Advertisement
Published: January 20th 2008
Robbins Family Visit - The Week Before Christmas
The week prior to the Robbins Family visit, I worked every day for two weeks including a week stretch of call from the previous Friday to Thursday. It felt almost like home - just kidding. Enough of that. My family arrived safely in Tauranga’s plush airport Saturday December 15. Mother was dressed to the nines as usual. She apologized for her appearance, as usual. Anna and Alexa skipped across the runway towards us. Cathey looked great after a 26 hour trip. I don’t remember if Ken had his camera out at the time, but we rarely see him without it. It is hard to remember the features of his face clearly without Canon or Nikon over his right eye. (Sarah - but we DO appreciate his pictures very much. Some day we will look back at our pictures in front of the giant animal statues and remember our fun time in NZ. Good times.) We deposited their luggage at the house and went over to the Mount for a trip around the base track. Not bad for anyone who just arrived in town after traveling half way around the world.
The
next day we were off to the Coromandel Pennisula to Whangamata - just up the east coast. There, we had a house on the beach - nice. There was not much to do but surf, boogie board, swim, go on long walks, shop, bike ride, and chill. (Sarah - The first morning we woke up, we spotted about 10 dolphin feeding just off our beach. After their breakfast, they gave us a show. It really looked like they were playing with eachother.) The next day we went to Whitianga for a boat ride around Mercury bay and to Cathedral Cove and thereabouts. (Sarah - this was the first real taste of curvy roads for them but they did really well. Cathey had brought some santa hats and we were determined to get a picture of the kids in them at some cool overlook. As much as we tried to get THE picture, the kids balked everytime the camera came out. We finally got some cute ones on the beach.) During our stay we were introduced to a new game named Catch Phrase which is similar to Password on speed. My way too competitive wife wins most of the time, but
Whangamata Beach House
It was much bigger than it looked!woe to the weak link on her team. (Sarah - I apologized to my mother-in-law for my abuse. It’s just that - nevermind. I know I have issues when it comes to playing games. But she still loves me.)
Back in Tauranga, we hit the beach again. This time we climbed to the top of the Mount - Mom included. She said, “ I think I can do it. I am in better shape now.” Looking like the Little Engine that Could, she slowly trudged up the hill. She shooed us all off except Ben. Finally at ¾ of the way up, she stopped and told Ben to go on, and that she was going to go back down. After a rest, she decided to proceed and made it all the way. Unfortunately, the top is a large place and we did not see her again until we met at the bottom. Everyone gets a “well done” for the tremendous effort. (Sarah - Grace took Alexa and Anna over to the overhang where she loves to sit. It is a great place to take pictures but not for the faint of heart. We kept Cathey on the other side
of the mountain while they made pictures. I was still hoping she would change her mind about letting Alexa bunjy jump with me so no need in freaking her out so soon. That night we went out for an early Christmas celebration and our Aussie friends, Keenan and Alissa joined us.)
The following day we traveled to Rotorua. The family needed to experience more one lane bridges around curves. The convex mirrors at each end of the bridges help you to see around corners. Interesting, yes? First stop was an adventure park where we rode a gondola up a hill to a restaurant full of average to bad food. Next we watched Sarah and Alexa ride the big swing which is connected to large cables to a crane. (Sarah - since Cathey refused to let Alexa bungy jump with me, I took her on the most dangerous/fun thing I could find. The swing takes you up the side of the mountain on a big cable. When you reach the top there is a big jolt and then you are hanging almost vertical to the ground, about a million feet in the air. They had given Alexa the “rip cord”
Ben and Alexa
Waiting for some blueberry pancakes and ice cream. Oh yeah, and Ben's Big Breakfast that never showed! to release us and told her to let go when we were ready. Just after we got to the top, I looked over to Alexa and said, “Whe-“ as she let go with a yank and we went screaming down the mountain. It was truly the scariest thing I have ever done and I have learned since that it is way more scary than a bungy jump! My heart was still racing when we got in line to do the luge) Later we raced each other on the luge ride. Mom was a bit poky, but Sarah exhibited her usual style and now has fresh scrapes and bruises to show off. (Sarah - I was being the favorite daughter in law on the first run and went with Jeanne. My particular sled was so slow that I literally stopped on the hill and had to use my heels to drag my sled to the bottom. On the second run, I got a faster sled and and the temptation to beat the kids down the hill became too much for me…Ouch.) None of the rest of us can figure out how to flip one of those things or get it airbourne.
Whangamata
Quick dinner before.....GAMETIME! Mom gets another “well done” and “sweet as” goes to Sarah and Alexa. The next stop was to the Zorb park. This is difficult to describe, but is basically a 20 ft diameter clear rubber sphere with a smaller suspended sphere inside that is big enough for three people. There is a wet and dry zorbing option, except that for some reason they were not doing the dry zorbing while we were there. Once inside, with water added to the mix of people, it rolls downhill while the occupants slush around inside. Sarah and I, tandem zorbed, as did Ken and Alexa, and Cathey and Anna. This is extremely fun and I recommend it to everyone. A “good on ya“ to the Zorbsters.
The next day we went to the Waimangu Thermal Park. A two hour, mostly downhill hike allowed us to traverse through various volcanic features such as 130 degree hot water lakes, thermal vents and small geysers. At the end we were treated to a boat ride in a large crater lake. (Sarah - I know that Grace and Anna got the most out of this trip. I mean, how many 13 year olds get to sing
Whangamata Dolphin
They gave us a show right outside our house for about 20 minutes! into their Ipods at a geothermal park? They are always entertaining, that’s for sure.) That evening we went to a Maori Cultural Center where we were entertained by traditional songs and dances as well as the tribes Haka - war dance. (Sarah - This is also the dance that is done by the All Blacks rugby team before the start of the game. It is meant to intimidate the enemy. The men beat their chests and stick out their tongues, all the while bugging their eyes out and looking pretty psycho. There was one dancer that looked just like Matt Newman. He was our favorite, of course) Afterwards, we ate the traditional pit-cooked meal, a Hangi. Then we toured the park learning about medicinal uses of various plants and trees as well as viewing the trout pools and the Kiwi reserve. (Sarah - the kiwi birds are much bigger than I thought they would be. Sort of like a big brown fluffy chicken. They are very shy and so they ran away from our torches. We were told to be quite and keep our lights off. I got so excited about seeing them that I forgot that part. I tried
to shine my torch on one so Ben could take a picture and I got it confiscated by the guide. Dang Americans…) It was a very interesting and a nice finish to the day. On the way home the following day, we stopped for a photo-op at the large kiwi fruit statue in Te Puke (Sarah - this was the third statue that we posed around. Earlier we were next to a large concrete sheep and a prehistoric bird. Thanks for the memories, Uncle Ken. Ben loves posing…) and a viewing of Kiaete Falls. As mentioned in previous blogs, the falls are three levels and a fairly steep downhill hike mostly with stairs. Mom did not flinch this time as she has found new legs while in NZ. Good on ya, Gigi! Good as Gold! (Sarah - we were all just Happy as Larry to get to the falls and Ben even found a log to roll in the cold pool at the bottom. He was happy as a Box of Fluffy Ducks until he fell in the water. Good as, anyway mate.) Back to the house we changed into swimsuits and hit the beach. Under Ben’s instruction, Alexa has
Alexa, Grace and Anna
Catching up on some serious news from home! become an accomplished surfer. Under Grace’s instruction, Anna has mastered the boogie board.
That evening we celebrated an early Christmas gift exchange as the next day would be the end of the visit for the Robbins. (Sarah - the Christmas gifts were great and the Butterfingers, Reese Cups, face wash, cosmetics and Velvetta were much appreciated!) We had a short but busy time that week. I am not sure that we could keep up the pace if time allowed. It was sad to see them all board the plane on the 23rd. (Sarah - I was not even thinking that I would cry, but guess what? It is hard to see family go…) The ArKiwis could not linger at the airport long, as our South Island Adventure was about to begin ASAP. We stopped by our house long enough to collect our bags and head south towards Wellington.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.106s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0758s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Dina and Hannah Rice
non-member comment
Happy New Year!
Hannah and I loved the pictures and reading about your holidays. Everyone still misses you guys!