Rotorua - Waimangu Volcanic Valley and Rainbow Springs

The day started off with a quick eat as much as you can cram in breakfast before the Grandparents were collected for their surprise belated birthday presents on the Rainforest Zip Lining Canopy tour. Well we loved it so much we didn't want them to miss out, and when in New Zealand it would only be fair embark and have a taste of a NZ activity!

So while the Chris and William were busying themselves flying through the rainforest....

.... we went walk about in Waimangu Volcanic Valley. In contrast to yesterday when we arrived the rain decided to hold back the lovely sun decided to grace us with its presence.

We had a fab little stroll along side steaming lakes and volcanic landscapes, totally unique and something you don't get to see every day, definitely worth the visit.

Rainbow Springs was our afternoon pit stop. Not massive by any means but great for the kids. Little walkways taking you round some cages with various NZ birds, lizards (including a few Tuataras), eels and so forth. But the two highlights have to be the kiwi house and The Big Splash. 

Being night birds the kiwis were housed in darkened rooms with red lights. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos but they were fascinating to watch - quite curious comical little creatures, the size of a chicken with quite skittish personalities dotting back and forth sticking their long beaks down into the soil.

And then there was the Big Splash, basically a little boat come log flume ride... winding its way trough the New Zealand themed land over time, from dinosaurs to the arrival of Maori and European settlers and then... the drop - probably the high light of the place for the boys.

The advantage (or disadvantage choosing which way you want to look at it) of it now being off-peak season is that we managed to go on it again, and again, and again.... However in order to break the cycle of giving the ride man a sense of continuous deja vu as we floated on by yet again, we eventually called it a day and headed back to Takapuna, as we have to say bon voyage to the Grandparents who are making tracks back to their green and pleasant land tomorrow.

Rotorua - Grill

Today was a wet day, and we headed back down towards Rotorua for another dose of eggy air. The Grandparents paid a quick visit to Te Puia to get a squiz at some bubbling mud, geyser and Maori culture while we headed over to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. Unfortunately it was slightly late in the day so we wouldn't have been able to do the whole walk, and given that the heavens decided to open, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel for a bite to eat.

It has to be said that Rotorua was so quiet compared to our previous visit just a few weeks ago - still less crowds can't be a bad thing!

Now our meal was something else. When Grandma saw her steak presented to her the look of pure shock on her face was priceless... a lovely slab of succulent red raw meat! But a little explanation by the waiter and soon all became clear...

A novel way to serve up a steak!

Mount Victoria & Devonport

Today we took the Grandparents to Devonport and up Mount Victoria. 

Devonport is a historic little town situated along the south tip of the North Shore. 

There is a naval base in Devonport and being the tail end of Anzac week we caught a group of people packing away some white crosses which filled the lawn, representing people who lost their lives in the wars. Some of the crosses had small photos of the young men along with their age, and I think it was quite an eye opener for the boys to visually see people who never made it home, and so sad to see how young some of them were.

Auckland Sky Tower Revolving Orbit Restaurant Birthday Dinner

Now anyone who knows me, I find airplane flights or little boats slightly challenging to say the least and spinning restaurants… well I left my last spinning restaurant in Toronto slightly on the green side, however thankfully my constitution has somewhat hardened, see there is a positive to ageing!

We arrived at the sky tower just as the sun was setting so were able to catch a squiz of Auckland at dusk and then up a few floors to The Orbit restaurant. 

Have to say the food, drink and service were first class and a good time was had by all. 

The boys found it most amusing with the fact that they had to go hunting for the toilets as they had moved every time. Also important to note… don’t put any coats or bags on the edge by the glass if you don’t want it to go walk about, as we found out fairly early on in our meal!

Now the taxi home to Takapuna was entertaining and again another first for the books, little Italian (very Italian I might add) taxi driver produced a little microphone, popped on some ABBA, and hey presto, had a little grandma singing her heart out all the way home, happy days!

Look on the boys faces says it all really!

A Revisit to Tiritiri Matangi Island Bird Sanctuary

Bird loving Grandma’s birthday today, so after a quick shower of balloons and early morning birthday sing song to wake up everyone else on the same corridor of the hotel, we drove over to Gulf Harbour to catch the ferry over to Tiritiri. Don’t know if it was the grandparents' influence but for once we were on time… rocked up a whole 30 minutes before… very unheard of for us and quite refreshing not to arrive at a destination, hearts a thumping, adrenaline racing wondering if you indeed will make it in time. 

Down at the harbour the boys went to have a look at the fish hanging around by the boats, and low and behold there below us in the shallows of the water was a large octopus - amazing. Have to say this was a first - never seen an octopus out there in the wild… always been cooped up in a little dark tank in some aquarium. So we spent a few moments watching this curious creature as it changed colour periodically and then finally swam off to deeper waters.

Now we've been to Tiritiri before but it was fabulous once again. As our previous visit we opted for the guided tour by one of the volunteers… honestly... initially it felt slightly a teeny bit on the slow side, but then again if you marched through quickly and didn’t stop from time to time it’s amazing how much you miss out. Our guide was so knowledgable too, fascinating to think they’ve given the birds names, and for the rarer ones, know how many there are, their babies etc. Bird conservation is serious stuff here. 

So 5 minutes into the walk, what should we see but a family of Kokako birds… the really rare ones which most of New Zealanders haven’t even seen, so it was a real treat to see them up close and personal.

Kokako

We then slowly pressed on towards the light house, stopping from time to time to watch other birds that decided to grace their presence. So here we go here is our gallery...

Saddleback

Stitchbird

New Zealand Robin

Whitehead

Tui

.... and my little Tui gallery...

Takahe

Fantail

Goldfinch

Up at the light house we stopped to have our packed lunch and were then left to meander back down at our own pace to catch the ferry back to the mainland in time for a wee birthday dinner at the Sky Tower’s Orbit restaurant.