(Ok who’d have though internet access once off the ship would be much more problemantic than on the ship!)
So we spent the evening at Hururu Falls which was really scenic and nice. The campsite next to us gave permission for the boys to use their pool and did a small Guy Fawkes firework display that evening that we watched from our campsite in jammies. Peter of course got his Fish n’ chips takeaway from a place called Shippeys that was a restored ship. We had a nice sleep in except for Grant waking up at 1 am and announcing that he was up, couldn’t sleep anymore and wanted breakfast. I woke up sometime in the night with no recollection to where we were.. home, ship, country, I couldn’t place anything and it made me slightly panicky. Pete rolled over and grumped “New Zealand” and I had to work my way backwards to figure out where we were and why.
Hururu Falls by our campervan and campsite…
The next day we made our way over to Kerikeri to this StoneHouse store/museum and Maori fishing village. When we visited here the last time the place was so incredibly full of tourists that you could hardly move. This time we were one of 2 cars in the parking lot. We had full run of the Maori fishing village and then wandered over to the Stone house where weirdly we ran into the family from the cruise ship that had the only other kid (on the Sydney/New Zealand leg).
Maori Fishing village in Kerikeri
The Stone House in Kerikeri one of the first European settler buildings in New Zealand (1836)
After a quick lunch we headed over to the campsite we were staying at for the night. This campsite that was on a Kiwi reserve and Kiwi birds were meant to roam at night. There are CAUTION: KIWI CROSSING signs all over this area and at the campsite there’s a little informational place that tells you all about Kiwi, the sounds they make and all sorts of info and this sweet little bird. So, for those unfamiliar with Kiwi birds, they are nocturnal, brown, maybe around the size of a duck and a flightless bird. They have horrible eyesight and even in the dark humans apparently have better eyesight than they do. The female lays this ENORMOUS egg that makes women giving birth seem like a cakewalk. The male bird then sits on top the egg and doesn’t eat for around 90 days til it hatches. They female calls out in the night and the male answers the call. They information place gave us 3 flashlights with red lights (they’re can see the regular lights) and told us where to go.
Because they’re nocturnal we had a few hours to burn and we walked down to the waterfront and found a little handmade swing made from a small log tied to a tree. We sat and watched the tide go out and the boys laughing their heads off pushing each other around on the swing.
Kiwi Reserve:
Once it got darker we were ready to go on our kiwi hunt. I was worried that we wouldn’t recognize the calls but they’re pretty distinct. The boys thought it was quite an adventure walking around these trails in the dark with their special flashlights. Unfortunately, we started the walk quite late and they were pretty tired so we heard them but didn’t actually see any. However, I was woken in the middle of the night by the calls right next to our camper and poked my head up in time to see one in the moonlight scurrying into the bush right behind our camper. There were plenty around and they kept me up the rest of the night but everyone else seemed to easily sleep through it. Pretty cool though.
We got another late start out of the Kiwi conservation place and headed out today with no plan. We drove further north and enjoyed the scenery and ended up at (yet another) fish and chip shop at a place called Manganui Fish Shop. We had a nice lunch and headed back down to our next place. We had to make a stop at Warehouse (sort of like Target or Walmart) to get little Henry a birthday present. We fly from Auckland to Christchurch on a really late flight the night before his birthday and I couldn’t have him wake up to not a single present. I have sort of prepped him about it not being a traditional birthday and that on his birthday I’d look online with him and he could choose a present that we’d have shipped home waiting for us when we got back to Bellevue. He seemed to be excited about that.
We’ve stopped for the night at place called Matauri Bay. It’s cold and overcast but that didn’t stop Henry aka Beach Dood from running around getting completely full of sand. This kid loves a beach no matter what the weather. The campground place seemed to be apologetic about the weather and told us we could stay tomorrow til 5pm if the weather turned nice. We’re definitely here out of peak season and it’s such a contrast to the last time we were here. No real plans for tomorrow so we’ll see what the weather looks like and figure it all out then.
Can’t beat the view out of the window from our bed in the camper:
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