Fiji

During our spring break, we went to a place called Fiji.It is a 3 hour flight from Auckland. We learned to speak a little Fijian while we were there. "Bula" means hello and "Vinaka" means thank you. There were tons of interesting reptiles and animals. Here's what we saw:

• Fijian monkey faced bats
• Cane toads
• sharks
• geckos
• fish
• parakeets
• parrot
• turtles

....and we saw those all in the wild!!!

I also got to ride a jet ski and go on a cruise to a small island. On the cruise, I met a new friend from Australia.
It is very HUMID in Fiji!!!! It also rained a little bit in the morning.

This is a cane toad. It has glands with poison that can harm other animals. I picked one up!

Monkey faced bat!

Me on the jet ski.

My new friend, Noah.

Eco-Zip Adventure

me and my family getting ready.

We took a ferry to Waiheke Island and did the Eco-Zip Adventure. It was a series of three zip-lines. The first one was a gentle but fast descent. The second one was a little faster and also the longest zip. The third was AWESOME! It was the highest, fastest, and by far the best one! After the zip line, we did a hike back and  our guide, Morgan, told us interesting facts about the forest. Supple Jack vine hangs down from rainforest trees and can be cut open for a half cup of water. We also saw a Puriri tree which is considered the mother of the forest by the Maori because it flowers and produces fruit all year. It also is where the ghost moth burrows for 5-7 years. When the moth comes out, it only lives 2 days! Next, we saw the Totara Tree which is a very strong and straight tree that can grow to 40-50 meters and be as wide as 7 feet. Totara is used as a word for "mana" by the Maori and it means strength, honor and humility. 

Queenstown

We ended our camper van trip in Queenstown. It is known as the adventure capital of New Zealand. First, we did the Shotover Jet. It was thrilling! With 360 degree spins and narrow misses on the rockface, it was by far the most action-packed part of our trip. Except, of course, the Skyline Luge. To get to the luge, you go on  a steep gondola and then take a short ride on a chairlift. You are up really high! You start out by getting safety instructions and then you are ready to roll. The cart is on a wide concrete path so you have to steer or you might go off the track. It's fast paced, gravity powered fun! 

  
We ended our time in Queenstown by taking a cruise though the fiord lands. We took a cruise across Lake Manapouri, then did a bus tour of the Manapouri Power Plant. It is the largest(and only) underground Hydroelectric power station. Another thing is that it is a remote controlled station. Running at full capacity it could power 85% of the South Island.

After the power plant tour, we got on another boat to take a cruise on the Doubtful Sound. We saw seals at the mouth of the sound and the boat ride got a little bumpy when we made it all the way out to the Tasman Sea. The fiord lands are very green and filled with many kinds of trees and ferns and also seals, penguins and bottlenose dolphins. The Doubtful Sound was named by Captain Cook in 1770 because he wasn't sure if it was safe to sail there.   

Manapouri Power Station

 
  

This is what is underground at the power station

                                    

The top deck of the boat was really windy

This NZ flag is red because it's on a boat

Another view of fiord lands

Seals

Puzzling World

After the Franz Josef glacier, we drove to the town of Wanaka and visited a place called Puzzling World. It was a place that had a lot of illusions, holograms and mind tricks. It also had a labyrinth, which means a multi-level maze. It was the biggest maze I had ever seen! It took us a looooooooooooooong time to get out. One of the coolest things there was a room that was tilted on its side. You could lean really far forward and not fall. Other cool parts were the room with a wall of 3D faces that seemed to follow you around. And we really liked the room that created the illusion of one person as a giant and the other person as super short.  I hope we can go there again.

South Island: Part 2

When I left off, we were at Punakaiki Rocks. After that we got back in our camper van and headed toward the town of  Greymouth.  We stopped at a place called Bullers Gorge and walked on a swing bridge. The area had a whole lot of BEES!*  After the swing bridge,we did a hike and saw a native Zealand bird called a weka. We thought it was a kiwi but then we saw a sign and realized kiwi only come out at night. We got to Greymouth in the late afternoon and went to the nearest beach which was right next to our camp site. I built a teepee made out of sticks with my brother and we looked for jade, a sacred stone that you can actually find on the beach.
 In the morning, we had breakfast in the camper van and headed to the Franz  Josef glacier. The person who discovered it is named Julius Von Haast but he named it after an emperor, Franz Josef 1 of Austria.  
We got within 200 meters of the glacier, but chunks of ice fall daily so its not safe to get too close.
The glacier is 12 km(7.5 miles) long and is unique because its base is only 300 meters above sea level.   The glacier has about 250,000 visitors a year!

Building teepee at Greymouth Beach

Here's a Weka

Getting ready to walk to the glacier

Here's the glacier...watch out for falling rocks and ice!

Hiking back down

Doing a flip on the trampoline at the Franz Josef camp site...

*see post "bees" coming soon

South Island

Wow, it has been  a long time since I have done a blog post so here is a quick briefing on where I've been. First, we flew into Christchurch. From there, we picked up a large camper van and drove to a town called Hanmer Springs . This town has a hot pools complex which includes thermal soaking pools and 2 water slides. There's also a place to ski there in the winter.

Here's our first night in the camper van

We encountered lots of sheep while driving on the South Island

  Next we headed toward Abel Tasman Park and stopped on the way to see the Oharu seal colony.
It was funny watching the seals play around on the rocks.

Here is one of the seals at the Ohau Seal Colony...on our way to Pohara.

 We drove on a road called Takaka Hill which is actually a very steep mountain  road. We spent the night in a town called Pohara and our camp site was right by the beach. The next day was a long drive. We got to see the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowhole.  The rocks are made of limestone and are 30,000,000 years old! If you get there at high tide, the waves crash against the rocks and  water blasts up through the blowhole.

Famous Punakaiki Blowhole

Birds resting on the pancake rocks

Stay tuned for South Island Part 2!





                                                          

Hobbiton

Last week we went to Hobbiton. It is the set where The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. We have lots of pictures. Here are a few:

here is a picture of a Hobbit Hole.

 

Day 21

Last week we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and went to Hot Water Beach. Its a place written about in all the guidebooks and it was kind of crowded.  We brought a shovel because if you dig really deep, you find water the temperature of a hot tub! We actually were successful but we had to dig really deep.  

here are some photos.

here are some of us digging a hole.

 The next day we went to a place called Cathedral Cove. It was about a 20 minute hike to get to the beach but it was worth it. It had big waves and huge rocks scattered along the coastline and a tunnel through the mountain. Here are more pictures from Cathedral Cove... 

Day 16

Last week we went to Murwai Beach.It is known as the black sand beach and is about an hour and a half north of where we are staying. I noticed it had BIG WAVES!!! The sand actually is black!

Here we are getting ready to boogie board

We saw a jellyfish on the beach!

Some gannets on the rocks

We rented boogie boards and surfed a lot with them. We had to stay between flags because that's where the lifeguard patrols and there is a strong current. Murwai Beach is home to a colony of Gannets. The Gannets look a lot like seagulls.The mom lays one egg and when the baby hatches, it practices flapping its wings in the nest. On its first flight, it goes all the way to Australia! In two to  six years, it returns to the exact same spot.

Day 11

Here we are at North Head.

We have been spending time with a family that moved here from lake oswego.their kids are  Jack (12) And Keelan(15). We went to a beach near their house.It had a rope swing!!!

On Saturday, we went to a town called Devonport. We took two ferries to get there. We tried fish and chips which is a popular meal in New Zealand.

I went to a park called North Head. It's a World War One and Two military site where they have secret underground tunnels and disappearing guns. They are called disappearing because they could be hidden from approaching enemies. North Head overlooks the harbor and the Hauraki Gulf  and sits up really high above the water. This made it a good place to see what was happening in the water down below.

here are two more pictures of  North Head.

Day 5

Today we swam on St. Heliers Beach, which faces Rangitoto Island.There is a volcano on the island that erupted 600 years ago .It is the largest and youngest of about 50 volcanoes in the Auckland area. Scientists think it will never erupt again.
Don't worry because there weren't any sharks in the water where I went swimming. )On the beach, I gathered a total of 410 shells! Afterward, we went out into the town.
 (I cannot wait until after dinner! I know, I know BECAUSSSSSSSSSE? well, its because we are having Hokey pokey ice cream!). Today was a mild day and that is pretty much it!                                    

Here is a photo of St. Heliers Beach. Rangitoto Island is in the background.

Day 4

Here we are at the Sky Tower:

    
Sorry I couldn't blog yesterday. There was a lot going on. We went to the Sky Tower downtown and took the ferry to get there. We walked the rest of the way. I bought a stuffed sheep because there are 4,000,000 people in New Zealand and 60,000,000 sheep. Today wasn't very exciting, unless you count making a game exciting.The game was called Catapults and Castles! Basically,one person builds a castle using banana grams, and the other person tries to knock it down by flicking banana grams at it.Today our homeschooling started. Oh, by the way, there is a new flavor of ice cream here. It is called Hokey Pokey ice cream. I had some, and it tasted so good! We have it in our freezer. Well, that's pretty much it for day four. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying my blog!

Here I am on the ferry back from Auckland:

Day 2

the pictures are finally here.

 

here is a picture of me climbing a tree:

 

 

 here is one of the beach:

here is one of our house:

  





here is  a picture of me jumping off a hill: