Mountains

The pinnacle of our holiday was climbing Mount Ruapehu (2797m) in the Tongariro National Park...

staying at the luxurious Chateau Hotel nestled at the foot of the monutain...

watching out for eruptions on the volcano, last one being only in Sept last year...

Were following in the footsteps of the ledgendary Sir Ed scaling the mountain tops...

Mike making snow angels and hitting me with snow balls...

Jo the intrepid one steps out onto a rocky outcrop about 2300m up..ahhhhh!!!!

KareKare

Today we went out to Jo's favourite place KareKare (meaning boisterous waters) on the West coast, these are some of things we did and saw...



We swim in the waterfall pool...



















Mike got battered body boarding in the sea...





wonderous west coast cliffs...

silky, swirly seaweed...

whopping wavey waves....

crusty crabs and startling starfish

New Year sunny days

Most of the new year has been spent on the west coast hanging out on the beach...





Mike hitting the surf...



Checking out the bird life...

exercising Zoe the dog...

evening picnics with mates watching the sun go down...

certainly starting the year as we mean to go on...

Meri Kirihimete!

Christmas morning swim and meeting the locals at Long Bay...where sometimes there's sharks!!!

outdoor shower...

After present opening
Michael can't wait to model his new mountain biking kit !

Our Christmas tree fern...

...it looked better before 2 of the fronds died

Christmas eve drinks in our 'solarium' with Michelle and Aaron

Puffa fish

An extraordinary event today on our beach walk this afternoon we came across two dead Puffa Fish....

Gannet Update

The Gannets have now had babies, they are very cute and fluffy....

I bought a new mega camera so Mike waited patiently as I tried it out on him....

View of the city from our deck with my new camera

See Also: Gannet Colony

Pohutukawa

'Pohutukawa' Kiwis call it natures Christmas tree. The trees mainly grow by the sea and flower these beautiful crimson blossoms in December, these photos were taken this morning on our local beach...we love them