Weekend Get-Away...Destination: Rotorua

This weekend we decided to take a little trip inland to Rotorua, about a four hour drive from Gisborne.  The boys & I picked Brad up from work on Friday and took off.  Now, we've been told that Gisborne is a fairly isolated town (thus, not extremely touristy which is nice), but we didn't realize how true this was until we left on Friday.  The past seven weeks we've been enjoying our little slice of heaven here on the East coast of NZ, not realizing how difficult it would be to escape this place if necessary.  The first 160 km (about 100 miles) of the trip was an extremely curvy, two-lane road through the mountains, with one small town of about 50 residents.  This wouldn't have been that bad (we were well prepared with a full tank of gas, lots of food & drinks, etc.), except we found out that Harrison gets car sick, and he obviously prefers to do this when there is nothing around for many miles!  So we had a brief delay in our trip to clean up the results of the curvy road and cheese and crackers.  We regrouped, gathered up our amassed pile of soiled wipes, paper towels and clothing, and continued on our way (with all of the windows rolled down, as the stench continued to linger).  Luckily the boys fell asleep soon after and the roads straightened out (a little bit!).

Saturday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to take on the day.  Since Rotorua is known as the hot springs capital of NZ, we had a nice warm pool to enjoy at our hotel, despite the overcast day.  After a quick swim, we headed out to do what all foreign tourists do when they visit Rotorua...We took a gondola ride up a hill and luged down.  Following are a couple of pictures of us in the gondola...Harrison was really excited. 

When we got to the top we picked out the lovely helmet of our choice, then got in line for the luge.  The boys were able to ride with us, and had a really good time.  Here are Brad & Jonathan coming down the mountain:

Now it's Kim & Jonathan's turn...We did let Harrison go, too.  Notice the lovely safety rails along the side, these seemed to be an afterthought, and were actually missing in places where there was an actual drop-off!  You'd never see that in the states!  Actually, this entire set-up would never be allowed...too many lawsuits!

Waiting in line for the chair-lift to take us back to the top.

Brad & Harrison riding the chair-lift.

Following are a few more pictures from Saturday.  Our hotel was located right near the lake, so we walked around checking out the seaplanes & helicopters they use for sightseeing tours (viewing them from shore is more along our budget allowance...and probably more exciting for the boys, anyway).  There was also a park nearby that the boys enjoyed.

Brotherly love (or maybe Jonathan was trying to push Harrison into the lake)

On your marks...Get set...GO!

Brad & Jonathan hiking around some of the hot springs...we wish we could capture the lovely smell and let you experience it for yourself!

We had a great time in Rotorua, especially catching up on a bit of television viewing.  After flipping through the channels a few times, we decided it's a good thing we don't have a TV...There is absolutely nothing on (except Disney's "Camp Rock"...on two channels...Nothing like a little Jonas Brothers to brighten your day!).

Visitors!!!

This past Wednesday my youngest sister, Megan, and her husband, Jarod arrived for a quick visit.  They had spent the past week and a half traveling around NZ, particularly the South Island, and had many incredible pictures for us to peruse, which got us extremely excited about our trip down there.  Not sure when we're going to take it...we'll definitely wait until it gets warmer, though!  Luckily, we had good weather while they were here, so we spent quite a bit of time outdoors.  Following is a picture of Megan & Jarod testing out some of the unique playground equipment here in Gisborne...following their test run on this one, they deemed it not up to their safety standards, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

Brad convinced Jarod to rent a wetsuit so he could have someone who would hang out in the water with him (since I refuse to get into the ocean until at least November, and then only with a wetsuit on!  They said it felt like an ice cream headache each time their heads emerged from the water...and that's suppose to be fun?!).  So the two of them spent Thursday afternoon and evening frolicking at the beach.  Here, Jarod is in the background on the surfboard and Brad is in front on the boogey board...quite the pair!

We celebrated Jarod's birthday while they were here.  Megan and I made red velvet cake, which turned out pretty good, considering we had to make a few alterations to the recipe.  We had a nice meal for supper, and tried a variety of different hard ciders we had picked up earlier in the day at a local cidery...quite tasty!  Afterwards, we walked down to the beach...the moon was really bright and it was a beautiful evening out.

We took them to Wainui Beach one morning, and had a good time running around and playing in the sand.

Megan trying to take down Brad

Brad doing cartwheels (much to our amusement!)

Jonathan's sand angel

Jonathan had a good time showing Aunt Megan & Uncle Jarod around his school:

This is the entrance to Jonathan's school.  Awapuni is the name of the school (and also the street we live on).

Here are a few more pictures we took while they were here:

Harrison & Uncle Jarod

Brad getting ready to head out and surf (this was taken about 30 minutes before we saw the orcas!)

Beautiful sunset over the bay.

Jarod & Megan

Harrison taking a break from rolling around in the sand.

We had a really great time with Megan and Jarod and are glad to hear they made it back home safely (hope there wasn't too much water in your basement!!!).

Brad's Excitement at the Beach!

Hello.  Kim is letting me write on the blog today.  Megan and Jarod are here, but I am sure Kim will write about that in other entries.  We went to beach last night after work and I tried out my new surfboard.  I didn't have all that much luck, but it wasn't too bad for my first time out.  I am going to take a few lessons later this month.  When the sun started to set I brought in my board.  I was drying off with Kim, Megan and Jarod and the boys when a Kiwi boy came running up yelling, "Look at the orca!  Look at the orca!".  We looked out to where I had been surfing (or attempting to surf) five minutes ago and saw the 4 foot black dorsal fin of a killer whale.  It was huge.  We never saw its face, but it would come up high enough for us to see its back.  There was one that was right were I was surfing which was only about 75 yards from the shore and there were 3 or 4 farther out.  We talked to the Kiwi boy's dad when we were leaving the beach.  He was about 40 and was a Gisborne native.  He said he had never seen killer whales before today.  Apparently the scent of my succulent American meat had brought them in from parts unknown.  Jarod and I are surfing again today, so I hope they have left.

Hiking at Whinray Scenic Reserve

Sunday we drove north of Gisborne to do some hiking at the Whinray Scenic Reserve.  It was a trail basically in the middle of nowhere, except a bunch of sheep farms.  The hike started out with a 42 meter suspension bridge, which immediately got the boys excited (and me a bit nervous!), that went over the Motu River.  Luckily the sun came out as soon as we got there, so we had a nice hike, although the tree cover did keep the sun from warming us up too much. The trail went through native forest that was filled with an abundance of birds, but not much in the way of wildlife, except the boys who would hide behind the trees and pretend they were bears. 

Brad & the Boys on the bridge

This was the view to the west of the bridge...

and the east.

a glimpse of the wildlife we encountered!

Happy Father's Day!

Sunday is Father's Day here in New Zealand, and so we wanted to send a "Happy Father's Day" greeting to all those wonderful dads, grandfathers, uncles, etc. out there that hold such a special place in the hearts of many.

Since Brad was quite excited to find out that he will be able to celebrate another day devoted to him in our household, he's been planning on what we should do for this special day.  Basically, the only thing he wants is a surfboard, and figures what a great excuse to get one!  We'll see (I'm sure it might provide for some great photo ops later on).  I think we'll put that off for a bit and spend the day heading inland to do some hiking, if the weather permits.

Jonathan's First Day of Preschool

Monday was Jonathan's first day of preschool.  He was a bit apprehensive at first about going, but once he got there and started playing with play-doh he seemed to forget about any previous nerves he may have had.  Harrison, on the other hand, wasn't to keen on the idea of his big brother being gone for the afternoon, but once we returned home he crawled into bed and slept the entire time.  I had to wake him up to go pick Jonathan up.  

The school is about a block from where we live which is very convenient and gives us a chance to get a quick walk in.  The following are before and after pictures of Jonathan: 

Not quite ready to give up his afternoon naps yet!