The Adventure Continues...

We stopped the first night of vacation (we never made any reservations) at a little motel in Taupo called the Oasis.  It wasn't anything fancy but it had two bedrooms, a living area and a full kitchen, a steamy pool, sat right on the lake and it was immaculately clean (and really reasonably priced).  AJ1 fell asleep before we arrived so JJ and I donned swimsuits and took AJ2 for some rare two parents with the middle child bonding time.  It was fantastic to swim in the brisk night air and AJ2 was so, so happy!

Morning came early for mamma and the two big AJs (like 4:30 am early!) and I was that much more grateful for the living area of the hotel.  A bit later everyone else got up, JJ and I took the two bigs swimming and we were on the road again!  We headed out to Whakapapa and National Park.  What. A. Drive.

A Kiwi friend of mine talks about how she feels rather immune to the beautiful scenery here.  I cannot believe that these beautiful mountains volcanoes wouldn't affect anyone who sees them each and every time.

These photos may (or may not) look familiar, this was the set for Modor in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the area around it was used to film the Hobbit earlier this year.  It is also (and probably more importantly) a world heritage area.

I have not touched at all on the Maori (I apologize, I do not know how to place diacritics in blogger) people in New Zealand and I am not going to now except to say that there is a beautiful legend that I have read that is associated with the Maori and these mountains.  If you are interested, you can read it here.

Once we got up onto the mountains we had planned to go tramping but with the recent eruption, many of the  crossings were closed and we decided to move on.  Little did we know, our trip would reach the apex of excitement the next morning!

Pilgrimage to Piha

It's been a rough week.  We've had illness and technical issues and attitudinal issues, blah, blah, blah...Work of all kinds has piled up and yesterday being Thursday (it is now 3:15 am Friday morning) I was convinced I was going to tackle it all and put my life back on track, then JJ came home at 3:45 pm and told me to stop what I was doing and come along (I'm a total sucker for random adventure)...

The next thing I know the two big AJs, JJ and I were headed into the Waitakere, through the sub-tropical forest and out onto Piha Beach.  It was just what I needed in ways that I could not have foreseen.  Here is what we found (and let me tell you, the AJs are lucky that I had not made this pilgrimage in my less responsible 20's because the waves and another way of life may have called me to stay)...

Someone had etched this into the sand and I couldn't find it any more appropriate

Now you may ask why I am up at almost 4 am bringing this beautiful information to you and the simple answer is that shortly after we arrived home, I stuck a bacon slathered meatloaf in the oven and had mashed potatoes on the stove (don't judge, it's winter here and I've been running 45 minutes a day) AJ2 kindly came into the kitchen (seriously kind as there is no carpet) and began vomiting the cup of milk he had on the way home.  I have been busy ever since.  Ahhh, the joys of being a mamma...I wouldn't trade it for a hippie commune in the Waitakere Ranges.