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| Rocky & Daniel at Miyazu Gardens Nelson |
Rocky & Daniel flew into Auckland the week before Christmas. The plan had been to stay with Uncle Wayne & Aunty Kate, but W's Covid changed that. A quick booking of an airport hotel allowed them in and out of Auckland pretty efficiently, although the time difference (5 Hrs) almost caused a missed flight the next morning!
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| Nana telling a great story 😊 |
Bill & I met them at Nelson airport and as they'd hardly eaten, we were straight into the Speights Ale House for a delicious lunch. Our friend Fran had kindly offered her home once again to the homeless Tylers. And her neighbour across the road offered her driveway to park our Bus up as we continued to stay in it.
That afternoon we visited Joan. Her dementia varies so much from day to day. Although she often struggles to remember what she did yesterday, or what day it is, she does remember the Family. So Rocky had a lovely catch up with her Nana.😍
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| Great catch up with Aunt & Cousin |
The seven days they had in Nelson before crossing over to the North Island were full on for R&D as Rocky wanted to show Daniel every part of Nelson / Tasman and Golden Bay 😚. We walked up the Centre of New Zealand which gives visitors an appreciation of Nelson and it's harbour. Rochelle managed to fit in a trip to Golden Bay, via Harwood's Hole (an adventure in it's self) to catch up with good friends from Western Australia - Jana & Drew and their 3 gorgeous children. Also staying the night in one of their Glamping Tents which is Jana & Drew's new adventure after a few long years of planning and bringing it altogether. Check out driftoffgrid.com for their luxury Eco Glamping experience.
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| Michele, Daniel, Nathan, Kris & Rocky at the Bannings - where is Nora 😮 |
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| Tylers Road Trip to Picton |
A water taxi ride & walk in the Able Tasman was on Rocky's list, combining it with catching up with school friend Holly & partner Sonny. Here it was discovered that Daniel had never been up a mountain, and Holly being an energetic outdoor person (along with Sonny) made a plan to go up Ben Nevis (1619m) two days later. But in between, as a day off, R&D borrowed Bill's and my ebikes which they loved. When we were over in Aussie, Rocky had me on their tracking app so she could keep an eye on us when we were over there. Making sure we never got lost! So I did the same with her phone while she was here, and saw their trip to Rabbit Island had a few interesting turns on it. 😂.
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| Picton looking all Christmassy but a tad wet! |
Daniel loved the trek up Ben Nevis, not sure Rocky was as rapped. Although hot and sunny in Richmond that day, the four adventurer's had all 4 seasons up the mountain as mountains quite often offer. A reminder of always being prepared. And take your jacket Daniel!
After catching up with old friends Vicki & Trevor and their Families home for Christmas, we headed over to Picton late afternoon. All four of us in the Bus, towing the Suzuki. Onto Wellington on a 2.30am sailing Christmas Eve. A new experience for us all. Not much to do that time of night / morning, even after trying to catch a couple of hours sleep parked up across the road from the Ferry Terminal. Thankfully we only had a ten minute drive to Shannon and AC's once we arrived into Wellington soon after 7am.
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| What you do on an overnight ferry trip 😴 |
Christmas Eve in Wellington City is reasonably quiet, so there was plenty of space to park up the Bus across the road and park the car in S&A's building. Thank goodness for the lift - making it easy to take all our food and gear up to S&A's 5th floor. Shannon and AC headed away Christmas Eve to his family in Auckland so we had missed seeing them by a couple of hours but kindly allowed us to make ourselves at home for Christmas.
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| Not a great start to Christmas morning 😟 |
With no little ones with us for Christmas (I know Rochelle, you'll always be my Wee Girl), Santa doesn't have too much to deliver these days. It was nice to have a relaxed Christmas Day looking out over a picturesque Evan Bay. Rocky unfortunately wasn't feeling the best (had to drink most of the wine myself so it didn't go off) . Bill took Daniel for a bike ride around the Mirima Peninsula for the morning. With Daniel having being away from his usual activity of surfing most days, we (Rocky & I) realised Daniel needs his surfs to burn off his accumulating energy! Therefore we had to keep planning to keep Daniel active or he didn't know what to do with himself. 😏
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| Bill & his mate Bentley |
The weather was so lovely, even I got into the sea along with Rocky & Daniel in the afternoon out to the new pontoon opposite S&A's (well I got into the water - didn't join R&D out to the pontoon). Bill just relaxed with Bentley on the beach. Well Bentley relaxed with Bill, not sure Bill relaxed with Bentley.😉
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| R&D out paddle boarding Evans Bay |
Boxing Day bought in a pod of Orca into the Bay - a wondrous sight. Daniel was out on AC's paddle board but away far enough from the Orca's to believe they were just big dolphins. You haven't had that experience at home Daniel 😲! We packed up after lunch and headed up to the Godfather's for the night, at Ohau. He hadn't checked out Daniel as yet, so thought it was high time he meet his Goddaughters partner after 9 years.
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| Beautiful day's travel thru central North Island |
John & Sarah had both their boys home for Christmas, and Finn's partner Hannah. It was a lovely catch up for us all. And thankfully, Daniel passed Rocky's Godfather's assessment. We headed off separately the next day for Taupo - R&D in the Suzuki and Bill & I in the Bus. It was a perfect day (maybe a tad hot in our unaircon Bus) for travelling through the Rangitikei / King Country through to the top of Lake Taupo to Whakaipo Bay. Note to self: don't travel at this time of year again, the traffic just crawls through all the small towns, starting up to 10km out of each town. R&D did manage a quick dip in the Waipakihi River just before Turangi - it would have certainly brought the body temperature down a degree or 10.
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| Water a tad cold Daniel? |
Bill & I have stayed at Whakaipo Bay Doc Camp a few times, and being after 7pm on December 27th, we were a bit worried about how busy it would be. Well! It was busy alright. But that time of night, we still found a wee spot for small Bus and a tiny tent, and we mingled amongst the masses. But I must say, for all the campers there it was a pretty quiet night
We were up and away the next morning, heading off separately once again so Rocky could show NZ off to Daniel on their way to Tauranga - our next destination. We stayed with brother Wayne (now over covid) & Kate, son's AJ (and 3 x Girls) and James & Katie (and their Alsatian - Lexi) at a house they were hiring. R&D were staying with Paull & Marta at their home, along with Simon & Nicki (and 2 x Girls). Thankfully P&M have a pool which we all spent most of the next day after a morning walk around the area as the day heated up. Daniel managed a surf at the Mount on a borrowed board off a friend of Paull's. A wee taste of surfing in NZ this trip. (Daniel was out 5 years earlier with a mate to surf some North Island beaches.
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| A little crowded camping at Taupo |
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| A Daddy / Daughter moment 💕 |
The next day a group of us headed off to Rotorua to do the Luge - a fun day out. Paull unfortunately had had an operation on his hand which prevented him from participating, so he kept his Aunty company while everyone else in the group went luging. Someone had to take photo's! After our return to Tauranga, we headed onto Waihi Beach to catch up with another brother/uncle Graeme & Claire.
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| Boy's moment - Great Nephew. Brother, Nephew, Hubby and Nephew |
It was lovely to be parked up on the beach once again, although a little sad this time as it will be our last stay right on the beach with G&C moving on from here to their own home in March a couple of streets back. But gratefully still in Waihi Beach 👏. Daniel managed another couple of surfs here too although the sea was a little rough.
Abby & Ben were over from Aussie too, along with great niece Evie ("do you know I'm turning 5 soon and going to school"💕) and great nephew Charlie whom we hadn't met before. It was lovely catching up with them all too. They departed for Auckland for New Years Eve as R&D departed for Tauranga to Paull & Marta's once again. We stayed on at Waihi Beach and saw the New Year in after a crappy movie G&C. Good company though 🍾🥂🎉🎈
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| Great way to spend a hot day - with great Nieces |
We managed to catch up with Shannon and AC at Tairua (before the flooding that cut them off at Matarangi on the Coromandel) for lunch the day before R&D flew back to Aussie. Again note to self - DON'T TRAVEL THIS TIME OF THE YEAR! We crawled for about 20 minutes into Tairua from the South, and S&A from the North for an hour's lunch catch up. At least on the way back to Waihi Beach we called into a few Bay's to show Daniel some more surf beaches - I think a return to Whangamata is on the list for next trip.
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| Fun day out in Rotorua - at the Gondolas |
The next day, it was back in the traffic to drop R&D off at Auckland airport. A sad goodbye (even sadder was the coffee in a very grubby McDonalds 😒) - Bye bye till you're next out Rocky & Daniel or we come back over.🤞 It was lovely having you over to show NZ off at it's peak time.
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| Bill and Daniel sharing a photo shot! |
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| Yummy left overs (you can guess which ones were for Bill) |
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| Enjoying our last days on Waihi Beach Front with Graeme & Claire |
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| Looking out over Pauanui from Tairua Lookout |
