Northland, Bay of Islands and Paihia Part 2 - MP

On the way home from the west coast we stopped at these cool looking boulders along the Hokinga Harbour. Formed from a volcanic eruption many years ago they make for a great photo. A short hike down the beach from the car park was all that was needed to find this fun boulders. 

If one kid has a picture with mommy, then the other kid must too. Mommy doesn't mind. 

Jonah tried to create some bouldering problems on it but found them too difficult. 

The drive back was a long trip and everyone was exhausted.  Once home, left Grandma to recover from a long trip and we dropped into Matauri Bay (10 minutes from the BnB) to visit friends that we haven't seen in years. Rachel, Shonty and their kids were having a beach campfire. They invited us to crash it. We took in the night sky showing all it's Southern Hemisphere constellations seeing the southern cross and the well defined Milky Way. 

The next day we booked into a Bay of Islands cruise that travelled out to the Hole in the Rock. This was a magnificent three hour cruise taking in many of the sites within the Bay. We had a great time going through the hole, seeing the lighthouse at Cape Brett and snapping photos of many dolphins. We also saw Motuarohia Island (Roberton Island) and Urupukapuka Island. Both islands look beautiful from the water and we hope to explore them the next time we're visiting...

 

On the way home, we got silly with pictures. The wind doesn't seem to affect me as much as the others. Paihia is over my left shoulder and Russell is off to the left in the picture. A short ferry ride can get you to and from Paihia and Russell. 

My tattoo is almost healed. It takes about 10 days for the entire tattoo to heal. I've had some compliments already. 

Sometimes the drives can get a bit silly. To pass the time Jonah seems to like making silly faces into stolen iPhones. When I am not driving, I tend to be a pillow or Tickle-Me-Elmo (sometimes both at the same time). Sometimes kids play on their mini iPads until we yell at them to look out the window at another hill, valley or body or water. 

Grandma's trip has come to an end. We've loved showing Grandma parts of the North Island. It's been an absolute pleasure spending time with her in Auckland, Taupo and Northland. We will all miss her for the rest of our trip. She is kind and caring and up for an adventure. Kudos to her for flying half way around the world to visit us for the past three weeks. We will drop her off to the airport this evening. As she says, we wish her, "safe home".

Northland, Bay of Islands and Paihia Adventure - MP

For the last part of our Spring two week holiday we rented an Air BnB north of Paihia and the Bay of Islands. We arrived to the house in Te Ngaere Bay to witness this amazing view for four days and nights. Being very remote and on the east coast the views of the stars and sunrises were absolutely amazing. 

This was Grandma's last leg of her vacation from retirement back in London, Ontario so we wanted to show her the sights of Northland. Matauri Bay never ceases to disappoint. The kids used their skim boards to body surf on this very safe beach. The weather was at least 2 - 3 degrees warmer than down in Auckland so it felt like summer had arrived early. 

On the way north, we stoppped in Kawakawa for a photo opportunity at Bay of Islands College. Lynn and I taught here for 3 terms, 14 years ago. 

The next day we toured the Waitangi Treaty Grounds just north of Paihia. Having lived in Paihia for 9 months previously Lynn and I have realised that we missed out engaging in some really cool things the first time. We toured the grounds with a guide to learn more about the significance of the Treaty between the Maori People and the monarch. This is flagstaff hill where the original treaty was signed by northland chiefs before it was carried throughout New Zealand to be signed by other chiefs. 

We took in a cultural performance that always entertains!

Afterwards, the kids weren't interested in a photo opportunity so just Lynn and I jumped in.

Later that afternoon, we let Grandma and Lynn have a tour over to Russell on the ferry. They also had a quick opportunity to do a bit of shopping. The kids and I went to Adventure World to climb on inflatable Ninja Warrior obstacles! 

I did most of the photography and let Siena and Jonah work their muscles. Afterward, we were kindly invited to our friends home for dinner. Lynda and Dave are simply the best! Thanks for being such kind soles, even when we eat and run over your flower bed. Sorry!

The second day north, we decided to drive to the west coast. Along the way we stopped at the Wairere Boulders. This next picture doesn't show the large boulders. We all had fun hiking up this stream in and under the boulders. Jonah and Siena rated it a 9 and 10 out of 10 respectively. 

After this stop, we almost ran out of gas. We were in the middle of nowhere and drove past three small towns keeping an eye out for a gas station. There was no luck. Fortunately, the kids trust us so much that they fell asleep while the adults crossed their fingers that we would find a station. We the needle under the E, we arrived to our destination for a lunch break and a re-fill of gasoline!

After lunch we visited the west coast of Hokinga Harbour where I proposed to Lynn over 14 years ago. We had fun re-telling the story to the kids and Grandma. 

I proposed to Lynn at this bench looking west as the sunset over the Tasman Sea. 

Just south of Omapere and Opononi is Tane Mahuta, the large Kauri tree in New Zealand. It was nice to return to this natural wonder and pay our respect to nature and Maori history. 

To be continued... (Lynn and I are heading to a LuLu Lemon sale! While Grandma stays home with the kiddos).

Tattoo - MP

Yesterday was a special day for me. Having spent two major parts of my life in New Zealand and (so far) having had a very successful stay here with Lynn, Jonah and Siena, I wanted to celebrate by getting a tattoo. 

I looked online and found Inia at Moko Inc. His studio is on his property outside of Auckland near Helensville and Muriwai Beach. He has a beautiful 20 acres of property about 50 minutes north west from Auckland.

Inia has worked in the film industry. He's been a part of major movies like The Piano and Once Were Warriors. If you ever get a chance to see Once Were Warriors, he's done all the facial tattooing in that movie.

Inia also does sculpture and word carving. He trained in tattooing with his mentor, Paulo and was the first to start taking traditional Maori designs from wood carvings and place them onto people as tattoos.

Here is a short video of a documentary about Inia.

https://youtu.be/5aIDSrYIsoA

On a side note, Inia's God-Daughter was helping to complete the tattoo. Eva is a Year 12 student who is learning the art of tattooing. Her father was the lead singer from a New Zealand music group called OMC. Back in the mid 1990's, OMC had a smash hit called How Bizzarre. 

https://youtu.be/C2cMG33mWVY

OMC stands for Otara Millionaire's Club. Otara is a disadvantaged suburb of Auckland where her father lived and grew up, hence the name is cynical in nature. Unfortunately, Eva's father passed away from MS in 2010 when she was only 9. 

Anyway, during the tattoo session we listened to OMC, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. As nerdy as I am, we got talking about Grit and they even turned on Angela Duckworth's TED Talk.

https://youtu.be/H14bBuluwB8

Back to the tattoo, Lynn drove me out to Moko Inc., Inia's studio where we co-planned the tattoo.

This is Inia as he starts to design the piece on my right calf. Prior to this, we sat down and spoke to him about my values and he taught us about traditional Maori designs that represent these values.

This is the piece coming to life. He continued to add to the design until it was perfect.

Next, we started adding the ink. I have a previous smaller tattoo on my left shoulder that I got when I was in university over 20 years ago. So I have some (limited) experiences with tattoos. This was a much larger peice, taking 4 hours to complete with some breaks along the way.

Part of the tattoo was completed with traditional Maori tattooing called Moko. A sharpened bone is used to insert the ink. It is tapped into your skin using sticks. Here's a video of that experience.

Lynn left for most of the session to travel back to Narrow Neck to pick up the kids from sailing camp. Then see returned with them and Grandma to pick me up. Inia was so kind to spend time with my family explaining the significance of the tattoo.

Then we were invited to feed their lambs and they gave us a dozen free-range eggs. BONUS - a tattoo with a dozen free eggs! 

Designs within the tattoo are difficult to explain.

There are two korus which are the negative white space swirls. They represent an unfurling frond of the fern. These represent Jonah and Siena, growth, strength and peace.

The twinned swirls represent Lynn and I. It is called a mangopare and represents the hammerhead shark. It is a sign for tenacity of life and devoted lovers.

From the koru and mangopare, in the shaded regions, you can see the rippling effect that we have on each other. Like a stone thrown into water, one action causes a reaction. It reminds us of our affect on others.

The weave pattern is a sign of teamwork. As individauls we are all weak but as an entire team (extended family) we are strong. We are better together.

The shark teeth pattern is the most used design in Polynesian tattooing. It signifies protection and adaptability. Sharks will lose many teeth during their life and new teeth are always growing in to take their place.

The stick birds are gannets. They are a migatory bird used for navigation and fishing. Maori and Polynesian people used these birds to traverse the Pacific Ocean. There are four birds (Lynn, Jonah, Siena and I). They represent travel. The lines coming from the birds represent dreams and aspirations. This part of the tattoo was completed with the traditional bone technique.

So the tattoo is in it's healing stage for the next 10 days...I'll update a picture once it's completely healed.

On the way home we visited Muriwai Beach to checkout the Gannet colony and sites.

The Aquarium - SP

The Aquarium!

On Thursday I went to the Aquarium with my family. When we got there we walked through an Antartic Scientific Station model. After that we went to get photos taken of us. To get to the animals we had to go through a tunnel with moving walls,it was weird. Once we got through we saw Penguins. 🐧 

They were so cute. Below are some pictures of me and the Penguins.

Don't you think they look cute or cuddly? We spent a lot of time with them. Finally it's time to see other animals we saw Stingrays, Jellyfish, fish, sharks, starfish, and much more. Here is a picture if a turtle!

 It was really cool 😎. I loved it! Once we got past the fish area there were the starfish a cafe and a playground. Jonah and I played hide and seek for a bit. Then after we passed that there was a moving path just like in Toronto we went around twice. Then we went to go see Seahorses. They weren't my favourite. There was a gift shop near by so we stopped there and bought a few things. By the way, this was all with Grandma! That's why we didn't go to school today. Time to head back for Penguin feeding! 

Mommy was really happy 😊! Sadly it's time to go home that is all I can tell you now. Bye... 

For now! 

From: Siena Phillips