NZ part 5 - Tongariro

Ephraim set an alarm (second time this year) to get up early for his grand Tongariro Crossing Hike (including Mt.Ngauruhoe aka Mt. Doom). We dropped him off at 8:15 at the trailhead. Heaps of hikers and shuttle vans. It was a beautiful day for it. We gave him about 6 hours to cross over the saddle between peaks and pass sulfur pools, emerald lakes, cabins, ash, and blue skies.

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In the meantime we discovered the NZ Playcentre (in Kiwi-talk pronounced ply-seenta) -- a community run house of toys and playthings, like an indoor park co-op. If you have something like that in your town, good on you! It was fabulous! This whole little house was converted to childhood development, like a preschool, with costumes, blocks, books, puzzles, a mini-trampoline, couches, a crib, a kitchen full of art supplies, and a backyard with sandbox, play structure, garden, and picnic area. The only thing I couldn't find was the darned switch for the heater, so we played chilly.

We were all entertained. The kids played. Owen napped in the "cot" (crib). And I read up on NZ playcentres, homeschool, child behavior, and some more Lynley Dodd books I hadn't seen before.

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Later... we picked up Ephraim from the trail end. He had pictures, stories, and sore muscles. It's hard to narrow them down (the pictures) to share but here are some favorites. (Forgive us for the onslaught of photos. Maybe someday we'll learn how to make a collage.)
















Soon we were on the road again to Wellington. Funny that we went from volcanic Mt. Doom to happy hillsides in an hour or so.

Owen's preferred travel pose.

NZ, part 4 - Taupo & National Park

Wednesday Dec. 16, Ephraim did dawn patrol at Raglan (probably his first time using an alarm clock all year.) Then we played at the holiday park playgroung. Here Ephraim as a door-to-door pie salesman visiting Ella's kid-size cabin.
From Raglan we drove east through Hamilton again to buy some blankets and things. Then we drove south towards Taupo.
Windy coastal mountains, hilly farmland, craggy ravines, and more sheep. Like this one made from corregated tin:
We stopped at Huka Falls and felt the thundering under our feet. The water was an amazing blue.




In Taupo we only stopped to buy groceries, which always took a long time since there are SO many choices. That was when we realized with tears that we'd left our new stroller in Hamilton, three hours north. Too far. Too bad. Hopefully it will make some family's Christmas wish come true.

Taupo was a mega volcano anciently so now it's a giant lake and posh resort town. Great weather. Moving on.
We drove all the way around it to the mountains in the south and on towards Tongariro National Park.


At the higher elevation there were less sheep, more flax fields, and bright yellow wild flowers.

We found Howards Lodge (Lonely Planet: "We're not sure who Howard is, but he sure knows how to lodge")--wood, stone, boots, fleece, hot tub. We had booked five backpacker bunks in a shared room, but we realized that wasn't going to work. I don't think the other dude in our room would appreciate Owen's night wakings. So we upgraded to a family room with bedding and bath for almost the same price.

New Zealand is the perfect size: sea to ski in one day.

NZ, Part 3 - Hamilton, Raglan

Tuesday Dec 15 - Ate donuts, got the rental car (Corolla hatchback), checked out, and hit the left side of the road. It took some getting used to and minor mishaps, Ephraim pulled out of the hotel into oncoming traffic, and a few times flipped on the wipers to signal our turns. But with good navigation and prayer we made it south to Hamilton.

I wished we'd had a GPS to get us around. There were heaps of roundabouts, which are great if you know where you're going, but if you don't you never have time to sit and think. They're just too efficient.

In true road trip fashion, we listened to an audiobook: The Hobbit. Dramatized, and edited, but it still took 4 CDs. Every time things in the story got exciting, Isaac piped up from the back, "Mama, could you stop it please? What's happening?" So we'd fill him in. It was easy to picture the story setting in such suitable surroundings.

We visited the Hamilton NZ temple. Forgive me for saying that the sweet people were hobbit-like. Very friendly, chatty, polite, cordial. Just charming.

The visitors center had a darling little display. See the sheep?


They said the houses were replicas of actual homes in the area.

While I was in the temple the kids discovered yet another awesome park with a mega-long slide.


Soon we drove an hour west to Raglan. The drive reminded us of the road from Corvallis to Newport in Oregon--hills, forests, farms, curves.


We stayed at Ragland Holiday Park in a 2-room unit with a queen and a bunk bed, kitchen and couch, but shared bathroom. It was great.

Ephraim rented a wetsuit and board on a half-day rental, and got in two sessions, one at night and one the next morning.


Ephraim here. For those who care, this picture was taken of Manu Bay at 6:30pm and by the time I got in the water at 8 the tide and swell changed so the wave was only breaking to the boat ramp on the left. Still about 10 times longer than any wave here in AS. It was fun to do more than two turns on a wave and cutback. It wasn't classic Raglan like in Endless Summer, but it was good enough for me. I checked the other breaks and they weren't as good as this one so I surfed it twice. People were really friendly in the water and cheering for each other and even for me. That was really nice. Also, almost half the lineup was made up of women. That was different. There's only one surfer girl here in AS.

NZ, Part 2 - Auckland

People had told us not to spend too much time in Auckland, because the good stuff was further south. But we gave the city one day, and we were glad we did.

The bus was our transport this day. And our two destinations: Rainbows End amusement park and One Tree Hill.

The kids LOVED Rainbows End. We were in amusement park heaven. We'd heard from some locals that it was a little run-down, but those snobs have obviously never been to American Samoa where the only safe playground is at McDonalds. (Do you think I'm exaggerating? I'm really not.) In fact one of our favorite things about New Zealand was the plethora of playgrounds, "heaps" of playgrounds. You're almost guaranteed to be within 10 minutes of a great playground where ever you go. (Now I may be exaggerating a little.)

(Notice, we bought a new stroller.)

The kids ran the show and did whatever they were "keen" to try. We stayed in the kiddie part. Only paid for the kiddie part. Brought our own lunch. (Subway never tasted so good.) There were no lines since it was a school day for everyone else. And it was clean! Rubbish made it to the rubbish bins! Loved: the mini-toilets and mini-sinks for our mini-guys. (It sounds silly how excited we were about everything, and maybe you'd only understand if you knew American Samoa.)

When we had our fill of thrills, we boarded the bus again and found our way to One Tree Hill. First we got "take-away" doner kebab. (Oh, yum. Next time you pass your local kebab place, say a little prayer of thanks that you even have the option of eating there, k?) Ephraim walked to the top passing heaps of sheeps.

Clever bench for climbing over the fence.

We played at an awesome playground, with zip-line.


On the way home we stopped at Pak'n'Save--a real supermarket. Loved the fresh fruit (except the papayas were pathetic). Then we bussed back to the hotel.