Meet the Maoris

Our trip around NZ was short but very sweet. Ela behaved reasonably well on the flight over although she wasn't amused when we tried to get her into a bassinet - I'm too big for that she thought....and she was right.

Once we picked up the camper we headed up to the Bay of Islands and an afternoon out on the water and through the hole in the rock. Ela thought it was great to be able to run around the cabin of the catamaran, and around and around till she finally wore herself out and slept. She loved the dolphins which came so close to the boat she practically patted them on the head. Everytime she saw a pic of a dolphin after that there was lots of pointing and shouting.

We spent the night on the west coast and then drove down through the Kauri forests and stopped at the museum to check out these 2000 yr old trees. A long drive south found us at Waitomo caves where we took Ela on a tour of one and a boat trip to see the glow worms. This was a bit tricky as yet again, Ela insited on walking around and around and climbing the stairs in the cave and of course got herself covered in slime and was not happy when we tried to stop her. We weren't impressed at that campsite either because they tried to charge us for Ela! So we made sure we had extra long showers the next day (actually they had a family shower room which was pretty good) to get our money's worth.

One the way to Rotorua we stopped in to see the angora rabbits - Ela didn't seem too interested - nor did the rabbit, then arrived in the very smelly area around noon.


We have been teaching Ela baby sign language and she knows the one for dirty nappy - here you can see her doing it with her dad!


She also enjoyed the thermal baths in Rotorua at the campsite and a Maori hangi and concert (main pic above).
We visited Lake Taupo and took a steam boat trip out on the crater lake to see the Maori rock carvings. Then it was across the ranges to Napier where we visited some old friends who have a gorgeous place high on the hill overlooking the bay. Baby Groshinski is due in March and Miriam and Arron got a taste for what is to come having us stay for two nights.

Then finally a mad dash back to the airport and narrowly avoided missing the flight as we were last to be checked in. Luckily though after a series of seat swapping we were able to get a seat for Ela and she even enjoyed her own lunch box - she made a wholly mess but at least it gave us some respite and we could eat our own meals in peace.