East side...Bay of Plenty and The Mount

We rented a small apartment on the side of a house in a development called, of all things, Palm Springs! (I have the urge to get mildly ill now...I spent my entire childhood wanting to get away from the Palm Springs area as it is where I (George) grew up!).
Suffice it to say that it appears some misguided developer from the Southern California desert felt the need to spread his brand of suburban charm (read: ANTI-architecture) to the East Papamoa area of New Zealand. It is truly a shame, but I will spare you the remainder of my rant on development and "suburban" architecture. You want a rant, I'll give you a rant...over a pint of cider and some chips!

One of the things that you notice if you ever come to visit New Zealand, or Australia for that matter, you will find that they like to either shorten the names for things or have nicknames for things. Registration for a car is called the "rego" (pronounced ree-jo...in a Kiwi accent of course!). French fries are "chips", gasoline is petrol, surfers are surfies, the afternoon is "arvo", etc. I must say it takes a little while to follow the lingo!

OK, enough of my observations of Kiwi language...oh...yeah...where was I? The Bay of Plenty. To me, the Bay of Plenty really means only one thing....PLENTY OF BEACHES!!!
So, if you know the Hideg family, you pretty much know where we spent almost ALL of our time while we were here...the BEACH:)
Here was our daily routine:

• Wake up
• Eat "brekkie"
• Help Maia do her homework
• Pack car with wetsuits (only shorties), boogie board, surfboards, clothes, food, drink, etc.
• Spend 20 minutes slathering all visible parts of skin with SPF 50
• Driving to a beach....ANY BEACH!
• Play in the water boogie boarding, surfing, jumping waves, making sand castles, etc.
• have snacks or go out to lunch
• Spend 10 minutes slathering all visible parts of skin with SPF 50 and making sure we really have got our faces covered.
• More ocean time
• Snacks
• Sunscreen slather repeat
• More ocean time
• Snacks
• MORE ocean time
• Dinner (either eating out or cooking back at the flat)
• Reading with Maia
• Parents get some downtime
• Sleep
• Wake up and.....REPEAT!!!!

OK, the Hideg family are gluttons for the beach...we admit it and we have the pictures to prove it!

First day out boogie boarding at Papamoa Beach...

Maia learning about "timing" the wave.

Daddy gives a little extra "push":)

Maia rocking the Boogie board! Go...Maia!

Maia paddling out on her own...you have 

NO idea how stoked Daddy is:)

Maia on her Boogie board with Mommy,

working more on her wave timing.

Maia learning to go over waves...

good experience before learning to duck dive.

Maia headed out with Mommy on a real surfboard...

not a "foamie"

Maia's first time up on a surfboard at "The Mount"....

can you hear the music playing in Daddy's head? 

It is kind of a cross between the Beach Boy's 

"Surfer Girl" and the Ramones' "Sheena's a Punk Rocker"!!!!

Goooo MAIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daddy is sooooo PROUD:)

Oh, and we would also like to thank Taylor McDonald of Christian Surfers New Zealand and Naomi of Hibuscus Surf School for great information on where to rent equipment, where to surf and for just being great people to us.

Cheers!

Travel Day: From Lake Taupo to the Bay of Plenty

Now we head of to the east side of the central portion of the North Island to the Bay of Plenty. We stopped in Rotorua to take in the walk of their park filled with geothermal sites such as steaming pools of water and bubbling mud pots. The air reeked of sulphur and there were numerous "EWWWWW's!" emanating from Maia (she has a really sensitive nose!). While in the park we came across a small water feature that Maia just had to play with.

After some cool-off time in the kiddie fountain, we came across an "art tree"...yes, a tree covered in yarn that was mainly crocheted...VERY colorful! Maia was instantly attracted to it only to be let down by the sign requesting that people please refrain from climbing or touching the tree. It took quite a lot of personal restraint from Maia to "refrain"!

Maia..."refraining"!

"I spy with my little eye...yarn critters up in the tree!"

On the way, we stopped by Huka Falls. There is a waterfall at the end but that is not the main attraction. Huka Falls more of a rushing channel between a lake and a river. Definitely not something you would want to fall into...but what beautiful aquamarine water:)

Looking upstream...

...and down.

...and MY girls:)

After visiting this neat tourist stop, we visited another close by, the Huka Honey Hive...can you taste it already? They have one of those bee hives encased in glass so that you can see it from all sides, filled with bees and a tube to the outside for comings and goings of the little workers.

"Busy bees"...haha!

Not to mention about 20 different kinds of honey, from mild clover honey to medicinal Manuka honey. True, this honey has antibiotic properties. Kiwis have known this for quite awhile and now it is becoming all the rage in the rest of the world. Ten years ago, during our first visit to NZ, Manuka honey was about 3 times more expensive than other boutique honey. Now it is about 6-10 times as expensive. It is dark, with a very strong flavor. I must say it always makes me fell better when I am under the weather and drop a spoonful of it in my tea:)
At the end of the day, we arrived at our "flat" in East Papamoa. It is a small beach community at the east end of the Bay of Plenty. Once we got settled in, guess where we headed off to? You guessed it...THE BEACH, of course!!! After a beautiful sunset walk on the beach with the "fam", we stopped by the local "chipper" for some fabulous take-away fish and chips.
I'll catch up on the blog more tomorrow, Cheers!

Maia the Shutterbug

Well, we've decided that we should include in this blog the photos that Maia took with her own camera.
So, without further adieu…

All vacations are accompanied by a "stuffy"…

Kity (aka Princess) on the way to Piha.

Cabbage plants in Piha…

makes no sense to call these cabbages!

The view of Piha from the road heading down.

The beautiful Pohutakawa tree of New Zealand

Hey Mom, hey Dad…are we there yet?

(on the way to Raglan)

I love low tide…all kinds of moss, seaweed…and OCEAN!!!

The trees look so "fluffy"!

(on the way to New Plymouth)

The endless ubiquitous "fences" of NZ farmland

Maia-artistic moment

Fitzroy beach with New Plymouth in the distance

"Hey Daddy, SMILE!"

(…at the WORST "backpackers" in NZ!)

Mt. Ngauruhoe, aka MT. DOOM!!!…just like saying that…

MT. DOOM

Look! We're "flying"! …actually "chair lifting"

on Mt. Ruapehu

More "stuffies"…Jingles and Kitty

Pou whenua (pow fen-oo-waa) outside of Waitomo Caves

TUNNNNELLLLLL!!!!

Pretty back swan on Lake Taupo:)

How cool is this tree covered in crocheted yarn!

Pretty colors

Jingles, Trolly and Kitty

Surf painting…Daddy was just "there"

Just "clicking" away:)

…and Daddy was so happy he finally got a "real iced tea"…

NOT some awful fruity flavored swill you find ALL OVER NZ!!!

What a way to cap off the trip!

Up, and up, and UP, AND UP!!! Daddy, WHEN will we get to the TOP?!

The next day we headed out to Mt. Ruapuhe (Roo-uh-poo-hey), the highest mountain on the north island, and caught sight of a steam vent on the mountain. 

Please tell me that "steam" is just steam…

and NOT a warning!

After we got to the base of the mountain we took a char lift up to 2020 meters above seal level. 

Chairlift #1

…closer view. Mommy & Maia.

Chairlift #2…quad so whole family

gets to ride together

Does it look like Maia is 

having any fun right now?!

We then hiked up to the Skyline Ridge. 

Daddy, how many more pickets

do we have to hike to?

This was Maia's FIRST real hiking experience and we hiked up an additional +900 feet up to the ridge after the chair lift ride!

Come ON Daddy, keep up!

Halfway spot for lunch…whew!

Is this ONLY halfway Daddy?! Oh my GOSH!

Goofing off at lunch:)

This is a nice "flat" spot to eat on…

in the middle of millions of boulders

Looking down from our lunch spot.

…AND we even get to play in the snow in the 

middle of the Kiwi summer…yay, snowball fight!

Yay Maia. We saw many other families with kids around her age who really struggled and we were thankful Maia was such a trooper. The entire mountain is completely volcanic…kind of like climbing a gigantic rock pile with occasional trails. 

We have HOW MUCH MORE TO HIKE?! Daddy???

There is virtually no vegetation and is so barren it makes sense that this area of NZ became home to the Orcs! We got to the ridge and from there you get this amazing view of Mt. Ngauruhoe…better known as MT. DOOM! 

Almost there…and LOOK! 

"Mt. Doom" from Lord of the Rings

Mommy & Maia make it to the ridge!

…and then finally, Daddy!:)

(Yay, Maia…you made it and no real whining!)

At the base of the pillar on the left is where

Frodo and Sam run into Gollum in the

Lord of the Rings. A great place to visit

but it requires a bit of work to get here…

no couch potatoes need apply!

Check out the  rappel station on the pillar!!!! 

 REALLY crumbly rock…not for the faint of heart!

And didn't I say "Mt. Doom" was in the distance?

AGHHHH! Keep watch for Orcs!

…and "Trolly" had to get his picture taken

with Mt. Doom in the background!

Maia soaking her "poor little dogs"

after getting to the bottom of the hike!

Daddy joins in too…

whooooweeee it is SO COLD!

...and then someone decides it might be "FUN" 

to put icy cold hands on Daddy's belly!!!!!

After a few days at Lake Taupo we headed to the Mt. Maunganui area on the Bay of Plenty (East side of central NZ). We found a great little apartment 2 blocks from the beach in Papamoa. Here we get a chance to settle down for a good 9 days…partly to rest from our travels and partly to enjoy the warm surf of this area. 

Stay tuned:)