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:)

West Coast Travels…from Piha to Taranaki

Here in NZ people are just starting to go back to work after an extended break for Christmas. Kids are still out of school for summer holiday until the beginning of February. 

We spent a few days in Raglan, a town known for great surfing (I mean spectacular…one of two places in the world George has broken a leash in big surf in 30 years!) on the West coast. We have not done any surfing just yet as the rip tides were pretty dangerous in Piha after we arrived.

Our view of Piha beach from our accommodations

The surf was so flat in Raglan that there was only one lonely surfer hoping (nay, praying!) for an odd set wave to roll through!

We've never seen Raglan soooo flat!

And yes, that is the real color of the water…blooooo:)

Maia made the most of it this morning before the wind picked up, boogie boarding at the main beach break.

Maia getting her wave count:)

We stayed at a place that "advertised" itself as a B&B on AirBnB…only to find that it really was a family run motel similar to many on the Oregon coast. Not cush or plush by any stretch, but the hospitality made up for it. We went to the Waitomo Caves to have a peek at the reclusive Kiwi Glow Worms…sadly no photos are allowed in the caves but I've got to say it is almost a spiritual experience inside the cave…if I were a Maori or a Pakeha (Maori word for white man) a few hundred years ago and found myself inside here I would surely say something astoundingly spiritual was happening…you just have to see it to see what I mean…BEAUTIFUL!

Waitomo Caves and its glow worms

From Raglan we took to a 30km gravel road, with the odd stray flock of sheep in the road.

Baaaa-d sheep!

We drove by Ruapuke (a beach Alisa and George visited 9 years ago and had a fabulous day of surfing a great beach break),

Ruapuke down the slope…just passing by this time:(

through a little harbor of Kawhia (pronounced Kaw-fia, rhyming which Mafia…and yes, that is an "F" sound…"wh" is pronounced as an "F" in Maori!). By the time we hit paved road, we were a little tired of gravel (it never seemed to bother me when we lived in Kodiak and I would drive 55 MILES of unbelievable pot-holed road, each way, to get a good surf in!)
We got to stop by Bridal Veil Falls (how many are named that in the world?!) and have a good look down!

The Hideg family taking a break for a photo op

View down from photo op

Actual road sign…really!

We made it to New Plymouth and stayed in a "backpackers" (read: Kiwi for hostel). We were warned by our Dutch host that the beds were on the soft side. HA! I did not realize he actually meant that a marshmallow would be hard in comparison!!! I actually like a soft cushy bed but this was a joke, and it was not the least bit funny:(

We got to go to the Festival of Lights at Pukekura Park. What a fabulous time! The entire park is lit up at night with thousands of lights for the entire holiday season (mid December to the beginning of February). 

Festival of Lights

I think they do not worry about the energy usage as New Plymouth is nicknamed "Energy City" due to the oil and natural gas exploration directly off the coast. We got to watch a band called The Nudge…a sort of groovin' voodoo blues funkadelic (in a Kiwi way!). They were really fantastic…and Maia really got her groove on:)

Maia getting her "groove on":)

Maia in the front row enjoying The Nudge

Lit up trees in the park and a starry sky

After spending 4 days in New Plymouth, we headed of to Lake Taupo up in the central mountains of the North Island…the land of the Lord of the Rings. 
We checked into our "backpackers" accommodation and found the best hostel in all of New Zealand, the Riverstone Backpackers. Our great hosts, Fritz and Karen (from Germany) were unbelievably kind and very knowledgable about all of the sights and activities around Lake Taupo. The next day we took a sailboat charter on the lake and had great winds and all three of us took a plunge into Lake Taupo's famously chill waters:) 

It's been awhile since Alisa was on a sailboat

…very content:)

Really, do I have to wear this?

I can swim better than most of the adults on this boat!!!

That's better:)

This is fun!

It's not so cold…

everybody else are just a bunch of wimps!

Hey Mommy, the water is great!

It was really great diving off the bow sprit of the Barbary a cutter rigged sailboat originally christened in the 1920's and built in San Pedro, CA of all places! 

The day was a nice, casual day on the lake…lots of smiles, a swim and fair winds.

More tomorrow…Cheers!