Isaac's Birthday Beach Party

Happy happy birthday to my big 7 year old! We love you! We had a great time celebrating his special day at the beach (oh, I could get used to this beach party thing). It was great fun for the kids and parents.

Isaac requested a pineapple upside cake, which was the cake my mom always made for my birthdays; Whew! I'm glad he wanted a cake I knew how to make, and this one turned out especially good! It was way too windy to light the candles (oh, we tried, but couldn't do it), but he did get to blow out the big "7" candle. Actually, while we were cleaning up, we noticed the seagulls had all started in on the cake, so no left overs there.














Going after the "Dickey Moe" pinata with a cricket bat and a grocery bag as a blind fold. This was probably the highlight for the kids as they all took turns going after it, although Dave and I wondered if we really should be encouraging to kids to hit a whale as hard as they could. Oh well. Dickey Moe was one tough whale, and it took a big 13 year brother to finally whack it hard enough to break it. (This pinata was built and re-enforced by engineers).










One final thing. The day started out windy! (Check out the video). Dave took a few hours break for wind surfing. It had to be done! I thought we might need to move the party to our house, but Little Oneroa was protected and by evening it had calmed down to breezy.

¡Isaac's Birthday Piñata!

Jenn and kids built an incredible piñata for Isaac's 7th birthday--Dad added the harpoons. The result: "Dickey Moe" (aka "Moby Dick")

We are having a birthday bash at Little Oneroa beach tomorrow, where the kids will be blindfolded as little Captain Ahabs and go at the whale with a woodn leg, or cricket bat, whichever is available.

What's in a name?

You have to love the names of some of the places here. Here a few doozies.

Whakatane (pronounced Fock-a-tawn-ee)
On my East Cape Trip with the girls, we had a marvelous time, and one of our stops was Whakatane. The first leg of the trip, I was in the back seat in the car, and I heard my friends and navigators up front say "We are going to Whakatane". (ummm. we are going to what?)





Lake Tekapu (take-a-poo):
On the Routeburn Track, Dave told me that he hiked up to Tekapu. (huh?) Beautiful lake, and I guess yes, maybe it is even nicer than the bathrooms of the hut.





Whakenewha (Fock-n-A-fa)
This is a nice reserve on the island. Great for picnics, cricket, windsurfing, and flying kites. Dave just went windsurfing yesterday and came back with a huge grin. It was a Whakenewha day.








Finally, this weekend I'm very excited to be going on a river trip with some great friends on the Whanganui River. We put in a place called Pipiriki (pee pee reek-ee) and get picked up down river at Whakahoro (fock-a-whore-o).
Oooh, there's supposed to be some rapids at Pipiriki, but I'm not sure I want to go swimming in it. The guide book recommends pulling out at Whakahoro, because it might be more rapids than we can handle. OK, this I've got to see! :-)

Fun with Suspension Bridges

Before we left on the Routeburn, the kids did some trampoline bungie jumping at the mall, which was hot, but a lot of fun. Also, they had fun creating the following "cartoon clips" along the Routeburn. Enjoy!

Ninja jumping

We took a side trip outside of the Routeburn Flats Hut, where we needed to cross a stream bed several times and there were a few muddy areas we had to get over. The kids were really getting into the fancy ninja jumping it took to get over these areas....

Routeburn Hut to Hut: Days 4-5 (Finished!)

The rain fell hard during our second night at the Falls hut, but we had no precipitation on day 4 during our descent back to the Flats hut. We arrived to the greetings of our grandma-warden who wanted to know how her "Waiheke Kids" did on the hike. We were the first ones in the hut and picked the best bunks, then hiked up the side trail where we enjoyed open meadows and meandering streams (as well as a few baths in rock pools). After some dinner and games we enjoyed our last night on the trail and returned to the car the next day. We spent our last evening back at Kinloch Lodge, enjoying the lake, hot tub, and excellent food.

Then it was off to Lawrence, an old mining town where Justin conveniently owns an old house that provided a nice break as we made our way to Dunedin.

Routeburn Hut to Hut: Days 2-3

On day 2 we enjoyed breakfast at the Flats hut and started the climb for the 2nd hut (Routeburn Falls), which was only a few km away, but required a bit of elevation. We arrived around noon, enjoyed a long lunch, then decided we should make a bid for the peak since it was forecast to rain the following day. Taking chocolate breaks every hour we arrived at Harris Saddle and rested in the shelter--the views are amazing and the rain has not arrived. Dave (D) continues up to the top of The Conical while the kids and Jenn take their time starting back down. From the top peak it is possible to see to the sea! (at least to the fjords). Narrow cascading waterfalls are the norm and enormous bowls and glaciers surround the peak. We all meet up about 45 min above our hut where we enjoy a well deserved dinner and more chocolate. The next day is a rest day for the kids while D & J make separate excursions back to Harris Saddle (the predicted rain never arrived). The kids collected rocks and made up stories about the "rock-family". After his hurried hike to Harris D decides to shower in the waterfall and pools just below the hut--very refreshing (and numbing). More cards, reading, and relaxing in the evening, including learning some new cards games from fellow trampers.

South Island: Routeburn Track Day 1

Having scouted this track from Kinloch to Harris Saddle in Feb 2009 I decided that this would be the inaugural hut to hut hike for the kids. We took the "non-Heersian'approach" and actually enjoyed the tramping, spending a total of 4 nights at 2 huts, which allowed for plenty of side adventures and card playing and reading in the cabins. On January 16 we caught the early Sunday flight from Auckland and arrived in Queenstown with time enough to rent a car, buy freeze-dried dinners and other sundries, and stop by the kiwi aviary. This was our first sighting of the elusive kiwi along with the native owl, wood pigeons, white headed ducks, kea, and many more. Then we drove to Kinloch lodge to enjoy a gourmet dinner before heading out on the hike the next day. Again, in non-Heersian fashion (Heersay?) we took our time in the morning enjoying the lodge, then drove to the trail head and started hiking around 1 pm. The first hut (Routeburn Flats) was reached following a 6.5 km hike along river and through canopied forest. Several hanging bridges and water falls later we arrived in time to cool our feet in river and practiced skipping rocks before boiling water to re-hydrate dinner. Since it was the first night, we also brought in some smoked salmon and pita bread (and one strong beer). It was hard to spot Nikolas without a Harry Potter book in hand! We also left supplies for the 4th night since we would be coming back and staying at this hut again. The hut-warden was friendly grandma type from Devonport. She doted on the kids and told us where to leave our food for the return trip.

Bay of Islands, Sailing

The kids and I met up with Bryon, Amy, Pascal, and Bryon's parents in Russell. Bryon and Amy took us for a spin in the boat they were renting. Beautiful day for a sail!

Some other boats we saw along the way....

Bay of Islands, Tutukaka

Last month we took an excursion up to the Bay of Islands, a couple of hours north of Auckland. Totally worth it! We car camped and and kayaked to little beaches along the way.

Here are a few photos of the trip.

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Whenever Dave's VHF marine radio says "Tutukaka", the computerized voice sounds so excited, it uses exclamation marks. "Tutukaka!! peak.. two.. niner ...." We loved the name so much, that when we saw the turn off, we took it on a whim. We had a GREAT TIME!


Car camping...

Side trips in the kayak...

Side trip to Kukutauwhao Island. A little island we had all to ourselves that you could only reach by small boat...









This is the wind measurement place. Whenever we hear "Tutukaka!!! peak three niner", we now know exactly where the wind is blowing at 39 knots.