The South Island: Day 4

 Day 4 was Sunday.  It started with attending church with the Westport Branch.  They were wonderful welcoming people.  When we arrived we almost doubled the attendance, but a few more people showed up latter.  The kids enjoyed primary, and Sabrina enjoyed spending time with Kyle and I during the last 2 hours as she was the only nursery age child there.  The church is true everywhere!

 Pretty little area where we stopped for a brief moment.  The sound of water was lovely,

The South Island: Day 5

The sun was out and the weather was gorgeous for our day at the beach.  We started the day with a trip to Ngarua Cave.  The road was up into the mountains and full of curves.  We were happy when we made it to our destination with only one bucket filled :)

The caves were beautiful, stalagmites and stalactites were plentiful and the guide was able to share with us how the caves were formed.  We also saw Moa bones.  The moa was a huge bird that is now extinct.  They fell into the cave and could not get out.  The caves go all through the mountains and people are still discovering new ones.  We exited up a ladder and came right out of the ground.  It was fun.  I did not take pictures, but here are a couple from the internet.

After the visit to the cave, we drove back down the mountain to Kaiteriteri, a very small coastal community.  There we played and waited for our water taxi which took us into Abel Tasman National Park.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a few hours on the beach as well as the hour ride to get there.  

 Pictures taken as we took the water taxi onto Abel Tasman National Park.  L:  Where the seal colony plays  R: Split Apple Rock

 

 The fun filled day ended at a pirate themed restaurant, where everyone enjoyed a delicious meal.

South Island: Day 6

The last day of our trip was spent getting home.  We stopped at a park in Nelson.  It had different buildings that showcased some part of early life in the area.  We could not spend a lot of time because we had a ferry to catch.  The drive from Nelson to Picton was scenic and the road definitely did not go in a straight line.  However, we made it and enjoyed our ferry ride back to Wellington.  It was a much clearer day and I spent a lot of time outside watching the scenery.

 

School Pictures

We got school pictures and they turned out wonderfully.  I really have some beautiful/handsome children.  They are all good kids with a desire to do what is right.  

Since Sabrina is not in school, we had a photo shoot at home.  She is a cute little thing.

Red Rock Reserve and Seals

The kids had a half day of school on Tuesday, so we drove to Owhiro Bay and took a hike.  Below are pictures of our adventure.  The hike was 7km long or 4.5 miles round trip.  The kids were tired and I heard a little complaining, but overall they did well.

We stopped for a lunch at a big rock.  The kids had fun climbing and eating.

 The entire walk was along the beach, it was beautiful.  We got to see it in different light and some areas had sandy beaches while others had rocks galore.  Hyrum insisted on carrying rocks, first they were put in his hood as he walked, when that became too much the jacket came off and he dragged it along with a large rock in the sleeve.  The jacket will not be the same, but it was worth having a wonderful, happy hiker.

 The kids discovered a fun "house"   The large bush could be crawled through.  They entered where Zachary is standing and could exit at the top.  Fun little discovery.

 Here are a couple of photos of the red rocks.  The two Maori legends are that a chief was collecting shellfish and was clamped down on and bled on the rocks, or his daughters grief stricken over his late return from sea gashed themselves on the rocks.  I prefer the first.

We finally made it to the seal colony.  It is a colony of bachelor males that were unsuccessful in their attempt to be the breeding male in the colonies on the south island.  There were quite a few all lounging on the rocks.  A few even moved for us.

 Just a few photos for fun.  All the kids were tired by the end of the hike.  Sabrina spent a few minutes on Zachary's shoulders, and more than a few on mine.  We all made it to the end and enjoyed a dinner from McDonald's drive-through.