North Island Trip

Back here we are ANXIOUSLY awaiting the arrival of our newest niece or nephew...so while we wait I thought I would post something about our trip to the North Island! (this could end up being a long post due to all the pictures I want to include!)
Everyone whom I had talked to had told me that the South Island was their favorite, so I wasn't really expecting much when we were going to Auckland, but this was probably one of my most favorite trips so far!! (probably due to the two handsome men I got to go with) 
We arrived on friday afternoon and got our rental car and headed into downtown Auckland to get Paxton's citizenship and passport all figured out, which it went really well, and little Pax is now an American and can travel back into his country. Yippy! The rest of the day we spent touring around the Marina and a little bit into the city, but we aren't really city folk, so we stuck around the Marina and dream built on all kinds of big boats :) 
The next day we headed up into the Coromandel peninsula and stopped at a Holiday Park on Hahei Beach. Our little condo was right near the beach so that was fun. We walked to Cathedral Cove, which was used for the beginning scenes in Narnia (Prince Caspian). We thought it was just going to be a quick walk on the beach, so Paul decided to not wear his shoes....turns out you have to go over this GIANT hill up and down rocky paths...oops. but it was beautiful and worth the pain! (right paul?) 

Paul's favorite

Paul and Paxton on the beach

Cathedral Cove

After that we headed down to Ngatea to visit a family who Paul had met in MO a few years ago. They own a bit of Dairy farms in NZ and other places as well, and they let us stay with them for the night. We were planning on heading back up to the beautiful Coromandel peninsula, and after staying at their beautiful beyond beautiful house they offered to let us stay at their apartment in Whitianga, which was right on Mercury Bay. We didn't really have plans in stone so we decided to go up there and relax for a few days. It was BEAUTIFUL! Not only does the Coromandel have beautiful drives, but also beautiful beaches! It was so nice to just relax and enjoy the beautiful views from the apartment. Not to mention Paul enjoyed the large Yachts coming and going out of the Marina. Paul went Kayaking during low tide and brought us back some mussels to eat for dinner, and another night, Paul splurged and we got a really nice meal at a restaurant right at the Marina called SALT. yummmmy! Unfortunately Paxton decided he wanted to eat most of the time while we were there, but it was still a great time! Whitianga is now probably our most favorite spot in New Zealand. It's such a neat town, not too touristy, and just really really beautiful. (I think it helped that we stayed at such a nice place, but still...right now it ranks pretty high on our list) 

View out of the Apartment in Whitianga

Paul, bringin' in our dinner :)

Mussels.....not really fond of them, but filled my tummy none the less

sunrise from our appt.

After that, we headed down to Rotorua to check out the "thermal-ness" of the place. It has geysers and hot pools, and bubbling mud all over the place, and it a pretty central place of Maori (the NZ natives) culture. We ended up being able to see the geysers right from our hotel room, so we saved the $50 it would have taken to go see them :) We walked around a park to see all the bubbling mud, and steamy pools. It was really neat to see, but really, Rotorua just smelled like rotten eggs--at least it has some cool sights! 

And finally to end our trip, we went to the most awesomest beyond awesome place in New Zealand....are you ready for it....HOBBITON!!!!!! AKA the SHIRE! (Non Lord of the Rings Fans, this is your cue to stop reading...because you won't appreciate the rest of this, tata!) Even before we came to New Zealand I have wanted to go to the Shire and see all the cute Hobbit Holes, and finally my dream came true!!!! Paul is not a Lord of the Rings fan like myself, so he "offered" to stay back, save a few bucks, watch Paxton, and not go on the tour. But...he definitely missed out in my opinion. They are currently filming the Hobbit in New Zealand right now, and finished filming in Hobbiton back in November. The movie people left up all the Hobbit Holes and the whole village up just for touring. It was so awesome! I think there are over 70 little homes and it's so cool. None of the holes are finished in the inside, that filming was all done in a studio. It was so neat to be there, then to come home and watch the 1st movie, and see all the places I was at....yup I felt peeeerrrty special. :D I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed this trip and tour, but I'll stop and just post some pictures of it! 

Hobbiton--Bagend is at the top of the hill.

part of the village

Sam's house!!!!

real gardens and everything!

Bilbo's house!

After Hobbiton, we took our time getting back to Auckland, driving through Hamilton and Cambridge. Pax slept pretty much the whole flight back as well as the hour drive back to our house in Ashburton. It was such a wonderful and memorable trip! Thanks for Reading!