Kia-ora! and Homeward Bound

Hi

Ater a wonderful sleep and a hearty breakfast we were into the car again and of to Rotarua. We had to drive for about 2.5 hours so I cuddled up on Nana’s lap and dreamed of cuddling up with Tiana tomorrow night.

Nana chose a Living village experience to have a look at. We arrived and decided to have a look at all the options, a Hungi, tour and Cultural experience.

The Hungi was very nice with lots of veggies. Nana and Poppa had the meat and I helped polish of the nice veggies. We found out that this meal is cooked by putting all the ingredients in a special box over the thermal vents in the village. The veggies are dipped into one of the hot ponds. It was very nice and cooked to perfection.

We then went on th3e tour and it started to rain. We got soaked. We learnt a lot from our guide but we could not pronounce her name so we called her Girlie. The name of the village is TEWHAKAREWAREWATANGAOTEOPETAUAAWAHIAO. It is a village that is built on and among the thermal activity with Mud Springs, Hot Pools Geysers and steam vents.

The Cultural experience was in a hall and it stopped raining! We saw some Maori Warriors and girls all dancing and chanting. The men kept pocking out their tongues, it was a bit imitating. Poppa was selected to go up the front with one of the ladies and she demonstrated their greeting. Poppa had to rub noses with the Lady. It is good that they have learnt from Wombats how to greet each other.

We had a great time but we also wanted to see some beaches and had to get back for dinner at the B&B. We had to drive through the mountains and through some deep gorges. The scenery was amazing.

We had a very short walk on the beach and headed to the B&B. It started to rain, it was dark and we were going through the mountains again. A bit scary.

We eventually got back then had a lovely dinner with our hosts.

As I was going to sleep I was again dreaming of cuddling Tiana tomorrow night.

 We are at the Airport on Tuesday ready to come home!

Goodnight

Nugget.

The Land of the Long White Cloud. (Sunday 10 July)

Hi

The Journey Homeward is well on the way now. One more flight to go.

Once we arrived at Auckland we hired a car and set off to explore. We first went to the B&B to see where it was. It is located on a hill overlooking some farming land.

It was too early to book in so we went to see the beach. From where we were we could see a beach so we headed in that direction. Eventually we found a Port town that had a river going out to sea. As we got to the beach we saw that the waves were crashing in and it was very cold. I just wanted to curl up in a burrow and sleep. Nana and Poppa got out and it started to rain. The beach was black sand and it was very windy and wet. Not really nice to go for a walk.

We had a nice drive through the country side and got back to the B&B to settle in. The room was really nice and as I cuddled on the bed to have a snooze Nana told me off. We were going to stay up and go to bed when it got dark. So we got in the car and drove up to the northern beaches of Auckland.

Again as we stopped and got out the rain started it again. We saw a couple of bays but each time we stopped it rained. Eventually we found a bay where t didn't rain so I was able to take Bluey the Turtle for a walk. We had some dinner then headed to the B&B.

We were all in bed by 6 pm and Poppa started snoring in 2 minutes.

See you soon
Nugget

Paradise Lost (9 July)

Hi
Today was a sad day as we went and looked at Pearl Harbour, USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri (The Mighty Mo). We had a good tour guide again whose name is KoKo and he said it was not coconut!

We drove around Honolulu where we saw china town. It was burnt down twice then they rebuilt it from the bricks from the harbour. The sailing boats used bricks as ballast as they sailed empty to Hawai’i to get sugar cane for America.

From there we saw 2 Palaces that the kings of Hawai’i live d in. They were built in the image of the European Palaces. It is interesting that the Hawaiian Flag has the Union Jack in the top corner.

We then went to see the Pacific War Memorial which is located in the crater of an extinct Volcano.
The next stop was the USS Arizona. We were able to go through a museum and learnt a lot about the day Pearl Harbour was attacked. Then we saw a video of the attack and visited the memorial site. We had to go by boat over to the site where the Arizona sank.

The Mighty Mo was not finished being built until about a year after the attack but it was the ship on which the surrender of Japan was signed. We were able to wander over the ship and I was able to jump in one of the berths for a quick sleep. A very impressive ship.

Once the tour was over we had to go back to the hotel and get ready to catch the plane to New Zealand. As we were catching the shuttle to the airport Poppa got a call to let him know the plane was delayed for 2 hours. That meant we were going to have to wait for nearly 5 hours at the airport. Nana was not impressed. The airline did give us a meal voucher so we had some pizza.

We did get on the plane and safely through to New Zealand. But we left Hawai’i on the Friday night and got into Auckland Sunday Morning. What happened to Saturday?
See you very soon

Nugget

Here we go 'round the ..........O'ahu!

Hi

We took a tour that took us around the Island of O'ahu in Hawai'i. It's the one with Honolulu and Waikiki.Our tour guide was Ed, just plain Ed and not Mr Ed! He was very knowledgeable about the island and it's many attractions.

Our first stop was the beach near Diamond Head Crater and it is where Blue Hawai'i in which Elvis Presley starred. It was a lovely beach and bay but we weren't able to go for a walk on it as it would take too long to walk down to it.

We then drove up through the area known as Hawai'i's Beverly Hills. Many of the mansions range from 10,000.000 to 40,000,000. I think Poppa should buy one!

We had many stops up the south east coast towards Makapu'u Beach where another film had a scene filmed there. We also saw a blow hole. We met a Bikie who rode a nice Harley. poppa talked with him for a while. 

We went into a cemetary where we discovered a Budist Temple. It was very serene there and there were some very big Coy in the lake.

Many of the beaches and valleys have been scene for films and TV shows like MacGiver, Hawai'i Five-O, Karate Kid, Jurassic Park and the new film Cowboys and Aliens. I thought I could be a movie star because everyone comments when Poppa and Nana take pictures of me. I nearly have a fan club already.

The east side of the island is known as the windward side and is really wet. One area has 250 inches of rain a year. The area is very green. We stopped at a ranch for lunch and took a ride in a truck up the side of a hill to see the view. Impressive! I was walking under a coconut palm and Bang! I got hit on the head, Ouch!

After lunch we headed up to the north side beaches. This is were you will find all the surf breaks like the Pipeline. But it only comes in big during there winter so it was really calm today. However as we travelled along we came to a beach where we saw some turtles on the beach. I was talking to a little turtle that really wants to come to Australia but it is a long swim. I invited him to come with us and fly, much easier.

From there we went to a Pineapple farm. I learnt how to plant the pineapple head so Poppa said we can try it at home. Fresh pineapple is sooooo refreshing. Poppa and Nana had Pineapple Ice Cream.

We then learnt a bit about the Island and the military bases. We saw the pass in the mountains that some of the Japanese planes came when they attached Pearl Harbour. We also saw the Army barracks in the centre of the island.

Interestingly the highways are called Interstates but we wondered which other states they go through?

At the end of the tour we went up to a mountain pass through some tunnels that went right through the mountain ranges. It was so windy it blew Nana's top off...... well nearly!

So tired after such a full day.


Nugget.