Northland-July 7-10

ooh! almost forgot this picture-

It's Taranaki from the plane! Love that mountain.

We had just a few days till we needed to fly out (with our visas we must leave the country before 184 days are up), so decided to drive all the way up north-this was a trip that Josh and I didn't get to do while we were here the first time-it's a trek!

Tasman Sea

Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua lighthouse in the background.

You can see the rain on the ocean in the backgound-it was raining as we got here, and we could watch it move across the water.

From trusty google:

For Māori, Cape Reinga or Te Rerenga Wairua is the most spiritually significant place in New Zealand.

An ancient pohutukawa tree and a lonely lighthouse mark this special place.

It is here that after death, all Māori spirits travel up the coast and over the wind-swept vista to the pohutukawa tree on the headland of Te Rerenga Wairua.

They descend into the underworld (reinga) by sliding down a root into the sea below. The spirits then travel underwater to the Three Kings Islands where they climb out onto Ohaua, the highest point of the islands and bid their last farewell before returning to the land of their ancestors, Hawaiiki-A-Nui.

Way down on the rocks is the ancient tree!

So far away from just about everything.

Nearby are the giant sand dunes-so we had to go check it out.

One can rent boogie boards to sled down...we did not partake, as all I can think about is how much sand would get in every crevice possible. But we climbed up and jumped down!

Very carefully, I promise.

Action shot! Go Violet!

Daddy bridge.

The Parrot Place! We got to see lots of birds, feed the birds, and half of us accidently get nibbled on.

Violet wasn't so sure.

Frank loves her new friends!

Such fun!

We were staying in Kerikeri, and found a great playground, and fun art was everywhere!

Waka!

Love the flora.

A very climb-able tree.

On our way back down to Auckland, we stopped at a trail in a grove of kauri trees-these are the giant trees that used to cover NZ, but much less due to logging and cities, and now there is a disease that is killing them, hence the sanitizing at the trail.

Gorgeous trail!

Kauri tree.

Cute girls with a big tree in the backgound.

Now we are off to Australia for a week!