Tour de Napier

Definition of Style

Not as easy as it looks :)
Brookfields Vineyard (Our Favorite)
Vines at Mission Vineyard

After Rotorua we went to Napier (Hawks Bay region) which is known for its wine vineyards. Napier was also very beautiful. We wanted to get jobs at some local vineyards, but the timing was not quite ripe…I mean right;) We decided to go on a wine tour instead. Of course we wanted to go in style, so we chose to rent tandem bikes and wear classy helmets while we went from vineyard to vineyard learning about the wine making process. We had so much fun. We went to four different vineyards: Brookfields, Church Hill, Mission, and the fourth one I don't remember(not because of the wine, because of my bad memory:). All in all we rode 20 miles by the end of the day.

Zorbing in Rotorua

Before the Madness

After the Madness

When we arrived in Rotorua we were taken back by the horrible stench of sulphur in the air. Actually, I think Natalie kind of liked it, strange. Rotorua is a very thermal city, full of hot springs, volcanoes, and zorbing! Zorbing is a hilarious extreme activity native to New Zealand and we all have been looking forward to trying it since we arrived. The best way to picture it is to imagine a giant inflatable hamster ball with a second smaller ball inside- or just check out the pictures. We arrived in Rotoroa with Zorbing in mind. We made our way to the Zorbing hill and changed into our swimsuits and shorts. Natalie and I decided to Zorb together. We were driven up the hill, we hopped inside the tiny little opening in the side of the Zorb ball, they shot a few inches of water in it with us (warm water since we weren't from Australia or Auckland)..and we were off!....tumbling and laughing our faces off! WE WERE LAUGHING SO HARD! The whole process was quite amusing and a complete blast. The video doesn’t make it look that exciting, but on the inside we were spinning around, rolling on each other and crashing into the rubbery walls of the Zorb. It was like a crazy water ride. Watch Natalie trip right when we get out of the Zorb, she was pretty dizzy. It was funny. (video's below)

Narnia and Cathedral Cove

Natalie swinging on the beach in Hahei

They had to pry me off Entrance into Narnia

Natalie and Maegen...Natalie's idea, need I say more...

Stroll through Narnia

Another awesome rock

After Raglan we went to the Coromandel peninsula(on the central east coast) to a very quaint little town called Hahei. There was a beautiful beach just outside our hostel. As we walk along the beach we climbed the rocks and swung on a rope swing and the waves would come crashing under our feet. The next day we went to Cathedral Cove, which was about a 45 minute hike from our hostel. Cathedral Cove is in the opening scene of Prince Caspian when the four sons of adam and daughters of eve first enter Narnia. We got great photos, but the best part was that we had the beach all to ourselves. You could only go through the cave at low tide, so we timed it just right. We were able to walk through this huge cave that opened up into what felt like another world. We explored the area and threw the Frisbee around. Johnny and I worked up a sweat so we decided to jump into the freezing Pacific. While in the waves, we decided to do some bodysurfing, it was awesome.

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Natalie and I at the base of the waterfall

Johnny and I before we freeze our tookish off

Just outside of Raglan was this awesome 150 foot waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls. We hiked around it and got some great photos. Before we went to the waterfall some of the other surfers at the hostel that we were staying at dared us all to jump in and swim around. They said it was some of the coldest water they have ever swam in, so of course Johnny and I jumped in and swam for about two minutes. Natalie and Maegen thought that we were going to get some kind of parasite, but we didn’t.

Raglan

Me catching a wave at "Shipwreck Bay" in Ahipara

Natalie on a nice little wave in Raglan

I love to surf and had hoped that I would get the opportunity to go often here. I thought I might be alone in this quest but as it turns out Natalie, Maegen and Johnny had all been bitten by the surf bug in Ahipara, so it was only natural that our next destination would be Raglan (on the west coast midland) where the surf is what its known for. We rented some boards and headed out to the beach and had a blast. I have been getting more confident and started using a short board and Natalie later started using my short board…which is awesome!!! Johnny and Maegen were shredding it up on a nice long board. Natalie wasn’t able to get many good pictures of me because I was pretty far from the beach, but I did get some good ones of her. She’s learning really quickly, and I am very impressed. Surfing still remains to be the hardest sport that I have ever tried. We really want to go back to this quaint surfing town when we go back to the north island.

Tane Mahuta

Tane Mahuta

"Lord of the Forest"

While we were still on the northern part of the north island we thought we would go visit the largest tree in New Zealand, it is a Kauri tree. The tree is named Tane Mahuta which means lord if the forest. It is 2000 years old, it is 51.5 meters tall, and the trunk girth is 13.8 meters. We had a 2 hour detour from our original destination to see the tree. While on the way we were joking that the tree is probably just a big tree and not that exciting, definitely not worth the 2 hour detour in the rain to get to it. After about 5 minutes into the walk to see Tane Mahuta we came into a clearing and all four of us gasped and stared in Awe of what was in front of us, Tane Mahuta was truly magnificent! Pictures really can’t do it justice. It was so huge and tall. Look at how small Natalie, Maegen, and Johnny are.

Ahipara and Endless Summer Lodge

Above is a photo of Ahipara, driving from Shipwreck Bay to Endless Summer Lodge. We stayed at the hostel for 9 days cleaning 1 hour a day for half price accommodation- which ended up being about $12 a person. It was a pretty great deal, because we would get our chores done in the morning and then have the rest of the day to surf! We surfed most days we were there. Johnny and Maegean tried it for the first time, Natalie for the second, and Bobby just got better and better! He acted as our own private surf instructor. It was great!

Endless Summer Lodge was an incredible hostel. Bebe and Paul (a really sweet young couple) were running it while the owners were on holiday. They were really cute, and the guys really like Paul. The house itself was one of the oldest villas in the area, and looked like a yellow plantation house. This is from the kitchen door down the main hall to the front door! We vacuumed and mopped this hall each morning. Not too shabby of a job when you look out and see the beautiful beach!