New Zealand--Bay of Islands--Part 3

The Bay of Islands was BEAUTIFUL!!! We were so fortunate to have good weather nearly the entire time we were there.





We stayed at the Copthorne Resort, and this is what we saw when we opened the back sliding door of our room. We found the cutest little shells just right down there on the beach.



That first day we went on a cruise around the bay. Ours was called a dolphin cruise and they guaranteed that we would see dolphins. Boy did we ever.




This is Mark and me on the boat before the cruise started. We had front row seats on the very front of the boat.




Here is the rest of the gang just chillin' before the cruise started.



And we're off! Here is just a look at the bay.

Here I am, hanging on to dear life. It was a fast boat.

And then there were dolphins. A lot of them. Here is a mother, a baby, and an auntie (at least that was what we were told).

Many of the dolphins swam right up to the front of the boat (where we were), and tried to race us. When the boat stopped, a few of them came right up to the boat and started "talking" to us. Unfortunately for me, this is when I got a little sea sick. I ended up losing my lunch, but after that I was good to go!! Sorry, TMI.

We got out pretty far in the bay and came to the "hole in the rock."

Here we are actually going through the hole in the rock. The water was too rough our first attempt, but as soon as it settled down a bit, our boat made it safely through!

This was our island stop called the island of caves. It was even more gorgeous than the picture.

We hiked up a little trail and here we are on the Island of caves (do I look a little sick?? I was mostly over it by then...)

On the way back, we saw this ship and wanted to take a picture of it for our boys. Doesn't it look like a pirate ship? They thought it was pretty awesome.

Here we are after the cruise ready to go get some dinner (I was starving!!!!). We ate at a fun pizza/pasta place.

The next morning Mark and I got up early and we went out to explore. We found some neat shells, and a ton a little starfish. Aren't they cute? They were all over.

We also saw a few crabs.

Then we went to do some beaching at another beach just a little bit north and I can't remember the name of it, but I know it started with an "M." Here we are in the waves...doing a little bit of swimming.

Now, if you look at the hill behind me, Mark and I saw that there was another beach at the bottom. It's hard to see from this picture, but it looked fun so we went to explore. There was a little trail that went right up and around and took us to this awesome secluded little beach. This hike was impossible to do in flip flops, so we did it barefoot. I felt like a hobbit, hiking around NZ in my bare feet!! Mark and I found some paua shells here and some other really neat shells. Paua shells are very popular in NZ. They make a lot of jewelry out of the shells and the Mauri people use the shells a lot in their building and decorating. The beach was amazing. The only problem was, we forgot to take our camera with us on our little excursion. We really wanted to stay longer, but we thought the others would be worried about us, so we didn't stay too long. We went to a eat at a little diner. Mark ordered a bacon burger. We were fully expecting there to be a hamburger with the bacon, but no, it was just bun with bacon and a few toppings. We thought is was hilarious!

We drove back to the Bay of Islands and did a little shopping and resting (nap!!!). Then we went to dinner.

Here we are at a little Swiss restaurant. I ordered the seafood pasta. It came loaded with calamari, mussels, and other pieces of unidentified seafood. I have to admit, it was pretty good.

The next day we took a ferry over to Russel. It is a peninsula on the other side of the Bay of Islands. It was a cute little place with some fun shops. There are only about 500 people that actually live there, but it is very touristy. This is Mark and me hiking down to "long beach."

It was an over cast day, so we didn't want to swim, but we did a lot of exploring. We found this bright blue jellyfish. Mark touched the top of it. We learned from the movie Finding Nemo that one can touch the top of the jellyfish and not get stung. :)

Here is my honey. It really was a long and rocky beach. We could have explored there all day. We saw quite a few crabs. It would have been a great place for snorkeling if it had been a bit warmer.

After that, we took the ferry back, and left to go back to Hamilton. On the way back we stopped in Auckland for a little break and to do some shopping. We ran into some ward members (and our friends parents) who are missionaries in Auckland. It was such a coincidence seeing as they arrived in NZ the day before.

Coming up....our final days in NZ.

New Zealand--Part 2

On Sunday we went to church, then spent a lot of the day at the temple visitor's centre to see Elder and Sister Thornley at work, and to meet some of the other missionaries. Those sister missionaries were so cute. I wish I would have taken a picture of them. Three were from Australia and one was from Alabama. This visitor's centre is newly renovated and beautiful. Mark and I watched the newest Joseph Smith film with around 15 MTC missionaries (yes, there is an MTC there). I love seeing 19 year old boys cry. It was a very moving film. It was a wonderful day.

Mark standing in front of the visitor's centre with the temple behind him.


The Christus, inside the Centre

Mark and me in front of the beautiful NZ temple.

Sister Thornley and me in front of the visitor's centre

All of us in front of the temple

Me standing in front of the temple and the visitor's center behind me.

Sunday evening we went to the Hamilton Gardens.

Bekah and me sitting on a turtle dragon?? Notice that the dragon is biting Bekah's hand, hence the pained expressions.

All of the garden's had a theme, such as a Japanese garden, an American garden (which was quite ugly), a vegetable garden, etc... I can't recall which garden this was, but it was one of my favorites. Tuscan maybe....

The next day we were off to see more sights. Before we left, I had Brother and Sister Hutchins (a cute missionary couple from American Fork) who just happened to be on a walk at 7am, take a picture of us in front of the GR Biesinger building. George Biesinger was my grandfather's first cousin. The Biesinger building (which is still being used by the Maori's for meetings and such) is located directly across from Mom a Dad Thornley's home. George R Biesinger went on a building mission in the 1960's (could have been earlier). He lived there in Temple View, NZ for many years, made many friends, taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and was well loved and respected by many. In fact, in the sacrament meeting that we attended, the stake president mentioned Elder Biesinger in his talk. The inscription on the sign (that Mark and I are standing by in the pic below), says that the building was erected in honor of Elder "B", by his many friends (or something to that effect). I felt very proud to be a Biesinger! Oh, I also want to mention that my grandfather served a building mission in Germany, around the same time his cousin was in NZ.

Then we were off.

We were heading north, so we drove past Auckland and took a picture from our car. Our final destination was the Bay of Islands, but we made a stop overnight in the city of Whangerei (pronounced Fongeray). I am very happy we did, because we found some gorgeous places to see while we were there. First we went to see a kauri forest. Kauri trees are the largest trees in the world (by volume), but not by height (although they are huge!), and they are among the most ancient. The kauri forest was beautiful! Mark, Bekah and I went for a run through this forest the next morning before we left, so we got to see it twice!! We gave my parents a table mat made of kauri wood, and Mark bought a kauri wood bowl for his office (it holds gum (Trident), for his patients).

Me, Mark and Mom Thornley standing in front of a kauri tree.

Me and Mark in the kauri forest.

We then went to Whangarei Falls. This was also gorgeous. It was just a short hike, but the scenery was breath taking.

Me and Mark's parents in awe of the Whangarei Falls.

That evening, Jon and Bekah took the car, while Mark, his parents, and I went to a Thai restaurant. We walked, and on the way home we got caught in a NZ rain storm.

Coming up.....the Bay of Islands and our trip to the Auckland Sky Tower.

New Zealand--Part One

Mark and I went to New Zealand Feb. 11-Feb. 21. We had an amazing time!!! Thank you to all of the people who took fantastic care of our children while we were gone. We felt like newly weds again!! It was very strange getting on that airplane with only Mark. It took a while for me to get used to not having my three little boys with me at all times!! It was so fun to walk hand in hand with my husband wherever we went and not have to push a stroller or hold a child. We did miss our children, but we knew that we should enjoy all the alone time we were having, and boy did we ever! Happy 10 year anniversary to us (we're a few months early, but this trip definitely was a celebration of our marriage). It was also a chance to visit Mark's parents while they are on their mission. Thank you to them as well!! They did so much for us and basically planned out our entire trip. We would have been lost without them!! They were able to spend nearly the entire time with us because the temple was closed, therefore, the Visitor's Centre was not busy. We also traveled with Mark's brother and his wife and it was so fun to have them there. They got married a month before we did and we lived in the same house the first year of our marriages (we lived in the upstairs apt, and they lived in the basement apt).

This is us at the airport in LA before we boarded the 12 1/2 hour flight to Auckland (which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be--12 hours of sleeping, or eating, or reading, or watching videos, or just talking to my honey....hey, how bad could it be???). We were able to sleep fairly well. We arrived in Auckland at 6:30am, we rented a minivan, and off we went (on the LEFT side of road) to Hamilton to Mark's parent's home. My first impressions of NZ were, humid, warm, and BEAUTIFUL! So green (although it's the driest time of the year) and I immediately noticed these gorgeous trees called the Norfolk pine. As soon as we got to Hamilton (about an 1 1/2 hour drive from Auckland), my sister in-law, Bekah, and I did a quick run around the temple grounds, then we got cleaned up, we ate lunch, and then we were off to Rotorua.

This is me in Rotorua at the Agradome. There are sheep everywhere in NZ and this was a fun place to learn about them, to see a live show, and to see some sheep getting sheered!!

All of us at the Agrodome.

The live show and all the sheep!!

After the Agrodome we went right to the ZORB's!!! This was a lot of fun. It is basically a giant ball, filled with a little bit of water, then you get inside of it and then you are pushed down a hill!

Mark right after his ZORB ride.


Mark and me at the ZORB place.

After the Zorb, we road into downtown Rotorua and checked into the Novotel. We then went to dinner and for a walk around the city. This is me feeding the geese my left over icecream cone (mmmm...tip top ice cream is the best!!), a few feet away, there was a sign that read, "do not feed the geese, they may attack you." Ooops!!

This is Mark and I by Lake Rotorua (the whole time we were in Rotorua, I couldn't stop singing the Roto-Rooter song....:p)


This is me in front of a Maori building in Rotorua.

This is me kissing a Maori carving. I hope that wasn't bad to do. I meant no disrespect. I was really fascinated by the Maori culture. After that loooong day was over, we went back to our hotel, played a few rounds of 6 handed Rook, and off we went to bed (we all had separate hotel rooms :))! The next morning, Mark and I went running (it was the smelliest run I have ever been on because of all the natural hot springs everywhere) then we had breakfast at McDonald's (I know, way too American, but they are practically on every corner). Mark and I tried out the geothermal spa (very smelly) and then we were off to see some more of beautiful NZ!!

Next we went to this sled/go-cart/luge and I don't remember where it was, or what it was called, but it was tons of fun!! This is Dad, Mom, and Mark on the gondola.

Me, Bekah, and Jon, on the other side of the gondola.

Ready to race!! Here we met an Australian fellow who had on a BYU Hawaii shirt.

Mark and I after the races! Jon won just about every time.

Next we drove to Taranga and Mount Maunganui. We had lunch at Breakers (I had a chicken burger), and then we headed to the beach to look for shells and to hike mnt Maunganui!

Mark and his dad looking for shells.

That is mnt Maunganui behind me (notice the sheep behind me...I tell ya, there were sheep everywhere)

At the top of the mnt. We made it!! It was a gorgeous view!!

That's all I have time for now. More to come. This was only the first two days!!!