End of the school holidays

We arrived back in Wellington late Friday night, and then spent the day relaxing around the house on Saturday. Then on Sunday we went rock climbing at an indoor wall along the bay. The kids did great - Maddy got to the top of some very tough walls, Jordy in her determined way got to the top a big rope, and Zeke, after feeling a bit scared at first and only making it up about a third of the way up a little wall, got up his courage and made it to the top two times. They all worked hard, and have the calluses to prove it.
Monday my friend Kerrie and I took our six kids to see a sweet little play called "No Moa," then bumped into our other American friend, Steve, and his kids Samantha and Jake and went to the new Waitangi Park for a picnic lunch.
We just took it easy today as we appreciated Anzac Day and prepared for the kids to go back to school tomorrow for their last term of school here in NZ.

Last day of the visit with the Californians

After packing up and waiting for Allie to be ready, we headed out of Hahei to start driving back to the Auckland airport. We took the route where you can stop along the side of the road and walk up a path to see a 2,500 year old square Kauri tree. It was quite cool. And the spot of our one group photo.
We then headed on to Thames for lunch. We were hoping that it would be a cute little town in which we could wander through some interesting shops - we were disappointed in seeing that it was not, but we did find a great playground where we had a picnic and the kids played for a bit before embarking on the last leg of our drive.
We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare (a first for some in our group). We hung out for a bit, and then said good-bye. We were psyched that Allie and Tom made the effort to come and visit us, to add to our list of memories from this year in New Zealand.

Coromandel Peninsula

We stayed at a cute place called "The Church" last night, here in Hahei, on the Coromandel Peninsula. We arrived in the evening, with everyone accounted for - we divided up Tony and Tom so that we wouldn't worry about losing them. It was dark when we got here, and the stars were amazing

Today we went over to Cathedral Cove in the morning. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we had a great walk along the path down to the beach. The kids enjoyed playing in the waves, being burried in the sand, and just generally getting as sandy as possible. After hanging out for a couple of hours, we walked back up for more amazing views, and then went to the Luna Cafe for lunch. Tony, Tom, and the all kids except Maddy stayed at a playground by the cafe while Allie, Maddy, and I went back to our cottages for some reading and knitting.

A bit later we joined back up and headed over to Hot Water Beach. We were told to go there about an hour before low tide with spades in hand to dig ourselves a little "hot tub." When you start to dig just a bit into the sand in certain places along this beach, hot water comes up. And I don't mean warm water, I mean HOT - like that can burn you. So you have to find the right spot where you can get some cool ocean water easily into your "tub" while not digging too far out that the waves come and knock down your sand walls. We had some trouble achieving this, so after a few failed attempts of our own, we, thanks to the kids' friendliness, ended up moving in on other people's spots. It was great, except that we practically had to drag Allie and the kids out as it was getting so dark that we could barely find our way back to the parking lot. We went to the Grange Cafe for our last dinner together. Thanks to Tom for most of the pictures in the linked slideshow.

Hell's Gate - Rotorua

Because no trip to Rotorua is complete without enduring the stench of sulfur while looking at bubbling mud, we stopped at the aptly named Hell’s Gate. View the slideshow and the video while holding a steaming pot of rotten eggs six inches from your nose to attain something approximating the authentic Hell’s Gate experience.

Life on the Farm - Rotorua

When city folks head to the country there are bound to be video opportunities. You can thank Tom for these entertaining clips from our day of agra tourism. Click on the video links below to see (from the left): Allie trying out as mother hen, Zeke working his best pickup lines on the farmer’s daughter, A "real" sheep sheerer at work, and Jack milking the Agrodome crowd for a laugh. Alternatively, you can view the slideshow.

Video Clips

Tom's Birthday

Today is Tom's birthday. The kids made him some nice cra(p)ft using clay and markers, and they all jumped out of boxes to be his birthday presents. After the kids finished delighting Tom with their birthday shrieks and squeals we got our stuff together and flew up to Auckland where we rented two cars with the combined horsepower of a ’85 Yugo. We sped out of Auckland and down to our Rotorua farm stay. Allie and I ended up driving in the little half-Yugo alone while Tony and Tom had the kids in the bus. Unfortunately (for them), they didn't know exactly where to go for the farm stay. So when we stopped in a little town to get some fruit and wine we (managed to ditch) lost track of them. They drove around until Tony remembered that the farm’s name reminded him of Brokeback Mountain and Maddy recalled that Heaven was part of the name. Eventually they came up with the correct name, Broekhaven, and asked some friendly Kiwis to point the way. We had some fish and chips and Tom and Tony shared a bottle of Scotch for dinner. Once everyone was back on an even keel we called it a night with the ewes outside bahhing us to sleep.

Family Reunion - Courtesy of the Rolling Stones

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We relaxed around the house in the morning then Tony and Tom took all of the kids except Maddy to the Otari-Wilton Bush for some good hiking around, a play that the kids did of the Three Billy Goats Gruff and a picnic. Click here to see pictures from this adventure.
In the meantime, Allie and Maddy and I went into the city to go shopping, though we were pretty unsuccessful since it was Easter Monday and many stores were closed. A bit later in the afternoon we called our cousin, Jon Dworkow, as he had just flown into Wellington with the Rolling Stones. We picked J.D. up at his hotel and brought him back to the house to see the rest of the gang. He stayed for a traditional Jewish Easter dinner, Chinese takeout. I wish I could share some of Jonny's stories of life on the road with the band. Unfortunately we had to sign a nondisclosure agreement before Jonny would talk. We had a great visit. Allie and I hadn't seen Jonny in years - funny that we are here across the world and we get a chance to catch up with him.

Easter Sunday

In the morning Jack woke up looking to see if the Easter Bunny had come to bring him chocolates and presents, so the girls and I got some stuff together quickly and made a nice little Easter surprise for him and the rest of the kids. We even included an Easter egg hunt with chocolate eggs that Tom and I had bought the night before.
A bit later everybody but Tony took the cable car back down to the city and we walked over to Te Papa. The kids had a lot of fun, and Tom and Jack stayed longer than the rest of us to check out the Lord of the Rings exhibit. Allie and I took the rest of the kids over to the new Waitangi Park and Playground then took a bus back home. Tony was on his own for the afternoon, played in a tennis tournament, but unfortunately was matched up against a spritely, long-legged high-school kid who had no trouble winning, not before Tony won a couple games.





For dinner, Allie, Tom, Tony, & I went out to one of our favorite places, Chow. It was nice to have a night out just for the adults. We had a great dinner and then some interesting conversations with these people on the street who were trying to lure us into The Mermaid an "adult entertainment" establishment. Despite our curiosity about the huge aquarium, we resisted, and ended up going home to play cards.

On the Town with Four Kids & Zeke

Today we all took the cable car down into the city and went down to Frank Kitts Park where all five kids did the Bungy Trampoline and played at the playground. When the day turned cold we all thought - this would be a good day to see "Ice Age 2", a new favorite of all of ours. Watching that prehistoric squirrel relative chase an acorn relative for 90 minutes made us hungry. Allie, Tony, Erez, Maddy, and Jordy went to get burritos, while Tom, Jack, Zeke, and I went home. It turned out that the burritos were a bust - very expensive and too spicy for the kids. Oh well... the kids had cheese quesadillas at home instead while the rest of us had leftovers from the night before. Pictures

They Arrive

This afternoon the girls and I went to the Interislander Ferry terminal to meet Allie, Tom, Erez & Jack. They are fresh from their tour of the South Island where they went hourse back riding, whale watching, exploring the Antarctic Center and more - See the slideshow. We were all so excited that they were finally here! Unfortunately Erez, or "Oz" as he is going by these days, wasn't feeling his best. We came back to the house to prepare for our "second night" Seder (actually being held on the third night so that we could have it with them).

Allie and I made matzo ball soup, etc. while Tony and Tom took Maddy, Jack, and Zeke over to the Botanical Gardens for a bit of a run around before dinner. Our friends Sam and Matt and their boys, and Belinda and Ofer and their girls came over a bit later and we had a very nice, laidback Seder, including a number of fun Passover songs to the tunes of Broadway musicals. We introduced our friends here to the orange on the Seder plate ritual. Click the image to watch Zeke singing the "Frog Song", one of the ten tracks on his up coming A Plague of Songs CD.