Whitianga and the North

Back to the beach, and it does seem like the farther north you get, the better the beaches get as well! We enjoyed white sand and blue skies, and a great campground right on the beach.

Cow spotting

Who's watching who?

The west coast

After almost a week in the cloudy mountains we started to miss the ocean and decided to go west. Most of all we liked the little village Piha, and its neighbour Karekare with its beautiful but extremely dangerous surf beaches. The windling road down and the houses climbing up the rain forest covered mountain side totally reminded us of Dominica.

The surf coming in at Raglan.
. Magic Karekare.

Piha beach at night.
Piha village? Or somewhere in Dominica?

As Piha is only a 45 min drive from Auckland, Karin, Grattan and Lara came out to have lunch with us one day, then we said bye-bye and see you in Italy in June!

Forest lakes and volcanoes (behind the clouds?)

A visit to New Zealand's north island, without passing Roturoa seemed impossible. We got ourselves soaked in a couple of hot springs but tried to avoid all the adventure parks, and also passed lake Taupo and even continued further down to Tongarino National Park. It seemed beautiful, but the rain was pouring down and the volcanoes well-wrapped in thick clouds. The Mangamate campsite next to Whirinaki Forest Park and a hike down to the river gorge was the highlight of the second week.


Mangamate campsite.

Freedom

For the kids it was three weeks of total freedom. With about everything clean, green and safe the boundaries extended way beyond those of Hanoi.

Travelling

We picked up our car already at the airport in Auckland and even though we did try to not drive too many hours a day, we did do almost 3000 km. Kids behaved great and pretty soon realized the best way to spend those hours were to sleep, Hana generally making herself comfortable already before closing the door, dozing off pretty fast.
With great roads - no potholes, cows or other surprises, and great views, driving was effortless. Even though Keisuke did most of the driving even I had no problem getting back into left hand side driving.

Into the wild.

Zzzzz...

View from Kai's window, by Kai.

Car-turned-into-playground while parents packing or unpacking...

Whangamata beach life

After a night in Auckland we took off to the east coast and Coromandel Peninsula where we started our NZ adventure with a lazy week in sunny Whangamata with moster Karin, uncle Grattan and new baby cousin Lara, hanging out on the beach and at their "batch" beach house, finishing every day with bbq and lots of Pinot Noir.

Friends!

New Zealand!

"It smells like at mormor and morfar's" was Kai's first comment on his impressions of this new country, actually not that different from Sweden. Only just a little bit better! Mountains a little higher, forests a little deeper, beaches a little whiter, weather a little better, people a little more relaxed... At least when it's summer and vacation!
After three great weeks we have returned to Hanoi, with plenty of wonderful memories and some photos. As soon as I get organized again, a few of them will appear here.