Happy New Year

Yet another first for our family in our new environment. Christmas has been rather difficult without the usual familiar faces. Our container finally arrived yesterday so we’ve been spending most of today unpacking boxes & sorting our home. Live will get easier now that we’re surrounded with some familiar items.

 

 

 

As for celebrations, we’re way too tired to go out & do something so for now will be heading off to bed & ring in the New Year in our dreams instead.

In the meantime, we’d like to wish all our followers the very best for the New Year.

Honey Centre New Zealand

We made a  quick stop at the honey centre on our way to the Bay of Islands for our African Safari Experience. They have an awesome display about bees & this is about as close as Jesse could safely get to the bees due to his allergy.

 

Now who said learning should be restricted to school terms? The thing I love most about home educating is that we can learn anywhere, anytime.

Merry Christmas

This is our first Christmas in New Zealand. It’s been hard without our relatives close over the last few days. Not having our stuff from SA yet also seems to cause some frustrations. Thanks to Kiwi generosity we were able to put up a Christmas tree to help us through the season.

Somehow I think the holidays will be the toughest to adjust to over the next few years.

As a family we’ll have to make our own new traditions to get through the transition.

Sea Shepherd Tour

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit, marine conservation organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. It uses direct action tactics to protect marine life. One of their vessels was on public display in our harbour this weekend.

  

Arataki Visitor Centre & Piha Beach

Took a drive out with Rean & Sanette today. They have some awesome views over Auckland from here but also a stunning Maori display.

Piha Beach is to the west of Auckland. We were told this is the best beach for surfing because of the waves.

Green & Blue Lake Lookout

 

Blue and Green Lakes Rotorua - Māori names are Lake Tikitapu and Lake Rotokakahi. These two lakes in Rotorua sit side by side and yes, one is blue and the other is green.

There is a point in between where it is high enough to view both and on a good day the difference is quite marked.

 

Lake Tikitapu (Green Lake) to the left & Lake Rotokakahi (Blue Lake) to the right

Green Lake

Lake Rotokakahi or Green Lake, is one of four small lakes lying between Lake Rotorua and Lake Tarawera in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. Rotokakahi means the lake of the shellfish "kakahi". Rotokakahi is sacred to Maori and Motutawa island in the middle of the lake is the burial ground of many Maori ancestors. The lake is privately owned by local iwi (tribes) and no swimming, fishing or boating is permitted.

The Green Lake is 21m (69ft) below the level of the Blue Lake. It has an outlet by way of Lake Tarawera (further along Tarawera Rd) which is then 98m (322ft) lower again than the Green Lake.

Blue Lake

Lake Tikitapu, the Blue Lake, is the closest to Rotorua and its clear, clean crystal blue water is popular with boaties, swimmers and water skiers. There is an easy walking track which encircles the lake with incredible views towards Rotokakahi, the Green Lake. A perfectly lovely spot for a picnic, there are delightful sandy beaches and grassed areas with barbeques and rubbish bins provided. is one of our more popular lakes that caters for swimming, water skiing, jet skiing, walking, running, biking, barbecues and all sorts of local events. It is one of our more popular lakes that caters for swimming, water skiing, jet skiing, walking, running, biking, barbecues and all sorts of local events.

As a collapsed volcanic crater, it is shallow as lakes go with the deepest section being about 27m. If you're looking at it from above, in certain lights it looks quite blue/aqua/turquoise in colour. This is due to it having a pumice and rhyolite bottom which the sun reflects up. It's roundish (about 5km) and takes about an hour to get around if walking at a brisk pace.  

Buried Village of Te Wairoa

Te Wairoa was established by the Christian missionary in 1848 as a model village, however Te Wairoa survived for fewer than 40 years before it, and the nearby Pink and White Terraces were obliterated by the eruption of Mt Tarawera. We went to view the excavated remains and hear the moving story of how one of New Zealand's greatest natural disasters buried a village beneath rock, ash and mud.