Russ Arrives (May 30)

Russ arrived in Auckland on Friday and Bree had decorated the holiday cabin with streamers and paper coloured chains. She was sitting at the door waiting at 7:30am but Russ was a little late and did not arrive until 8:30am which had Bree jumping around asking “where is he, where is he”. Russ had time to say hello and have a quick shower before we packed up and headed to Rotorua. After 4 months of mommy time Bree was all about daddy time and I had a nice quite drive while she talked nonstop to Russ.

We stopped in Rotorua and then drove to Kawerua to visit with Timo and Carol. The drive took a little longer than usual as there had been a slip on the highway between Rotorua and Kawerua and so we had to head back up north and out to the coast and then into Kawerua from the east. Slips (slides) seem to be quite common place in New Zealand especially after a large rainfall event like the one we just had over the last few days.

While in Kawerua we went to see Tarawera Falls and here we got the benefit of all the rain as Timo and Carol said the falls were bigger than they had ever seen them. The falls come out of the side of the mountain from an underground river and usually there is a lower set of falls but this time there were higher falls as well. The walk in was beautiful and we really enjoyed Timo and Carol taking the time to show us around the area.

From Kawerua we headed through Taupo and over to Mount Ruapehu. It was a clear day and so we drove up to the Whakapapa Ski field to take a look. Winter is on the way so there was snow higher up on the mountain but it was still just bare rock down at the village. The ski fields here are so different from at home as there are no trees at all, just open rocky ground. I imagine it can get quite windy up here in the winter. I had hoped that we might get a chance to ski on Ruapehu before we head home but we are leaving pretty close to the time the mountain usually opens for skiing and this fall had been very warm so far. We stayed the night at a friend’s holiday bach in Ohakune.

We decided to head to Palmy on Monday so that we could pack up the flat and head over to the South Island before the start of the long weekend. Bree was happy to see her friend Layrah and even arranged a sleepover

for Tuesday evening. This worked out well as it gave us some time to get the flat cleaned up without “extra” help. Sally and Alex had us over for dinner Tuesday and put on a wonderful spread and we finally sampled some of the famous New Zealand green lipped mussels.

It felt good to get the flat all cleaned out but at the same time I was sad to say goodbye to what has been our home base here in New Zealand. Bree and I have had a wonderful time living here and will miss all our new friends. Now it is on to some new adventures on the South Island.