We spent the next few days out in West Auckland in the town of Waitakere. I was able to tag along with my Brother-In-Law to one of his 18' skiff races. A skiff is basically a high performance sailboat. Go here to learn more. I helped to unload the skiffs and get them rigged up to race. I was then able to score a spot on the chase boat ans spent the rest of the afternoon out of the water watching the race first hand. No, I didn't have the camera but lucky thing since right at the end of therace there was a HUGE downpour and besides I had to get i and out of the water to help with the boats.
A few days after that my Brother-In-Law and I went out mountain biking at a place just North of Waitakere called Woodhill. All I can say is that you have to bring your "A" game for this place. Woodhill provides, and I quote, "We provide over 100kms of riding on over 50 trails with hundreds of different jumps, stunts and man-made riding structures." Tht is no lie! The place is a highlight reel waiting to happen. If your boys are feeling big that day you could be a star of wind up in intensive care. Both come with a sweet story of how awesome you rode or how gnarly the crash was. Check out the Woodhill website here. Needless to say we had an awesome time with only a few minor impacts with the ground, trees, or other immovable objects.
After a few days in Waitakere we then sped up to Whangarei to Michelle's Mums house for Christmas. Here is where I will insert the gratuitous sheep photo that comes with all New Zealand holidays.
This fella lives next door at the neighbors place with two other wooly friends. They keep the neighbors lawn nice and low. No mower required there. Emily and Aengus loved to go out every moring to feed them.
We had a great Christmas with loads of family to eat the moutain of food that was prepared. We went to see Michelles Dad and the extended family. All hell broke loose when Aengus got his Christmas gift from Grandad. A Super Soaker watergun. In no time flat everyone had to take a turn soaking another member of the family. After visiting Grandad we went to see some of our friends. They had a real Kiwi Christmas going on and both of my kids joined in. Slip and slide on Christmas Day! Here is Aengus on the slide.
With Emily not far behind!
After Christmas we went to explore some of our favorite beaches in Northland. We went to Matapouri, which is one of my favorites, to have a picnic, a swim, and maybe a little hike. Here is where we pitched our blankets. Under a Pahutakawa tree right on the beach. Here is Michelle and her Mum with all the lunch goodies.
After we ate some lunch Aengus and I started off for a little hike.
Here is a good look at Matapouri. It is a really nice little cove with the left side protected from the surf so the little kids can swim and on the right you can catch a good wave on some days.
When we were tired of hanging around in Whangarei we decided to drive down to visit some friends of ours that just moved to New Zealand from Topanga, CA. The Kirby family arrived in NZ on December 27. They moved to a little town called Raglan about 2 hours south of Auckland on the Wild West Coast. The Kirby's were just getting settled in when we crashed the party. They were very gracious hosts. The have an awsome place right on the water in Raglan Harbor. Here is the view from their back yard.
So right down a little path through their property takes you right to the waters edge. The Kirby's wated little time in getting a few kayaks to paddle around the harbor in so we had to go for a spin.
We stayed with the Kirby's for New Years and had a great time hanging around Raglan. It's a great little town and world renowned for the surfing. I didn't get to surf but the kayaking was fantastic. We had a short rain shower while we were there and caught this good pic.
It made me think of LA for the first time since I got to NZ. I thought to myself, "Lep, I found your damn pot o'gold now!!" It was a sad goodbye to the Kirby family after the New Year but we had to jam back to Auckland to meet up with Nik and Chris(Sister & Borther In-Law). Michelle and the kids did some last minute shopping. We also went to the top of the Auckland Sky Tower which for some reason I had not done before. It was a beautiful day and we had an awesome view.
You can see the waterfront and the land mass just out in the harbor is the suburb of Devonport and out past that is Rangitoto Island. Obvious that it's a volcano isn't it? Well for the last few days we just bummed around Auckland and frequented our favorite areas Parnell and The Quay(The Waterfront) and all the cafes and bars we could fit into each day. We wound up meeting an old rugby pal of mine in the city for a bite and some rehashing of old rugby tales. The Kirby family came up to Auckland on our last day to see us off as well as having Nik and Chris with us. We all hit an Irish pub in Parnell called "The Bog" and threw down a pint(or two) of Guinness to put our trip to NZ to a close. We all said our goodbyes and dragged ourselves to the airport for another marathon flight.
We made it back to Topanga alright but we have all had NZ on our minds since we returned. It was great to see our family and friends again and we hope to see them soon. It was nice to be back home though and the kids got to have another small Christmas since Santa left some presents for them in Topanga. It took us about 4-5 days to get back on Topanga time but we're all sorted out now. Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday as well and maybe if I take another trip soon you won't have to wait 12 months for another post.
