Blog Title

And Home

2026-01-08T00:00:00Z

We made it. Our flights went well. James was a trooper and managed the super long flight, changing plane and eating breakfast for about 4 meals straight really well.

Its cold and a little icy in Edinburgh, thats going to take a bit of getting used too.

Auckland

2026-01-07T00:00:00Z

With 3 short days left on our trip we tried to make the most of what we had left. We arranged to meet Angela and Daniel for a walk around downtown Auckland as we hadn't made it there at the start of the trip. We started by walking around the docks. I spent a fairly significant amount of time ogling the rather lovely boats in the harbour. After a short play in another amazing play park (with water mister to keep us cool) we made our way through the shopping area towards Auckland University. We met Jamie for lunch and he gave us a tour of his physics lab. It was really cool with lots of interesting experiments setup for the students. Next we hopped on a bus to ride over to the Museum. James was looking forward to seeing the dinosaur bones, but I enjoyed the stuff about moas and other birds of New Zealand. After a bit of ice cream we said goodbye to Angela and Daniel before going to catch a bus back to our accomodation.

The next day we headed out of Auckland towards the Waitakere Ranges. We stopped at the Arataki visitor centre which was really cool. From there we went on a nice walk through the bush that took us from new growth gradually to the Kauri Catherdral where you end up surrounded by trees more than 500 years old. The change in undergrowth was very noticable and pretty interesting to see. After that we went back to the park we visited on the first day in Auckland (Waterview park). James enjoyed a bit of downtime and joined some local kids playing in the splash pad. His confidence around water (and in particular getting splashed) has come on leaps and bounds this holiday. Fingers crossed it continues.

Our last day in Auckland started quite slowly. There was lots of sorting to do before our flight this evening. After we were done we went for a short walk up One Tree Hill. From the top we could see the hospital I was born in. From there we drove past the house my parents lived in when they had me. I obviously don't remember living there, but it was kinda cool to see. We met Angela and Daniel in the lovely Mission bay for lunch before heading to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. James loved seeing the pengiums and they had some very cool jelly fish. The most impressive thing for me was the enormous crayfish they had. We had a brief play in the park next door before saying our final goodbyes to Angela and Daniel. Its been so lovely seeing them and they have made the trip super special. We made our way towards the airport with a brief stop at Ambury Park. I managed to snap a few more birds before we headed to the airport. Once the car was dropped we checked in and are now waiting for our plane.

I can't say I'm looking forward to 26 hours to get home, but I'm sure it will be over before we know it.

Hobbiton & Sanctury Mountain

2026-01-04T00:00:00Z

Today was the day Laura had been waiting for! We left our accomodation in Matamata and drove the 15 minutes out of town to Hobbiton. We joined our tour group being led by someone with a PhD in Tolkien litrature. I'm not sure what qualifications I would expect a tour guide at Hobbiton to require, but I think it's safe say this guy ticked the "massive fan" box. The tour was really amazing. We got an interesting history of the location scout stumbling acorss the farm, the farmer telling him to go away before his wife said hold on, lets hear this man out. Next we got guided past 42 hobbit holes with various stories about the scenes that were filmed there and some interesting anecdotes about things going wrong. The main attraction was obviously bag end, where Bilbo and Frodo lived. We also saw Sam's house and the Green Dragon pub which served us real beer. When they originally built hobbiton for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy most houses were made out of polystyrene and taken down after the filming. When they came back for the Hobbit movies they decided to build the set out of more permanent materials so it could stay on for longer. Almost all the doors are just that, doors with only enough behind a door to avoid having to do tricky CGI later (remember LOTR was filmed more than 25 years ago!). Two of the doors led through into complete hobbit houses that we got to explore, with miniture beds, tables, writing tables, bath and even toilet. It was properly cool. James had a blast trying to guess what the inhabitants of each house did based on the possesions scattered around outside.

After grabbing some lunch we made a short detour south towards Sanctuary Mountain. This is a nature reserve based on the North Island. Normally these reserves require to be on an island to keep pest outs (rats, stoats, possums etc), but Sanctuary Mountain has 47km of preditor proof fence that encloses it. Inside the forest was super impressive with some really ancient trees and vegetation making the habbitat ideal for wildlife. We saw a lot less than we did on Tiritiri, but I think that was to be expected. We did see plenty of North Island Robins and a North Island Saddleback. The highlights for me were the 5 Kaka we saw feeding and the shining cuckoo chick we saw being fed by a warbler.

After that we got back in the car for our last proper drive back to Auckland.

Coromandel

2026-01-03T00:00:00Z

After some dry clothes we got on the road and headed north towards the Coromandel Penninsula. We stopped in a little beach town called Whiritoa in an attempt to see some caves. Unfortunately the tide was in making the walk off the cards. We did however see some Northern New Zealand Dottrel pottering about the beach. These birds have two subspecies (a north island and a south island). The south island subspecies is critically endangered with only about 100 birds that live on Stewart Island. The north island sub species was also endangered, but is recovering well with somewhere around 2500 birds at the last count. Its always cool to hear about positive conservation stories and I have my fingers crossed for the south island birds. After that we carried on up the coast with a brief stop in Whangamata for a playground that was above my climbing comfort zone and to stock up on some food for the next few days. Our final stop was our accomodation in Tairua. It was New Years Eve, so some of you might expect us to stay up late and watch the local fireworks. Recently our NYE vibes have involved some nice food, and bed at the normal time. There is nothing like waking up to a new year well rested and ready to go. How boring, I know.

Our plan on the 1st was the head up the coast to Hahei to visit Cathedral Cove. We knew this was a popular spot so we planned to get there early before the crowds. We parked on the outskirts of town and caught the local bus to the start of the walk. The walk was lovely with the path winding its way up and down along the coast. After about 30 minutes we arrived at Cathedral Cove. It was pretty special with lots of boats sailing past and people enjoying the beach. James and I went for a swim which he loved, but it mostly involed him grabbing onto my chest hair as he tried to avoid being splashed by the waves. Around lunchtime we packed up and headed back to town for some food at a lovely little cafe. James fell asleep in the car ride back to town, so Laura and I stopped for some ice cream. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at our accomodation.

On the 2nd we headed to Paunaui which is just across the bay from Tairua, but involves a 30 minute drive. We parked up and started a walk up towards the summit of Mount Paunaui. It was pretty steep and hot. Laura wasn't feeling great so turned back, but James and I carried on to the summit. James did amazing and managed to make it most of the way up and down on his own. The view over the bay was so good. Once I have some photos I'll post them. We again returned back to Tairua but got caught up in some terrible traffic due to some road works. We had a brief play on the beach before heading up the summit of Mount Paku. We were staying a few hundred meters from the summit so we felt we needed to head up.

Today we packed the car and headed west with our ultimate aim of making it to Matamata for our tour of Hobbiton on the 4th. On the way we stopped at Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre. They had a few hides setup which gave fantastic views across some salt flats. Unfortunately we didn't time it well with the tides, but we did see quite a few waders. We stopped in Paeroa for some lunch. Paeroa is the home of another water spring that is famous due to a local soft drink L&P (Lemon and Paeroa). The slightly fizzy water is due to the minerals in the water. Our next stop was Karangahake Gorge. This was the home of a massive gold and silver mine with huge amounts of infrastructure being built betweeen 1880s and 1950s. We went on the "window walk" which follows an old rail line through the gorge with several tunnels through rock with windows looking out on the river bellow.

Tomorrow we head to middle earth!

Rotorua

2025-12-31T00:00:00Z

On the morning of the 27th we packed the car and said a final thank you to Angela, Jamie and Daniel for hosting us for Christmas. It really was lovely and we will always remember our special New Zealand Christmas with them. Our main job was to drive the few hours south of Auckland to our base for the next few days, Rotorua. We stopped at a rather fabulous playpark in Hamilton for lunch. James loved playing with the water flows, creating dams with another little boy he found. Next we headed further south and hit some pretty bad traffic. Our first (but not our last) bit of slow cars. We decided to turn off for a short walk to the blue spring, which was a spectacular fresh water spring. The water takes somewhere between 50 and 100 years to pass through the nearby rocks before surfacing, producing some of the cleanest water in the world! After that we carried on to our campsite where the bad weather started! I managed to get the tent up without getting too soaked while Laura and James cooked dinner.

The next day we headed to the Agrodome. This is a working farm with a permanent agriculural show aspect. We saw a show all about the different types of sheep they farm in New Zealand, along with some other interesting acts. They had Jersey cow on stage for milking, some sheep dogs and James even got to feed a lamb. After that we got a tour round the farm on the back of a tractor. This involved several stops to feed sheep, deer, alpacas and visit some of the other animals they had on the farm. James loved it especially the feeding the rather large lambs food pellets. After that we hopped on a short bus ride to visit a Kiwi Hatchery. There we learnt about the dangers faced by these birds and the efforts that are going into helping them survive. The Hatchery took kiwi eggs from pairs in the wild, incubated them and looked after the young until they reached 1kg in weight (or preditor proof weight). We were fortunate to see a few eggs and a couple of newly hatched Kiwis. Very cool. We returned to our campsite for a soak in the pool before dinner.

The weather we had at the agrodome was pretty good and by that I mean no rain. Over night that changed a lot. We had some torrential rain overnight and into the next day. Luckily our tent was fine and kept us fully waterproofed and dry. Our next day we had tickets to visit Te Puia. This describes itself as a "magnificent geothermal wonderland" which is on a local iwi (or tribes) land. It also house the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute where students get taught about traditional ways of crafting materials and preserving ancient tradtions. It was a pretty cool day out. We got a tour round the geothermal park with snippets of info about the people that call it home. We got to see various bubbling mud pools, geysers and other smelly holes. After that rather wet tour we were taken inside for a cultural show. This consisted of several performers showing off traditonal dances, instruments and singing songs. James loved it and said he wanted to "learn all the moves". After a spot of lunch out of the rain we drove into town for a well deserved hot choclate before returning to the campsite (for another swim).

Our weather the next day hadn't improved much. We ventured to the redwood forest for a tree walk suspended 6m in the air. It was pretty cool, but still very wet. We liked the bridges between platforms so much we did the whole thing twice. Before lunch we went for a ground level walk through the giant trees. The rain had eased off and by then it turned into quite a nice day. Our plan was to got to the Skyline luge (like the one in Queenstown), but the wait for each run was almsot an hour. Instead we headed to a cool playpark on the lake shore before some ice cream.

The next morning we packed up our wet tent and went back to the Skyline luge before the crowds arrived. Luckily the wet weather was back so no crowds appeared and we managed some rapid laps of the luge run. There was so much water that the brakes didn't really work, but that only made it all the more exciting. A full (and I mean everything) change of clothes later we were ready to head out of town and said goodbye to Rotorua.

Tiritiri Matangi

2025-12-26T00:00:00Z

I think this adventure was the one I've spent the last few months looking forward to the most. I visited 20 years ago with my family and have such fond memories of that day. Tiritiri Matangi is a Department of Conservation island just off the coast of Auckland. It a scientific reserve and home to some amazing rare birds that are all part of various recovery efforts. As part of that they need to keep the island pest free and try to keep invasive plants, animals and insects off the island. We had to check our bags and clean our shoes before the trip.

We got lucky with the weather and had an almost perfect blue sky with a little cloud and rain later in the day. Angela and Daniel had decided to join us for the adeventure. Our ferry left from Gulf Harbour at 9.25 before a short 20 minute crossing to the island. On the way we came acorss a small pod of common dolphins which was a great start the the day. On arrival we got a breifing from the ranger about keeping to paths, respecting the wildlife and taking our rubbish home.

We spent the day walking around the island spotting birds. We managed to catch glimpses of some and had some very close encounters with others. The bush was so thick and dark that it was hard to get the photos I wanted.

I think I managed to spot:

North Island Saddleback,
Red crowned parakeet
Hihi/Stitchbird
Bellbird
Kererū
Whitehead
Rifleman
Tui
Eastern rosella
Myna
Fantail
Pūkeko
North Island robin
Variable oystercatcher
Brown teal
Grey Warbler
Brown Quail

Unfortunately we didn't see any Takahe which is one of the most special birds on the island due to the total number left in existance. 20 years ago we saw loads, but there are far fewer here just now (due to them being moved around for genetic purposes) and they are no longer fed by the tourists.

I was really happy with my spot list and had a great day. We caught the ferry back before pizza for dinner.

Christmas in Orewa

2025-12-25T00:00:00Z

Our next few days we spent with Angela, Daniel and Jamie. As mentioned in an earlier post, Angela was a friend of my parents when they lived out in New Zealand when I was born. I last saw Angela 20 years ago when we (the original Clan Haley) came for a visit. Life for both of us has changed quite a bit, but Angela welcomed us into her home and family for Chirstmas. For that we are extremly grateful.

Our first stop was to meet Santa. After all its not Chirstmas without a visit to the red fella (at least when you have a 4 year old). Our trip so far had been pretty devoid of Christmas. The odd santa hat and bit of decorations, but its hard to feel the Christmas spirit in 20 degree heat. Our visit to Sanata was in an indoor ski centre (Snowplanet), but James refered to it as a snow globe, which was adorable. We met Santa, had a quick chat and had our photos taken, before venturing into the snowy bit (which was -3^o^) for a bit of a sledge. Angela and Daniel joined us and it was quite the hoot. We all had a go at sliding down in giant rubber tubes and crashing at the bottom. We finished our visit off with a hot chocolate!

After lunch we counteracted the cold and went for a walk and explore on the beach. We build a few sandcastles and attempted to make some giant bubbles. For dinner we had a traditional NZ Christmas eve dinner, fish and chips.

Christmas morning! We got up nice and early with a rather excited James (and Daniel). With a cup of tea we set about opening our presents. We had managed to bring a small subset of presents from the UK so James had a few small/light things to open. I think his favourite was the toy plastic animals as he loves telling stories with them all.

I managed to sneak out for a quick 5k run on the beach. It was mobbed with hundreds of people setting up BBQs, Gazebos and picnics. Everyone was out in the sun having a cracking time.

Angela cooked the most amazing christmas lunch. We all loved it, especially the Kumara and lamb. After a little rest we headed back to the beach. We got James' new kite out and had a little fly (although James did let go at one point and we almost lost it over a fence). After that and building a big sand castle, James and I went for a Christmas swim in the sea. It was actually pretty warm and James had a great time splashing in the waves. For a boy that doesn't like getting splashed, I didn't think he would like salt water in his mouth or eyes but he loved every second of it. He was even asking to go back!

Next we got stuck into dessert. We had traditional christmas cake (without the revolting marzipan), chocolate cake and pavlova. They were all delicious!

Just before we put James to bed we played Daniels new version of "very mean" UNO. Instead of the usual +2 and +4, it was stacked with +4, +6 and even +10s! Daniel was particularly mean to me making me pickup several hundered cards, but he found it hilarious. After James was in bed we had a game of Railroad ink which was a new game I got Laura. It was pretty fun and I would definelty recommend.

Christchurch and a flight to Auckland

2025-12-23T00:00:00Z

Overnight (our last night before needing to pack to fly) we had some rain. Typical eh? Luckily we awoke to glorious blue skys and some nice warmth. So we took the tent down, and left it to dry in the sun while we ate a slightly odd breakfast (leftovers).

We made the lovely drive back down the coast towards Christchurch. Our aim was to make it to the Margaret Mahy Playground in the centre of the city. I had read that it is one of the largest (and coolest) playgrounds in the southern hemisphere. We made it there just in the time for a spot of lunch at a near by cafe where James ate scambled eggs and bacon. James has been on a bit of an egg kick in the last few months after Grandma Gilman introduced him to dippy eggs. I don't think scambled has taken the top spot, but he loved it just the same. After lunch we spent the next hour and a half exploring all the cool slides, climbing frames and sandpits in the park. We avoided the excellent looking splash pad as we had a flight to catch and we couldn't deal with wet clothes.

We got the car dropped off, bags checked in and through security in plenty of time befoe a short 1 hour flight back up to Auckland. We picked up a different hire car and stopped for a cheeky Maccas on the way to our Christmas residence.

Its safe to say our 2 week road trip round the South Island was a great success. We got pretty lucky with the weather and managed to squeeze almost everything (other than star gazing) in.

Kaikōura

2025-12-22T00:00:00Z

Our morning in Hanmer Springs was slightly more eventful than I had planned. Whilst making coffee I spilt boiling water all over my hand. After getting over that and cleaning up the enourmous mess I made in the process (it got on the ceiling) we got on our way. Laura had the pleasure of driving down one of the wiggliest roads we have come across (ever) as we wound our way slightly further north for our final stop on our South Island Road Trip. We arrived in Kaikōura around lunch and after eating and getting some cooling cream for my hand we went for a walk around the peninsula. The sun was shining and were were treated to some of the best wildlife we have seen on this whole trip. On the beach was a massive NZ fur seal colony with lots of little pups. As well as the seals we saw lots of birds like the red billed gull, pied stilts, little shags, variable oyster catchers and white fronted terns. I was like a kid in a candy shop with my camera. James loved seaing the seals, but found the idea that the mums leave/abondon their pups while they go to eat a bit traumatic. Some well placed geocaches kept him going though.

After a quick stop for some delicious ice cream we checked in to our campsite and got setup. I took James for a quick swim and a soak in a hot tub before dinner.

This morning we ventured inland for a rather steap hike through some local bush. Unfortunately there was no view from the top, but it was a lovely hike and a few geocaches found. Then we stopped for lunch and all got milkshakes. It was just one of those days! Our next excitment was our whale watching trip. On the agenda was exploring the huge trench just a few kms off shore where the sperm whales like to hunt. We were very lucky to see 2 whales dive three times in total. In addition to the sperm whales we also got treated to some soaring northern royal albatross. These are the same type as we saw nesting in Dunedin 2 short weeks ago. They just float above the waves with such ease. Our last spot was a pod of Dusky Dolphins playing in the sea.

Tomorrow we pack up for the final time in the South Island before heading to Christchurch for our flight back to Auckland for Christmas.

Hanmer Springs

2025-12-20T00:00:00Z

Yesterday was our longest drive of our trip. Somewhere around 5 hours in total, which is long. We left our accomodation pretty sharpish around 9am and got just over an hour in before we had a short break at a farm shop in Geraldine. After using the loo and having a drink we got back in the car. We could tell we were approaching Christchurch as the amount of traffic on the roads increased. After another 2 and a half hours we pulled in at Willbank Wildlife Reserve. This place was very conviently located just off highway 1 near Christchurch, would allow us to stretch our legs for a few hours and wasn't to expensive to get in. The park wasn't bad and had lots of wildlife, but it had that feel of a zoo that hasn't quite had to investment it needed in the last few decades. One part that was surprising was the sheer number of chicken varieties they had. I didn't count but there were probably 15 types from all around the world. They also had plenty of farm animals (pigs, cows, goats, sheep etc) that you could feed which was cool. Towards the end they had lots of native New Zealand animals. Mostly birds, but a few frogs, skinks etc. They had a few kea which are always fun, some Kaka (another native parrot) and a kiwi house. We were very lucky to see about 4 Kiwis roaming around (its dark inside as they are nocturnal). After that we got back in the car and had a final hour and 45 minutes to go, before arriving at Hanmer Springs. On arrival we got the tent pitched, had dinner and called it a night.

Today I got up early to join the Hanmer Springs Park Run, which started in a park about 20 meters from the campsite. It had about 80 participants with several of us from the UK. The course was lovely and wound its way up and down the local forest. I finished 31st with a time of 28.33 which I was pretty pleased with. After breakfast we set off on a walk through the forest up to the summit of Conical Hill. We were treated to some great views and more than a handfull of fantails chasing each other through the forst. When we got back to town we went to the thermal pools where we spent the rest of the day. They had a selection of fresh water pools, flumes, kids area, lazy river and several hot pools. My favourite was the 41^o^ pool. James made a friend who he spent most of the afternoon chasing around. They had a few mini slides for kids which they both went up and down several hundred times and he even went down a big flume with me. On the way back to the campsite we stopped for some well deserved gelato.

Hanmer Springs is lovely. It feels like a real town with real people (rather than being overly touristy). Most of the people we have spoken too are visting from Chirstchurch as a pre Christmas chill weekend.