We were lucky enough to have Robin, Rob, George (7) and Otto (5) visit us from Singapore over the holidays. We spent some time in Wanganui then in Rotorua, the tourist capital of NZ and home to stinky geothermals. Rotorua isn’t the prettiest place around but we needed somewhere to go where there would be indoor things to do with the kids if the weather didn’t cooperate. It was an interesting place, we saw geysers and boiling mud, watched sheep being sheared and toured a kiwi tree/red stag/alpaca farm. Then all of us minus Brad (who had to work) went to the South Island for a few days. We stayed on d’Urville Island, a beautiful but remote place. We planned the trip at the last minute at the height of the holiday season so the only lodging we could get was at a “wilderness resort”. I knew it would be rustic but the cabins on the website looked cute so I figured we were ok. When we arrived, however, they led us behind the cabins on the website to a shack that should have been condemned. Robin refused to bathe because it was so nasty. Fortunately, the benefit of the natural beauty far outweighed the creepiness of the accomodations. Between sharing bunkbeds in a room, playing on the beach, hiking to a waterfall, finding eels in a pond by searchlight at night and getting rides on a quad bike from a very sweet man, the kids had a fabulous time, too.
Brad, Liska, Rob, Otto and Robin feeding alpacas
Marlborough Sounds
Geothermals in Rotorua
Picton, on the South Island
Going crazy on the bunkbeds
On the quad bike with Sam
The Toroks 