Bye bye 'Kev' and hello 'Shrimp!'

A couple on months ago 'Kevin' was brutally attacked outside his own home! We didn't hear a thing which is amazing considering how hard it must have been hit. Unfortunately we only had third party insurance and in NZ you don't have to have insurance. Although that didn't matter anyway as the person didn't hang around anyway! It's take awhile to sort out but the 'Shrimp' has finally arrived. Oli named it as he is currently listening to a story where a boy is small and described as the Shrimp which, in his eyes, is perfect for a new little car!

Stingray Bay

The boys were starting to wane and Fran decided to head back to the car and bring it nearer to save the anguish and suffering of walking back! The boys and I headed down to Stingray Bay which was interesting. The path down turned into a slippery mudbath as we ended up in ankle deep mud on a narrow path. At least it added some variety to the walking but it was very slippery with no barriers! Health and safety is a distant memory. The bay itself was unusual with huge boulders and rock formations. The boys were starting to lose interest as it was getting late in the day but I was impressed! We decided to head back earlier as we felt mummy wouldn't enjoy walking through the mud. It was a good decision as we met Fran just after we walked back through the mud, even better news was that she has some lollies!

Gemstone Bay

We walked from Hahei and reached a viewpoint over the bays towards Cathedral Cove. There were three bays before it and noticed that you can only access Cathedral Cove via a boat. Damn. However, the boys were willing to walk down to the other bays. First up was Gemstone Bay which was only 10 mins away. It was a very small bay but the boys enjoyed climbing down across rocks and bridges.

MOTAT - Game Changer

Fran suggested that we visit MOTAT as it had an exhibition about how games have changed over time. It was fascinating watching the boys enjoy all the variations. Obviously they were very keen to see all the new stuff such as 3DS, PS3 move and 360 games etc. They loved the old arcade games particularly Pacman and Oli loved sitting in the car for Daytona. The outside games were a great runaround but what caught their imagination was the ancient games! Alex and Sam played an old indian game for about 15 mins and then Oli turned up and blew them away! It was like pool but you had to flick a counter to knock other counters into holes. They absolutely loved it. We spent the whole day there as there was so many different activities including mighty beans, bayblades, lego board games, radio control tanks and lots more. Brilliant fun.

Matarangi Beach

We had been told that the beach was great but this was amazing, one of the best. Apparently Hahei is recognized as one of the best in the world but Matarangi is close even arguably better. There is plenty of shells and wood on the beach so Tom was keen to build a house for all the clam shells he found. As it is our Autumn the temperatures were perfect, the sun was out but not too hot.

Walk to Matarangi Beach

We had a long tiring (walking/driving) day yesterday so we decided to spend the day relaxing at the bach and Matarangi beach. It was a 5 min walk from the back of the bach across the golf course inbetween some houses and through some trees to the beach. There were some baches that backed onto the trees and the beach, need to book one of those next time! In the top picture the boys were fascinated by a dead possum.

Hahei

It took about half an hour to get to Hahei from Whitianga. As we arrived the weather started to clear and the sun was starting to appear which helped with the photos! As you can see from the photos the beach was stunning with beautiful white sand but that was not enough! About an hours walk from there was Cathedral Cove which was where they filmed Narnia and apparently is even better! The boys weren't too keen but it had to be done! Unfortunately as we were halfway through our walk Fran's camera died on us and I had to use my camera, I'll put those pics on asap.

Whitianga

We were very keen to explore on our first day so we decided to go to Hahei as it was recommended to us and it was used for The Chronicles of Narnia. Not a great start but as we left we noticed we had a flat back tyre so we headed to Whitianga first to get it fixed. Fortunately there was a garage and a tyre place together so all our problems were sorted. We had an hour to check the town out so we headed to the ferry for times etc. As we made our way the boys spotted 'Squids' which got them all very excited. Oli is still hugely into squids and he was hungry, apparently! We reached the ferry with mixed news. The ferry was passenger only but the location was beautiful and it had a great play area! We had to take a picture of the marina for Poppy, as requested by Alex.

Matarangi

We had a couple of training days at school during our holidays so we shot off straight after. It took us about 3 hours to get to Matarangi which is in the Coromandel. These photos were taken in the morning, it was the best bach we have ever booked! Very clean and in a beautiful location particularly the beach. The garage had been converted into a rumpus room with a football table which the boys loved. Its great that when you arrive you never know what you are going to get and the boys always find something new to enjoy. Alex found a cupboard with lots of brochures about things to do, he made a very long list! I tried to walk with Alex to the beach but ended up on the wrong side by the harbour and Al was not too pleased!

Waiwera Hot Pools

On my mums last full day we went to the hot pools as the boys have been pestering us for awhile about it. On the way we always stop at the garage for a coffee as the play area is one of their favourites as it goes so high.

It was a lovely day and we got to use all the slides which was great. There are lots of different pools varying from 31 - 48 degrees! Mum loved the temperatures and it was great to relax and chat about everything. After the pools we popped into Wenderholm reserve as its so beautiful for a walk.