Bay of Islands Oct 2013

We had our very first "real" holiday this week.  We decided to go up to the bay of islands and tour around for a couple of days (so only a two night holiday).  We had a few car sick children on the way up...but thankfully it was only one way and our trip back down was peaceful...we have a portable DVD player (which is 4 or 5 years old now) and it has proven to be very valuable for long car journeys!!

So after driving for 3 and a half hours we checked in to our Motel, had lunch and went up to the Waitangi Treaty grounds.  Here the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on Feb 6th 1840.

Very hyper children after a long car ride!

Waiting for our tour to begin at Waitangi

Poor Owen was still feeling unwell... :(

The very looong waka (canoe) built for a special occasion (centennial or something like that)  Waka's are not normally this long as it would be hard to maneuver up rivers.  Made out of three Kauri trees.

 On day 2 of our holiday we decided to go over to Russell or Kororareka (Maori for sweet penguin)

So first a ferry trip over....

Waiting to board the ferry

On the ferry

the bay

Mr Smith

Looking back at Paihia

Daddy and Amelia went up front to get a better view and then the Captain let Amelia steer for a wee bit

Keith!!

The oldest church in New Zealand (Russell)

The cushions were covered with handmade tapestry...which varied from flowers, ships, birds etc!

In the front of the church

Russell beach.  It happened to be a very windy day.

Cannon, cannon ball and two boys

Amelia and an amazing tree!!

See what I mean?  Oh and behind is the old customs house in Russell

Back in Paihia we found this.  It mentions that the first mission ship "Herald" was first launched here.

 And on our last day (3) we went to see a few mission houses...Te Waimate was first.  It was the first inland mission.  Unfortunately we didn't check when it was opened...oops!

Te Waimate

Amelia in aviators

Te Waimate church and cemetery

 Next stop was Kerikeri

Having lunch in Kerikeri

Looking towards Kerikeri mission house and stone store

Stone store built 1832-1836 absolutely gorgeous building!  We also toured the mission house behind it.

And then we drove back home...and welcomed Auckland traffic!  It could've been worse though.

Although it was busy holidaying with the children, I still really enjoyed learning more about NZ's history.  

And now back to routine...sort of!  Next week is Gisborne communion, and Amelia starts swimming lessons all being well exciting for her. :)  All right off I go, I really need to get the house tidied up for tomorrow!

I forgot!

Because not everybody has Facebook...I thought I should let you all know that we have been approved visa's for another 2 years!  And hopefully after one year we can apply for permanent residence!  Very exciting!

School holidays

I'm not really good at keeping a blog anymore am I?  I'm guessing it's because I have four children and all of them are very active (which they should be right?).  Sometimes I look at them and say "Wow I only have four children!",and other times I look at them while they are running and screaming at the top of their lungs and I say, "Ahhh I have four children!"  I love them. :)

 

 Amelia has been wanting this lovely baby cot for awhile and since Aunt Jackie & fam gave her some money for her birthday we decided to put it towards this.  It was fun putting it together.  I'm afraid I have lots of Kuiper blood in me so yes lots of building ideas spring in my head, and when a small project comes up like this it is exciting. 

 I gave the camera to Aaron so he could try out his photography skills... he did pretty good I think.

 And the finishing touches from Amelia.

 Here is Amelia on her bike again.

 Aaron

 My girl being a girl and picking random flowers from the yard.

 Owen and a funny look.

 Mr. Keith

We are on school holidays right now and enjoying it very much! Nothing else is really happening at the moment but no news is usually good news as they say. :)