Found Coopers Beach (Day #5 of roadtrip)

Posted by Suma

It was our last full day in the Bay of Islands and we were all hit with the feelings of sadness that our trip was nearing an end. Emzie and Ana are morning people where as Kaik and I prefer a sleep in. The four of us made sure to promise each other we would be up early each morning to make the most of our time! Another reason for being up between the hours of 7-9am was so we could enjoy the benefits of our complimentary breakfast. The basics of coffee, tea, toast and cereal were provided. I disappointingly found out the hard way; the later you got up in the morning the less selection of cereal!

After buying a few gifts and trinkets in the shops we headed off to find Coopers Beach. Another sunny day another search for a beach! While pulling over at a random gas station for a quick bathroom break we came across a unique Jandal fence and took a few minutes to admire it. While heading towards Coopers Beach signs advertising for a market caught our eye. We detoured in hopes of discovering a great big shopping market. The market we came across didn’t quite live up to our expectations. Luckily the detour led us to a great view of Doubtless Bay.

The drive was around an hour and half after having to stop in and ask for directions. We were so close to it (but again we found) the signage for the place to be so minimal that we weren’t able to spot it from the roads. The beach was gorgeous and lined with beautiful trees. We spent the afternoon lounging and reading on the beach before heading back to our hostel.

The girls cooked up an awesome BBQ dinner before we began indulging in yummy adult beverages. We engaged in another great round of Jenga. We wanted to hit the town on our last night in Paihai. We ventured out to a pub which we thought looked promising but ended up to be pretty quiet with a small showing of people. So we had to start the dance floor ourselves before leaving that bar to head to another one with more dancers in attendance. A nice stroll along the beach and some greasy burgers (for some) was a lovely way to cap off our final evening of the roadtrip.

Thanks Ana for your undying commitment too the blog 🙂 You are an exceptional co-writer!

xoxo Buddha Blessings,
Amanda and Ana

Falling Birds in Bay of Islands (Day #4 of roadtrip)

Posted by Suma

First tour around Bay of Islands on a backpackers budget today. We decided to check out the town KeriKeri and the little shops within. Of course Emma bought something on my list of “to buys” and I didn’t (this isn’t the first time) but I am glad she found a new wallet that is lovely!! On another note, Ana finally found the fedora she had been searching days for. We picked up some lunch at the Bakery. The prices surprised us because they were actually decently priced. While I was at the bank Emzie told me they would be at the Deli, so I was taken on a little DETOUR trying to meet up with them. After I found them we all enjoyed delicious sandwiches before heading off to the beach.

Then we headed up to Rainbow Falls, a wonderous large waterfall that some backpackers told us was a must see. The waterfall was different from the other one we visited. Both striking in their own way. The first waterfall (Kitekite) was very narrow but was unique in its three tiers. The Rainbow waterfall was one tier but very wide and much larger. It appeared as if we were in a large hole surrounded by trees on three sides and the waterfall on the fourth. You could venture behind the waterfall if you swam through the pool to the falls. It was neat behind the falls but very slippery as all the rocks were covered in mud. Emma secretly was gripping for dear life as we ventured behind to the other side of the falls. The mud was so slippery and thick but we both survived the adventure. We were able to capture some pictures before her waterproof camera’s battery died.

After the waterfall we drove to Matauri Bay. The water was a light teal green and clear. We thought we seen a flock of seagulls possibly gnawing at carcass’s but it turned out to be a flock of seagulls hanging around some chunks of seaweed. Ana and Emma did some sea shell searching while Kaik read her murder mystery book and I had a well deserved nap. We had a lovely afternoon at this beach except for Emzie constant fear of birds of attacking her. “They are going to attack me they are OUT to get me” -Emzie Doodle Doo

We went to a little café down the road for dinner. I ordered your standard cheeseburger and Ana, Kaik and Em ordered a bacon and cheeseburger. They were shocked when they found one missing key ingredient…the burger patty. Another slightly small sidenote is Emzie chocolate milkshake that she eager waited for with high hopes was a bust. At first she suspected that it was strawberry flavoured but after some sampling by others we came to the conclusion that it was a fluffed shake that used minimal powdered cocoa. A “different little café” that Emzie insisted on calling everything “cute”.

We headed back to our hostel to check into our new room (we had to pack our bags and store them for the day as we were reassigned rooms today so we could all still bunk together) and then finished off the evening with a stroll down to the water’s edge to fill our bellies with ice cream-a treat well deserved. Our bunkmate works at a restaurant and has his alarm set for 3am so we will have all gone to bed early to try and get some rest and enjoy a long day of beaching and shopping before we begin our trek back to Auckland on Sunday.

~~I have really been enjoying the extra hands in the making of these blogs. The extra insights have been splendid and I believe it’s giving the blog a much needed boost of freshness 🙂 !!

Buddha Blessings and hope everyone in Canada is enjoying the snow while it’s a muggy 25 degrees here!
xoxo
Amanda and Kaik (also known by many as Kristy Aikman)

Beaching it inThe Bay of Islands (Day #3 of roadtrip)

Posted by Suma

Thursday January 10^{th (Day 3 of our Roadtrip)}

We left Pukenui around 10am. We all had an earlier than usual morning as members of our hostel were super LOUD for a long time in the kitchen this morning. The large family did not realize it might be courteous of them to whisper if they were planning to cook and eat around 7 in the morning! Even though we started the morning off a little grumpy our moods all picked up when we realized it would be another gorgeously sunny day! We arrived in the Bay of Island after a fairly quick 2 hour drive. We drove straight here with no stops as we didn’t eye any Thrift Stores or souvenir type stores along the way. The Pickled Parrot Backpackers hostel is a very cute and quirky place that we are finding to be very cozy. We did find it very hard to spot from the roads as the signage was pretty small and minimal. We are in a 3 bunk bed room and only 1 of the beds is vacant.

We unpacked the car then went for a walk around the town lots of touristy stops. We saw the (noisy early birds) family that was at the hostel we were last at and had joked about running into. We all secretly hoped they weren’t perchin’ at the parrot like us! We dined on yummy fish and chips on an outdoor patio then walked back home. We were able to grab some cold drinks en-route to the hostel before jumping into our beach gear and heading straight to the beach. We had fun tossing a frisbee around and enjoying some drinks on the beach. It was pretty evident that we weren’t the only ones who had the idea to have a refreshing drink on the beach. The evening menu is any college students staple meal of: noodles, crackers, cheese and left over sandwich meat.

We were easily entertained by Jenga and throwing in little rules and playing “never have I ever during rounds”. I have never played a more entertaining round of Jenga before playing with Kristy and Ana! Kristy was also christened with the new nickname of Kaik, which is pronounced cake. We went to 2 bars and really got to see there was not much of a nightlife on a Thursday night here. We played pool and tried to teach Emzie how to handle the cue. She wasn’t haven’ any of it and preferred to watch the 3 of us struggle through a game.

During our first night on the town we can say we were fortunate enough to meet an Irish lad and unfortunate enough to meet 2 Aussie’s one of whom claims to have been a contemporary dancer…years ago. Without getting into too many details I can say we left the bar after receiving a “phone call” from another friend who wanted to meet up with us. After drinks, cowboy shots and 2 rounds of tequila shots we all got home safely. We were able to get into out beds and get somewhat of a good night’s sleep. The heat is so hot and is pretty harsh on the people who are stuck on the top bunks but we are managing. We DO keep the windows open at night but all the moths and flies love to LAND on our bodies. NOT fun.

Complimentary breakfast is offered from 7-9 daily so we all plan on taking full of advantage of the free food. Tomorrow we have another beach day planned out. It’s a hard life sometimes 🙂 I forgot to mention that Ana did an excellent job of taking Myrtle for a quick spin yesterday. She did a wonderful job of staying left and working the indicator lights! Proud of her.

Thanks for reading – and I hope the snow isn’t too much of a nuisance for those who are getting lots of it right now.
Lots of warm thoughts to you all,
Amanda

Is there a camel coming for us? (Day #2 of roadtrip)

Posted by Suma

Wednesday January 9^{th (Day 2 of our Roadtrip)}

We left around 10 to rent sand carpets. The first place we stopped at was disappointedly CLOSED so we ended up driving closer to the sand dunes and renting foam boards with smooth plastic bottoms…aka boogie boards. The rentals of the boards alleviated our unneeded stress of not being able to ride the dune and we were reenergized to ride down the big sand dunes. To our dismay we somehow passed the little turnoff and ended up travelling 10 kilometers before realizing we missed the exit and turned around to head back. We were so thrilled when we found the turnoff.

Combination of our emotions and thoughts that ran through our heads as we reached the parking lot of the Te Paki sand dunes: ‘overwhelmed, joyous, fearful, excited, oh sh!t I have to walk up that hill! holy fu@k that sand looks hot, are we in the desert?, where are the camels?’

After around an hour and a half of adventurous playing and fearful apprehension of dehydration and death we ventured back to the safety of Myrtle. We quickly GUZZLED water. After our lovely lunch break we headed on back to a baby hill for some pictures and last minute adventures before needing to return the 4hour boards at the rental place. At one point during our long trek in the hot sand I told the girls I felt like I was part of the 2^nd Sex and The City Movie and a camel was going to appear with Mr. Big. I am so grateful to Emzie for remembering her waterproof/sandproof camera so we could capture ths shots of us onto of the hills. Thank you also to Ana and Em for taking some gorgeous shots of me in action after our lunch break. I felt a little naked not carrying my iphone on the dunes but I felt it best to leave it in the car safely away from all the sand. We treated ourselves to some cold refreshing ice cream before our drive to another beach destination.

Rarawa Beach time!!! Only about a 15-20 minute windy road drive followed by gravel patch to a glorious white sand beach. We only stayed for around 45mins because we knew we had another beach stop right after. The sand was so fine and white and Ana LOVED that the sand was squeaky. The water was so clear! We could see our feet through the water. There were millions of shiny beautiful shells. So glittery and small. We took some pictures of the water and collected shells before climbing back into our hot hot car.

Last stop of the day was spectacular. The drive to 90 Mile beach wasn’t too bad. We were all really keen to get there since we had; read, seen, and heard so much about it. We were kind of surprised by the lack of signage considering it’s popularity among the travel books and postcards. We drove along long gravel roads with gorgeous trees on either side. As I was driving, I couldn’t help commenting how it felt like I was living out a poem or scene from a movie or book. I didn’t REALLY know what the feeling?! It was so weird that we were driving through a huge forest that only had a two lane gravel road so we could get to this breathtakingly beautiful 90mile long beach. I don’t really know how to explain it. It wasn’t déjà vu but it just felt – unfamiliar – but somehow I was completely amazed and aware. No one else in the car really understood what I was feeling but it was just such a weird feeling of driving through this massive forest on a rock road to A BEACH. I couldn’t verbalize the sensation correctly because I have NEVER FELT it before but it was a sense of comforting awe?…still don’t really know but the feeling of nature and going towards something so incredible made me feel like I was LIVING. Let’s move on from that topic before everyone starts to think I am crazy!!

When we arrived at the beach I was looking for parking but THERE WAS NO DESIGNATED lot. I just drove on the beach and it was an indescribable feeling of joy. You could park anywhere on the beach. Some cards were driving along while others were parked. We drove a ways down the beach before settling on a place to park. I won’t lie: I was thrilled to be driving on the beach yet paranoid that the car would struggle through this unexpected adventure. The waves were so strong. We were startled to feel the waves powerful force the first time we almost got dragged away. It knocked me off my short legs and I was soaked in minutes! We wanted to go swimming in the ocean but quickly changed our minds when Ana spotted the first jelly fish. As I had never seen one before I thought it was just floating seaweed. We got to take pictures of them all along the beach and loads of pictures of our All Star Myrtle (Myrtle the Turtle is the car my Kiwi family fondly named the Au Pair’s car) then moved her back a ways as the tide was coming in quickly. After lots of frolicking on the beach and a million pictures we decided it was time to head on back to the hostel…but not before a mini drive to the other side of the beach.

Emzie’s Iphone 5 took this panorama photo!!

We had a quick dip at the hostel’s pool to try and rid our bodies of sand before jumping into the showers. After we were all cleaned up we enjoyed some noodles and yummy drinks. For our evening entertainment we watched slideshows of all the days’ pictures. It is always a good laugh to see what pictures we have taken from our 3 (good quality) cameras, 2 iphones, 1 itouch, and a water proof camera! Lots of the same angles are captured but also many candid pictures. WE all love to take pictures of people taking pictures but hate BEING CAUGHT taking them 🙂

Tomorrow we need to pack and be checked out by 10am. I think we are getting free wi- so I will be able to post these blogs. So far this road trip has been a blast and so many AMAZING memories and countless photos captured.

“The END” Emzie proudly declares before slipping her eye mask over her head and calling it a night.
Buddha Blessings
xox Amanda

*Thank you so much to Ana, Em and Kristy for their very insightful contributions – I typed and we all spouted out suggestions so this blog could be completed! TEAMWORK!

Arrived in Pukenui! (Day #1 of roadtrip)

Posted by Suma

Monday January 7^th

We were leaving for our roadtrip tomorrow so we had to get Emzie’s house all cleaned, and we had to be all packed and ready to depart the city early in the am. We all helped to clean the house and get the recycling and garbage sorted out. We all packed our bags and filled Myrtle with bags and road trip necessities. We dropped all our bags at home before going to grab Subway for lunch. We walked to Brown’s Bay and enjoyed our picnic lunch by the water. Besides the WIND we had a lovely outdoor meal. We spent a little time walking around the shops and popping into a few souvenir shops before heading to Pack’n’Save. We did a big grocery run to buy food for meals and snacks so we could save as much money as possible. All four of us are on a budget so we are trying to cut corners on food whenever possible. By the time we got home we were all exhausted and decided to go to bed early.

Tuesday January 8^{th (Day 1 of the Roadtrip)}

We were all up around 6 so we could eat breakfast and have our lunches packed by 7:30. With everything packed and us all caffeinated we were ready to hit the road. We stopped at a St. John Thrift store to see if there were any cool finds. Bought some cassettes and magazines but was disappointed to not be able to work the cassette player.

The roads were really straight or super windy. It kept reminding of a mixture of Ireland, Vancouver Island and New Zealand with all the rolling hills and greenery.

Arrived at our Pukenui Backpackers Lodge right around lunch time. We were “on a budget” so we were staying right beside the motel with its quality waterfront units. I think we got the best bang for our buck considering all the accommodations have the same view 🙂 It is like paradises here with it’s clear skies and palm trees. We were excited shocked to see that the two flag poles outside were a Wales flag and a Canadian one. We felt like Sock’s was REALLY with us in spirit. (The next day we discovered that the flags are interchanged daily).

After a picnic lunch by the water’s edge, we set off for Cape Reinga’s “The Meeting of the Oceans”. From the edge of the cliff you witness the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean mixing together. The blue and green water is beyond gorgeous.

This was transcribed on one of the wooden pillars:
The meeting point

Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) marks the separation of the Tasman Sea (to the west) from the Pacific Ocean. For Maori, these turbulent waters are where the male sea Te Moana Tapokopoko a Tawhaki meets the female sea Te Tai o Whitireia.

The whirlpools where the currents clash are like those that dance in the wake of a wake (canoe). They represent the coming together of male and female – and the creation of life.

The view was EXTRODINARY. My pictures will not do the view justice. It is the furthest point you can travel in New Zealand. The tourist destination is fondly referred to as “Far North” There is a working light house where the light shone for the first time in May 1941. It is one of the first lights that shipping observes when arriving from the Tasman Sea and north Pacific Ocean. The light was fully automated in 1987 and the lighthouse keeper was withdrawn. The operation of the light is now completely automatic and is monitored by a computer and Maritime NZ staff in NZ. We made sure we took lots of photos. We all wanted our hair down for photos but found it to be so beyond windy for any of us to handle. Eventually all for our us put our hair up in some form so as not lose all sanity. The wind would not give us a break.I think at one point Kristy’s hair was blowing so much that she and Emzie were starting to eat it!

DSCN9364

On the drive home we stop at the Local Store for delicious ice cream. The staff was so friendly and very generous with the scoop portions!

We headed back to the hostel for some instant noodles and drinks. We went to the local bar (literally right across the street) and each purchased what we believed to be have been ciders. Instead we ended up just buying 8% energy juice –NOT peach and apple ciders. It was annoying but made for a good laugh. Instead we headed back home and drank and hung out in our room.

The single beds are located on the house’s porch that was then enclosed. Our carpet was never properly trimmed to fit the room when it was installed so the door doesn’t close and the door knob falls off if you pull too hard. Nor does the door lock from inside or outside. With all that said we have been given lots of windows and a decent amount of common room space and nicely stocked kitchen. The place is an old house with 4 rooms with showers and toilets. It has a lot of character and quirks and much more accommodating then a hostel. More of a welcoming cottage vibe here 🙂

Buddha Blessings
xox Amanda

(All photos from this blog except for one of the group shots was taking on my iphone. I will be trying to post more photos from the other cameras in the future. They are usually a better quality but it is easier and faster for me to just post my own pictures as they are already loaded onto my computer.)

Jungle by the Sea

Posted by Suma

Today when we woke up it was cloudy so we were a little discouraged but decided we would head to the beach anyway. We chose to go to Piha instead of Muriwai because there was a nearby waterfall we were keen to see. We headed out through the windy road to Piha. It was a blue sky but definitely a very windy day. We spent our time walking along the beach (burning the bottoms of our feet because the sand was so hot), climbing Lions Rock to get a great view and many photo ops.

Emzie and I are getting really good at perfecting the action shots…we make a great team she snapping and me jumping. After our climb down we got to enjoy a scrumptious picnic followed by a quick lay down on the beach. I have burnt my shoulders and back pretty badly so I resorted to covering my body with a towel today. The girls commented that they don’t think I can get any darker…their comments pleased me. I lurve being dark!

Next we ventured off to find the Kitekite Falls. After finding the right road to park on, it was an enjoyable forty minute walk through jungle like greenery and a lot of uphill walking. The mini hike exhausted us all. In the end it was worth the walk because the three tier waterfall was gorgeous. The falls were pretty crowded with other swimmers and photographers so we didn’t quite get the secluded waterfall experience we were hoping for. There was a pool at the base of the falls it which we all decided to swim in regardless of the temperature (which was quite cold). EXTREMELY cold. I feared my legs were going numb but the girls encouraged me to breathe through the numbness!

Tomorrow is our rest and organization day before our 5 day roadtrip to Cape Reinga, Bay of Islands and Goat Island. Not sure how much access I will have to free internet so it may be awhile until my next blog post. This everyday blogging can’t last forever J

Again, thanks to our beautiful Ana for pitching in and helping with the blog.

Buddha Blessings
xox Amanda + Ana

P.S. Kristy is going to share some cool stuff in the next blog. Can’t wait. Thanks for the great blog title too. The photos shared today were a combination of all four of our cameras. It’s great to have a variety of pictures to chose from!!!

A Saturday full of sunshine, screams and smiles….

Posted by Suma

I am once again up-to-date on my photos on facebook. Feels great!

Our 10 hour day trip was a huge success! We began the day around 7am and quickly ate breakfast and packed a picnic lunch. Making homemade sandwiches is such a blast! Always such a great picnic option! It took us just under 2.5 hours to drive to Rotorua. We had bought tickets online last night for our gondola + 3 luge rides + skyswing at Skyline Rotorua. It was a gorgeous 24 degree day with not a cloud in the sky.

We rode the gondola up and chose to head towards the skyswing first. We were all eager to do it….well all but one. Emzie rode it a few weeks back when her parents first arrived in town. She is not a fan of heights so it wasn’t the most pleasant experience for her. Being the trooper that she is she daringly decided to brave it again. The swing gives you a nice view of Rotorua. You get strapped into your harness that is attached to a three seater swing. The swing takes you 50 metres above ground level and drops you 150kph in 2 seconds. If money wasn’t a concern I would have done the swing at least one more time. It was such an amazing experience. Watching Ana and Kristy on their ride was fun too. It’s so much fun watching people who are laughing and smiling so purely and freely. Happiness is just such a great feeling. I wish we could all experience it more. (The videos are posted on facebook!)

After the swings we headed off for 3 luge rides. I had fun the first time but I definitely had more fun this time around. The sun was shining and the 4 of us riding together down the slopes was a thrill. The first time down the track we chose the scenic route, it was pretty fun but we didn’t go that fast since two of us were beginners. On the second ride down we were movin’ down, passing each other and laughing the whole way down. It reminded Ana of real life Mario Cart. On our last trip we stopped on all of the pull outs for a few photo ops on our carts. We captured fun group shots at the dinosaurs. Luge was definitely a blast!

When we were done we had a lovely picnic at Kuirua Park which was not too far from the ‘Skyline Rotorua.’ It was a gorgeous day and we had packed a wonderful lunch which we thoroughly enjoyed after all of the activities in the hot sun. Next we went to ‘Zorb’ for Ana and Kristy to give it a try since we had so much fun before. They also went down two at a time and had a blast!

The drive home was around 3 hours in the hot hot van. Our air-conditioning doesn’t work and our speakers died on the way home but that didn’t stop us from LOVING our little road trip.We are looking forward to another beach day tomorrow at Muriwai.

A huge thank you to Ana for being a special co-writer on this blog. Maybe I can convince her to help out more in the future 🙂

xox Buddha Blessings
Amanda + Ana

Happy 2013 Everyone!

Posted by Suma

Monday December 31^st, 2012

The Whitley’s and I spent the last day of 2012 together at Takapuna beach. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We packed the best lunch ever (cheese and crackers) and were able to fill the day with swimming and tanning. My allergies have really been acting up lately so I chose not to wear my contacts to the beach. Unfortunately I left my eye drops at home and my eyes started to dry up so much that they started closing up. Luckily the shops were nearby for Emma and I to buy another bottle of drops. When we thought we couldn’t take the heat anymore we paid a visit to the Whippy van 🙂 The beach was FULL of other families but there was still plenty of room for us to spread out and enjoy the afternoon.

After a quick stop at the liquor store we all went home to shower and get ready for our evening. Emzie was wonderful at helping all the ladies with their hair and makeup. We had to run for the bus at the top of our bus — running in heels made for an impromptu workout and big laughs. The bus ride was around 40 minutes downtown. It was bumpin’ downtown and were lucky to get into The VGrill (Viaduct Grill) without any wait. O’malley and I split the stuffed duck meal and slice of cheesecake. We made incredible choices that night!! After dinner we struggled to find a place to settle down and share drinks before the midnight fireworks. Finding space that fit 5 people on New Year’s Eve was not the easiest of tasks! We went to a few places before walking across the bridge around 11pm to find seats to enjoy the fireworks. The fireworks were shot off of the Skytower. Knowing how often New Zealand has fireworks, we were a little underwhelmed by the evening’s fireworks. Not saying they were good but I was expecting amazing for the number of people that came out to share in the countdown and display. The show only lasted a handful a minutes before we were hailing a van-cab. O’malley snagged one super fast and we were back home really quickly..considering all the traffic

Tuesday January 1^st, 2013

My 2013 began impressively. I slept in and then headed off to the beach again. Takapuna is a close drive from the house so we headed back again. We settled down by some prime seating on a grassy area. We had planned on renting a couple of paddle boards but they were closed for the day. The waves weren’t impressive but we enjoyed our boogie board time together. Emzie treated us to some yummy Starb frapps…definitely a great way to start this year. We ended off the night by enjoying delicious cesar salads and prawns. Of course we had to end the night with a family bowling match!

Wednesday January 2^nd, 2013

It was the Whitley’s 2^nd last day in New Zealand so we spent a little time in the morning cleaning the house and packing their bags. Momma Whitley had made reservations for the five of us to dine at the Skytower ‘s restaurant at 2pm. We left the house early so we could do some last minute downtown shopping. The Skytower buffet is on the 3^rd floor of the tower so we weren’t given much of a view. I was pleasantly surprised at how much food there was. What shocked me the most was the dessert bar. There was a full cheese spread and CANDY table to create your own vanilla sundae. The only SHOCKING thing was the receptionist asking me if I was over FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. She asked everyone if they were over FOURTEEN. And then singled me out and said, “Really? You definitely don’t look it” I was completely shocking as I was dressed in a dress and had a full face of makeup!! DO I actually look fourteen?! I guess maybe I do….?

Thursday January 3^nd, 2013
Ana and Kristy arrived today!!
Emzie and I were both up and awake around 4:15am so we could scoop the lovely ladies from the airport. Their plane was supposed to arrive around 5:30 but arrived a little bit earlier. It has only been a day since their arrival but we have already spent lots of time planning our upcoming day trips.

Whitley’s leave today
Their flight was scheduled to take off at 8pm so Em and I drove them to the airport for around 5:30.

It rained on and off all day but the rain seemed to stop in the evening. We drove down to the viaducts downtown so the girls could get a feel for driving on “the wrong side of the road” and start warming up their cameras!

Looking forward to continue this fabulous vacation!!! Lots of beach days in our future. I will post more facebook photos when I get around to it. Thanks for staying in touch.

Buddha Blessings to everyone. Trying to make the most of my time here. The time keeps FLYING by!!!
xox Amanda

–> Happy 1 year anniversary since our beautiful blonde – lush lashed Socks came to Victoria. CFCS would not have been the same without you. Thank you for rocking those socks and being who you are. Gorgeous inside and out 🙂 Emzie, Ana and I promise to have an amazingly relaxing and fun filled beach day on your behalf today!!! Much love babe!

Season’s Greetings

Posted by Suma

I hope you all found time during the holidays to enjoy the spirit of the season!

Christmas 2012 was a fun day of celebrating. The boys let me sleep in until 6:36am before running into my room to let me know that Santa had come during the night. I had such a great time watching the boys eagerly open all their presents. Shortly after 7:30 we were all sitting down to enjoy a lovely breakfast. (It was a very early morning for me!) I drove to Emma’s place around 11 to meet up with all the Whitleys and enjoy a beach walk along Takapuna beach. The tide was in so we couldn’t climb the rocks — but we did have a great walk along the shore. I was able to assist in the capturing of the Santa hat family photo picture for the fam jam. Afterwards we ordered pizza and Indian and had an intense xbox bowling tournament. Lots of fun was had by all.

Boxing Day was a FULL on shopping day. I was not too excited about all the shopping but I did enjoy the company. The weather was pretty rainy causing us to run from store to store. We went to A LOT of the touristy stores. I finally got to buy my first hoodie here. They are sooo hard to find here. We had another night of playing xbox and then drove home later that evening.

I was working on Thursday and Friday and was fortunate enough to have gorgeous summer weather. We went to the beach 3x and swam and surfed lots. A few weeks of vacation officially started Friday evening. I packed all my clothes and headed back over to Emma’s house.

Originally we had planned to have a beach day Saturday and head to Waiheke Island on Sunday for scooting around. We had to switch our days around because all the mopeds were booked on Sunday. It was a blessing in disguise because Saturday’s weather was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! It was about 25-30 degrees and stayed that way for our day trip. We were so fortunate to have so much sunshine. We took our 40minute ferry to Waiheke Island at 9:30am. We had one brief stop at Devenport to pick up other passengers. We were able to pretty much cover the WHOLE Island while riding the mopeds. We didn’t do any swimming at the beaches but we stopped at a few to enjoy the view!! The water was a stunning shade of turquoise and the pictures don’t do it justice. We stopped for lunch at Stonyridge Vineyard. We had rented mopeds so we decided it would be best that we not sample the wines. Instead we had a meal and only one glass each. While we were dining a helicopter landed outside in the field. 4 people stopped in for a quick bite to eat. As we were leaving they were boarding their helicopter to leave. Just a quick little stop for them!

Oneroa Beach

Stonyridge Vineyard

Our first stop on Sunday was to Westhaven Marina so Father Bruce could chat with my Kiwi father and see their sailboat. He appreciated his little tour of the marina and chat with another male. I think he liked getting away from the 4 females for a little bit this trip. We then carried on seeing more sailboats at the harbour downtown. There were some big boats docked. We talked to one owner who had his boat on the market for 4.5 million euros…he told us his bigger boat was arriving in a few months and just needed the space to dock the new boat. We stopped off briefly at my home so the Whitleys could meet my family and wish them luck on their one week sailing trip. Ever summer my family goes away on their boat and the boys get to go fishing and swimming every day. We had planned on going to Long Bay Regional Park and walking the kilometre-long sandy beach but instead decided to go swimming.

I am trying to stay on TOP of my blogging… promise. Spending so much time out in the sun keeps me busy and EXHAUSTED in the evenings. I will try to get back to posting my photos on Facebook too. I was doing so well for a bit. I am hoping to get my New Year’s day/evening blog up today or tomorrow. The Whitleys are leaving today and Ana/Kristy arrived so the house is a bustling.

Buddha Blessings to all
xox Amanda

…remember any of these pictures can be enlarged if you click on them 🙂

Christmas Eve in New Zealand

Posted by Suma

The last week has been super busy here in New Zealand. Having the boys out of school has lengthened my work days considerably. Thankfully we successfully arranged a handful of play dates with classmates so the boys were able to get some distance between themselves. The less fighting for me to deal with the happier we all are.

The boys love swimming so it’s been incredible to be able to drive to the local beaches for a dip. I would say usually it’s only a quick dip as the 6 year old tends to get cold pretty quickly. Even with a wet-suit and a beaming sun he can’t last more than 15 minutes without coming down the with some serious shiver shakes. I can sympathize whole heartily!! I still remember being a kid and feeling like my body for sure would stop working because everyplace on my body seemed to be covered in goosebumps and my parts must be too cold to function!!

I took the boys over to visit with the Whitley Fam Jam before heading off for our North Shore Picnic. The visit was a great prelude to our upcoming Christmas celebration. It’s been a shame how rainy the weather was for the first few days of their visit. It’s been forecasted to rain and stay stormy for our Christmas day tomorrow. Hopefully the weather and traffic won’t dampen my Christmas commute.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me cards in the mail! The Christmas cards are proudly displayed by my baby tree in my room. The boys loved delivering the mail to me and were always so eager to watch me open it. I was just thrilled with all the cards and also appreciated the e-cards filled with holiday cheer.

I will be thinking about all of my family and friends around the world. Enjoy all the time and laughter shared with your loved ones this holiday season. Christmas time is so magical so try to capture as many happy memories in your heart and on film!!

~~ Buddha Blessings ~~
Amanda

Christmas Spirit from a 10 year

brown eyed girl

See ya later Canada – I'm off to see more of this big world!!

New Zealand

Found Coopers Beach (Day #5 of roadtrip)

Falling Birds in Bay of Islands (Day #4 of roadtrip)

Beaching it inThe Bay of Islands (Day #3 of roadtrip)

Is there a camel coming for us? (Day #2 of roadtrip)

Arrived in Pukenui! (Day #1 of roadtrip)

Jungle by the Sea

A Saturday full of sunshine, screams and smiles….

Happy 2013 Everyone!

Season’s Greetings

Christmas Eve in New Zealand

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