the creek more than gold panning.

Josiah on the old sluicing pipes for gold mining.

Gold!

It was tedious, but fun.

It was a little drizzly, but a short walk to the creek.

Made it to Christchurch at another Air BnB. Holly Noelle helping with dinner.

We have tonight and one more night here in Christchurch, then we are flying back to Auckland.

Daddy in the gaols.

You can’t even see the gold flecks in the vial. I promise they are there.

We stopped in Ross to do some gold panning. We were there for about 2 hours. John and I didn’t want to leave. But the long drive ahead beckoned us to move on.

A small scale water mill recreated for the area.

Next, a ride on a Hägglund. They are designed by the Swiss.

A pano of the area.

They were such cute little guys.

And someone had a full lime tree growing in their yard.

Our time is getting short. We fly back to the North Island tomorrow.

Fun fact: NZ is 23 hours ahead of Hawai’i. So, we are currently about a day ahead of everyone.

Also, so baffling how NZ has hardly any trash cans anywhere, yet it’s so clean everywhere you go. And if there are trash cans, there are usually 3: landfill, recycling and compostable waste. The US has trash cans everywhere, yet there are places that trash is all over the ground.

A little afternoon tea-lovely chai tea latte.

Before we left for NZ, we studied about Sir Edmund Hillary-the first person to hike to the top of Mount Everest and he was a kiwi. He also was the first person to take equipment out to the Antarctic. So, when we were told about the Antarctic Centre, we had to go!

A ventifact is a stone that is shaped from the wind passing over it. (Thousands of years though, not likely.)

He threw up shortly after this pic. 😬

And a parting photo.

Bright flowers on the little dunes by the beach. I think it’s a weed.

I was trying to get a shot of the waves coming up.

JoJo pretending to be eaten by a seal.

Came back to our place and then walked 2 minutes to the beach.

We tested out an Antarctic storm. Even in the igloo, Holly Noelle and I left.

They had all kinds of displays.

They had little blue penguins.

The sea urchins are very colorful!

JoJo braved the storm of -8 F.

It was windy, but kids were happy to be there.

A closer view of the area.

She went from dog to dog. She visited all 4 of them.

The blue dot is where we are-on the South Island of NZ. The red dot is McMurdo Island. There is someone from NZ who is studying this area of Antarctica.

I’ve got Johnny hooked now. He’s asking for chai, instead of coffee!

One had his foot wrapped, because he stepped into a camper’s fire.

They were all very docile. We were told they are rescues.

Look at this sibling love.

A supply sled and a tent that is made of all synthetic material, used in Antarctica.

Lake Vanda-Where that ventifact is from.

Me posing and Holly Noelle genuinely enjoying the dog.

Josiah doing epic battles.

All of them were rescued for some reason or another.

There was no snow in Christchurch, so they made up a fun track to show its abilities.

Johnny showing off that he can hold his arm in ice water longer than a minute.

The first thing we did was see the huskies. Holly Noelle was drawn to them instantly.

She insisted on swimming.

Back to the dogs.

USAF!

And here \240is a sample of some of the ocean life found. Look at how they lack color. I was surprised to see sea stars too!

A rainy, chilly and windy day in Christchurch.

Hanging at the airport, playing giant checkers and sipping a delicious chai latte.

Praying for my Pops. He has a major, 7 hour surgery happening right now. Cancer in his jawbone with 1 1/2” being removed and replacing it with a splint and bone from his shin.

....

Flying from the North Island to the South Island and back made me compare how we fly in the US. first, flying on a domestic flight-no one ever checked our ID’s-I only scanned one passport when checking in to print bag tags. No person ever checked our ID. Additionally, we went through security check and didn’t need to remove our shoes or pull the liquids into one bin. It felt like flying used to be in the US, pre-911. When boarding was the only time we needed our boarding pass. And we scanned our own and got on the plane. Also, on board, you are expected to listen to the safety briefing. Those with ear phones or looking down at phones were politely asked to remove the ear phones and look up.

...

Made it to the North Island. It’s been a very cold and wet day.

Kids weren’t too sure about walking among the cattle.

Lots of fruit trees on their property.

There’s one...swimming in the algae water.

And Holly Noelle picked one. Our lil Dorothy. 😂

The dogs were so fun. The kids absolutely adored playing with them and the dogs just sat at our door waiting for them every time they popped in

Tomorrow is the end of our trip and we are headed back to Hawai’i.

We were told that if you tell the dogs, “walkies,” they will take you on a hike. And they did! They led the way!

The dogs left us and we were on our own.

The kids cut down some amazing grapes. They taste like Welch’s juice!

Drove a little outside of Auckland for our last night in NZ. And when we arrived, the rain stopped! The kids ran and ran and played ball with the owner’s dogs.

And Holly Noelle began mooing like a cow...I thought that one was going to walk up to her.

They got over it.

And the other brought us a treat. Poor bird. 😞

Homemade yogurt from the farm. They added strawberries and it was deliciously sweet.

Are these figs?

Headed to an aquarium and shopping.

....

Kelly Tarltan’s Aquarium in Auckland:

We picked a poor day to go. Not only was it Saturday, but it was pouring down rain. So everyone else was looking for indoor famiy activities as well. However, we had a great time exploring this aquarium that even had a moving walkway!

Fresh milk from the farm.

A lil family selfie before we left.

Here, Holly Noelle is looking at an x-Ray and healing the turtle.

Feeding.

They had a fun play area too.

This “ice” rolled like a funhouse. The kids loved it, but it made me want to puke.

When we were done, so was the rain!

Then we went to the mall and had to buy another piece of luggage to bring back all the books we bought.

And longfun eels. Holly Noelle was disappointed she couldn’t touch them.

They had these cards that scanned at lil spots that took you through the process of rescuing a turtle.

Pretending to be riding a snowmobile.

Amazed at the size of these lobsters.

They had an aquarium where you could walk under it like the one in Virginia. But this one was a moving walkway that went around in a circle.

Pointing to a puffer fish.

And had dinner at the airport, but look at the size of these fish!

We had an easy flight home with lots of leg room on an almost empty flight . We left at midnight, 10March and flew back in time to arrive in Honolulu at 9:20 AM, 09March.

Josiah was in awe at the actual size of a giant squid.

There were several memorabilia there of Scott, who who was in Antarctica.

There were sharks!

They had a ranger pack and the kids liked the paper watch and badge.

And then the release.

They really liked this kart. They each did it about 4-5 times.

Tagging before a release.

Here they are weighing.

They had a few different penguins