Drive North to Russell

From Whangarei we did a day trip to the north to Russell. The scenery on the way was mostly lovely rolling hills like this:

This is what some of the coast looked like:

Near Russell we got out an walked on this boardwalk through the mangroves.

Here's a close-up of the mangroves:

Rusell is a small quaint little town and it was fun to walk around. Here's the harbor:

I had never seen a fig tree but here is one and it is huge. It was planted in the 1800's. 

 Here are some of the gnarly branches. The figs were ripe and a few fell on the sidewalk.

We took the ferry to a town across the bay and had dinner at a Thai restaurant. The next day it was off the the airport and back to Samoa.

Whangarei Falls

We stayed in a nice B&B in Whangarei (interestingly pronounced Fongaray). It was in the home of an older couple from the Netherlands who had moved first to Canada and the New Zealand years ago. They were a lot of fun to talk with. We took a nice walk near Whangarei Falls on the Hatea River.

Here's what the river looks like beyond the falls.

Another shot of the falls.

Here's the trail which was set up nicely.

NZ Beach

Raglan beach

After we left Hamilton Garden we drove west to the little beach town of Raglan.  It was a quiet afternoon and not many people were around.  We walked up and down the only main street and found a Greek shop to eat dinner, then headed to the beach to do some exploring.  This is Raglan!

The beach has black sand and was so beautiful!  This is near where we entered the beach.

There was a lot of pampas grass growing on the dunes.

Getting closer to sunset.

This was the perfect way to end our day!

Hamilton New Zealand Temple

Hamilton New Zealand Temple

The last morning we were in Hamilton we wanted to go to the temple.  The B&B we stayed at was only about five minutes away.  Perfect spot to stay.  The area around the temple looks like it used to be a church school or mtc.

The temple with the New Zealand flag.

Some of the temple grounds and more pictures from afar.  The temple was beautiful inside and it was so wonderful to be able to do some temple work there.

Bird sanctuary

Bird sanctuary

We wanted to do some hiking while in New Zealand and nearby Hamilton is a bird sanctuary which has many trails (or tracks as they call them).  This was built because there were many species of birds native to the country which were threatened by non native animals.  A group of people wanted to protect the birds and researched the best method possible.  what they built was incredible!  They enclosed a huge area with a fence which is meant to keep out even the smallest predator.  The mesh is very fine and even the streams have the fence in front to prevent water animals from entering.

The view of the land around the sanctuary.

On the trail.  It was shady and cool there.

So many kinds of trees.  I think this one is a silver fern.

Birds at a feeding station.

We climbed up a tower as high as some of the trees so we could see more birds.  We could hear a lot of birds as we hiked along, but could only see glimpses of a few.  Sorry, guys.  No kiwis!!

Video, really an audio of lots of bird songs.

Mud Pots

Mud pots

Rotorua is know for it's thermal mudpots.  We decided to skip the popular park with the geyser due to lack of time, but still wanted to see some of the mudpots and discovered there were some at the city park and they were free as well!

Many signs were posted.

Here is a lake in the middle of the park.  It was a beautiful park with a great playground, lots of trees and the infamous pots.

This was the first one we saw.  Kind of creepy looking.

And a short video of one in action.  Imagine the strong smell of rotten eggs and you will make the viewing experience more real!

Redwoods

Redwoods in New Zealanad

We had done some research about what to see in the area we were going to be in in New  Zealand and decided to combine a bunch of things into a few days.  We headed towards Rotorua and wanted to see the redwood trees and got a bit lost.  We ended up at Blue Lake which was really blue.

Then we figured out where we were and headed south of Rotorua to the trees.  They are not native to New Zealand.  Someone brought them there and planted a forest.

The restrooms looked like trunks of the trees!

A few of the trees

Really really big!

It was so cool and peaceful there.  We did a short hike and enjoyed the smell of the trees.

Mauri Village

Tamaki Cultural Village

After leaving Hobbiton we continued on our way to Rotorua where we had reservations for the Tamaki Cultural Village.  We were looking forward to learning more about the Maori culture.

We were divided into groups and got on buses where we had to choose a chief.  Luckily, the guy across from us was chosen.  We also learned some Maori words, greetings, and what the procedure would be as we arrived at the village.

Once there we entered the village we gathered in an area where a chief and some men entered the area by boat.  They danced and the chiefs from the buses came forward to meet the village chiefs.
One bus chief was chosen by the village chief.

We split into groups and learned about the different aspects of Maori life.

Here is the pit where our dinner was being cooked.  It is called a Hangi. 

And uncovered

Marc doing the Haka

Gayle doing the poi ball dance

Part of the show at the end before the meal was served.

Hobbiton

Hobbiton

On our way to Rotorua we decided to take a slight sidetrip to Hobbiton.  We had decided not to take the  tour but wanted to see if there was a visitor's center.  These hedges were along the side of the road.  Can you imagine trimming those?  There were many along the road, especially along the farms.

Here is some of the country as we were driving.  Absolutely gorgeous! All the land in that area looked like The Hobbit could have been filmed there.

This sign is for Dylan, Sam, and Charlie 

We arrived at the visitor center and had to take this picture!!  For all you Hobbit and Lord of the Rings lovers.

This road across the street from the visitor's center is where the tour is.  Lots of Hobbiton buses traveled that road.

More pictures of the area