I am excited to go home tomorrow. I like New Zealand, but I am excited to see my bedroom and go back to school on Friday.

We are in Auckland to catch our plane. First we fly to LA and then to Seattle. Aunt Crystal will meet us at the airport.

In Auckland we went up to Sky Tower. It was scary for me to be up that high. Mom and dad walked around, but I sat in a chair. Some of the floor was glass. Here are dad’s feet.

Some people pay money to jump off the tower. I did not want to do that. We saw a man and 2 women do the jump.

Here is the size of the Sky Tower that I liked best.

We took a bus ride all around Auckland. It was pretty fun. Then we got to go to the library! Now we are packing up to go home.

Good bye New Zealand. Thanks for a good time!

Posted: April 28th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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Kauri trees were cut down a long time ago. Now you can’t cut them down anymore. But you can dig up the stumps that got buried a long time ago. Some of the wood is 25,000 years old. We went to the Kauri forest. Some of the trees there are 2,000 years old. We saw the biggest Kauri tree.

Tane Mahuta means “God of the Forest”.

We took a walk to see other big trees. We had to pay a man $2 to watch our car while we walked so nobody would break in to it. The police in New Zealand don’t carry guns.

Here are the “Four Sisters”

Here is Te Matua Ngahere. It means “Father of the Forest”. It’s not very tall but it is very big!

After we walked in the forest we went to a lookout over the ocean. There were big sand dunes there but we couldn’t get to them to go sledding again.

After dinner we played Dominos. It was a fun day.

Posted: April 28th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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We went back to Little Earth Lodge for the weekend. I was happy to see Tom and Jerry again. They were happy to see me too.

On Sunday after church we drove out of town to meet Jacob’s friend, Nigel. Jacob met him in France in October. I had fun playing with his kids. They have a cool hut. We had ice cream and cookies. Then we took a picture. His family is good at making Maori warrior faces.

We went to the Hartleys for dinner again. There were more people this time and lots of good food. It was our last Sunday in New Zealand.

Posted: April 28th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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Our hostel is on a farm with cows, sheep, pigs, turkeys, cats and dogs. I finally get my own room!

Surprise! As soon as we got there mom and dad took me out tramping. We had to go through the cows to get there. I had to watch out for cow droppings.

It was a big climb and I needed a rest part way up.

I was glad to get to the top! There was lots to see from up there.

On the way down we went the wrong way. This black cow was not happy that we walked so close. It made a mean sound but then it ran away.

One tramp is never enough for my parents. The next day we climbed Tara Tara Rock.

It is a sacred Maori place and not many people hike up there. First we had to get through the sticker bushes.

Then we had to go through cow fields again so we had to watch out for cow poop and loose rocks.

I don’t know why we can’t go on easy walks! Then we had to look for pink markers in the trees so we would stay on the trail.

In the end it got too steep for me so mom stayed with me and dad went to the very top. He said I got almost to the top. I tried hard. It was hard going down parts of the trail and we had to keep looking for the pink markers.

I was proud of dad going to the top. He was up really high!

Here is a rock that we saw. I was happy it didn’t come loose and hit me on the head.

Posted: April 23rd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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When we went to the south island, we went to Bluff at the very bottom. On the north island we went to Cape Reinga at the very top. We saw where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea.

There is a lighthouse at Cape Reinga and highway signs too just like in Bluff.

We took a bus so we could ride on 90 mile beach (it’s really only 63 miles). This is where we started.

We stopped by the sand dunes and went sledding. It was cool.

My first time I crashed at the bottom and just sand up my shirt and my mouth.

But I went up again and again.

Later we stopped at a white sand beach. It is so small that it falls out of your hands and it squeaks under your feet.

Our last stop was at Kauri Kingdom where they sell things made from Kauri wood that 45,000 years old! There was a cool staircase that someone carved from a huge stump. Dad wanted to take it home but it wasn’t for sale.

I liked this cool chair. It is called “The Flame.”

Then dad found this coach and wanted to buy it, but mom said it cost too much money.

Posted: April 23rd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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We rode on 5 boats when we were in the Bay of Islands. The first boat took us on a tour of the islands. It was a big boat and we saw dolphins swimming and jumping.

Then we went out to Hole in the Rock. The boat went through the hole and I almost touched the side.

We got off on one island so I could go swimming in Cable Bay. We had to hike fast and swim fast so that we wouldn’t miss the boat back.

The water in the bay was clean and blue.

At the dock there was a Maori gate that we hadn’t seen on our way out.

The boat that picked us up was the fast ferry and it went really fast. I like fast!

The next day we took another boat ride to a little town called Russell.  The ferry man told us to sit on top and enjoy the view. When Captain Cook was exploring he counted 144 islands in the Bay of Islands.

We saw the oldest Anglican church in New Zealand.

The town is so small that the police man’s house is the police station too. I put my hands up just in case I did something wrong and the police arrested me.

This was my favorite sign in Russell.

The next day I went parasailing! I went all by myself. I had to wear a special belt to hook on to the parachute.

Mom was so busy taking a movie of me flying that she forgot to take my picture. The rope was 1200 meters long so I went way up high. I saw lots of things up there and my toes too. The man who owned the boat is from New Jersey where my brother Joe lives. Dad said I was going to die up there, but I had lots of fun!

Posted: April 23rd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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The sun was shining when we hiked to Cathedral Cove. The walk wasn’t too long and when we got there I got to swim in the Pacific Ocean.

The rocks there were really big and cool. Here we are on one side of the arch.

And here I am on the other side where the water was perfect for swimming.

Later we went to Coromandel town to ride on the Driving Creek Railway. A famous potter built the tracks himself to bring his clay down from the mountain.

There were 3 tunnels and lots of things to look at on the way up the mountain.

At the top of the railway was the “Eyefull Tower” because you get an eyefull up there.

I had a good time riding on the little train.

Posted: April 23rd, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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I don’t know why but my mom and dad are always finding things to make me climb. Today is was Mt. Maunganui. The wind was blowing hard and the path was steep and narrow. The ocean was right below us and I was a little scared. But at the top we could see 2 cities and boats in the bay and in the ocean. So I was glad I climbed to the top.

We also saw the world’s biggest kiwi but you can’t eat it.

I love to eat kiwis. They are my favorite. They grow all over NZ, but they won’t be ripe until it’s time for us to go home.

Posted: April 15th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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We went to a honey factory near Napier and I tasted all the honey samples.

Dad bought some honey for my pancakes too. Did you know that one bee only makes 1 teaspoon of honey in their life time? We watched a funny movie about bees. I was happy the bees came into the building inside a tube. I did not want to get stung by a bee.

We went to a cheese factory. Dad tasted the cheeses and then he bought some.

I was getting tired of peanut butter and jam sandwiches so now I can have cheese sandwiches. We always make our lunch on the hood of the car. Sometimes we have fun things to look at when we eat like the ocean.

Or at the top of a lookout.

We finally had time in Napier so I could go to the library. I read a book about Beethoven and a book about how to play chess. Lots of the hostels have chess games.

Then we went to Tokomaru Bay. It is so little they don’t have a library, but they have a Mormon church. I got to go wave jumping in the Pacific Ocean. A crab pinched my toe! He pinched mom’s too. Some of the waves were so big that they knocked us down.

We got to stay in our own cabin at the hostel. I liked it. There were lots of beds in there and we had our own sink for brushing our teeth. They gave us a torch because it was very dark and we had to walk down to our cabin. There were lots of stars in the sky. It was gorgious.

Then when we were driving again, there were horses blocking the road. Dad honked and they ran away. There was also a cow in the middle of the road. Dad says there is a phone number to call to report animals in the road.

Posted: April 15th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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That’s me eating a hamburger with a gluten free bun. I was so excited to get to eat a hamburger bun. It was the biggest and the best! We just got water to drink, but I liked the cup.

I want to order the ’special’ milkshake.

In Taupo we went to the Waikato River and got in by where the hot spring is. It was funny to sit in there with HOT water on one side of me and COLD water on the other side of me.

We went to Huka Falls too. The water moves really fast there. One boy drowned in the river over the weekend. We finally saw a Tui bird there and heard it sing.

That night we walked along Lake Taupo. It is the biggest lake in NZ. A teen-age swam across it last week. We read about it in the newspaper. We saw the sunset. It was beautiful.

Posted: April 15th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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