Travelling down to Auckland

 February 13, 2011

Senne's Summary: We headed down towards Auckland and stopped at some interesting points along the way.

This morning we got up and got packed to head to Auckland to visit Sheree and her family. Before we headed south to Auckland, Auntie Fran wanted to show us a few things up North. (We didn't get to see everything she wanted us to see, so we’ll have to come back!)

The first place we headed was Haruru Falls.

After that we drove over to the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is a beautiful place.

We stopped at a viewpoint, then cut through a hotel and walked a bit by the sea. There is a cultural centre here to commemorate the spot where the treaty of Waitangi was signed.

Next, we walked over to where the biggest Waka in the world is. So if you ever hear the trivia question where is the biggest war canoe in the world… now you know… Bay of Islands, New Zealand!

We also saw a fruit tree, which Steve and I didn’t recognize. At first we thought it was a Quince tree (We saw one yesterday for the first time! I’ve always wanted to see a Quince… the fruit that starts with a Q!) Fran told us that the tree was actually a fig tree. We found a ripe one and pulled it down and had a taste. I was surprised… I don’t usually like figs… I suppose we mostly get them dried… but this one was very juicy and tasty.

Next we headed over to the other side of the island on the way to Auckland. We stopped for a brief stop in Pononi, where there are beautiful large sandhills overlooking the ocean. We also had some ice cream here. Fran called it a Tippy-Toppy (The ice cream maker is Tip Top). The ice cream was very good (and of course started a new trend of stopping whenever we see the words Tip Top for a Tippy-Toppy)

I love all these new words I’m picking up… I’m such a Whakahihi using all my new words 😉

At this point, Sheree phoned us on the cell phone and told us to "GET MOVING!" Apparently her mom has a reputation for being late… but so far we’ve showed up for everything right on time. I might even call it “VIP TIMING”, since we got to walk in with the officials yesterday...

We did head off right away because Sheree and Fran were going to a show in Auckland that evening so we did have a deadline. We drove for a bit and Fran shared lots of information about the area. I would say this is definitely the country we’ve learned the most about because we have our own personal tour guide. It’s a bit embarrassing when I think about it, because I certainly don’t know that much information about my own country…

We made one more stop at a forest that had the largest living Kauri Tree in New Zealand. The trunk height was 17.7 meters, the total height was 51.5 meters and the trunk girth was 13.8 meters (imagine, 45 feet around!) It was massive. We took a couple of pictures of it… but you really can’t grasp how big it is just from the photo. They estimate the tree is about 2000 years old!

After this stop we headed on into Auckland. Part of the way there, Steve took over the driving. I think he’s got it all figured out now… he hardly ever turns on the windshield wipers instead of the signal lights anymore!

While Fran and Sheree went to their show Steve and I went for dinner and walked around downtown Auckland a bit. I found a bookstore that had some decent $5 bargain books and bought a few!

After the show we headed home and met Manaia, Hawaiki and Sheree’s husband Hoori. We visited for a bit, but were pretty tired so headed to bed shortly after that.