Rose Family Arrived!

Rose Family Visited Us for Christmas

Erika, Kenny, Zach, Tyler, Emma and Addy came to New Zealand for Christmas! What a wonderful Christmas we had with them. They arrived on December 21st.

We drove for 4 hours North to the Bay of Islands.
We stopped at Whangerai Falls

        

           

  

We spent 4 days in Paihia having fun and staying in a really nice 3 bedroom condo across the street from the Visitor Bay.  

We went on a tour excursion on the 90-mile beach. We stopped at a little store and restaurant. Inside was a giant Kauri tree inside.

We went to Cape Reinga to the Lighthouse. The Cape was literally engulfed in clouds.

We were unable to see the lighthouse until we hiked right up to it.

We were unable to see the ocean.

Just as we were leaving the clouds lifted a little so we could see the ocean. This is where the Tasman Sea and The Pacific Ocean meet.  It is supposed to be a tidal race where the two seas clash. We were unable to witness this because of the weather.

As we hiked the trail we saw amazing spider webs glistening with droplets of water.

We drove to the beach dunes where they all went "Sand Boarding" or "Boogie Boarding".

They loved it! Including grandpa!

I have some good video clips of all of them coming down, they are just not uploading well.

We stopped at a beach.

There was another rock formation - a smaller hole in the rock

Tyler and Zach had fun with a jellyfish they found washed ashore.

We wore grandpa out!

Look what we found at a Fish Shop!

We really liked this sign

On Saturday we went out to Hole in the Rock. 

It was rainy and windy

This is the lighthouse by Hole in the Rock

We were able to go through the Rock!

This is their cathedral cove

Watching another boat go through the Hole in the Rock

 The company has a little island they stop at for lunch. We enjoyed an hour of food and fun.

There were beautiful trees in purple blossoms.  The purple and white flowers were out.

After Church on Christmas Eve Day

 After Church we went to Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

            Bryce enjoying the view                     A tree had fallen over years ago and was still growing

Maori Mauri Area 

 Photo is taken with some of the performers.

There were some beautiful flowers at Waitangi.