Day Four-Friday

Enjoying the beach

Monkeys- Lillianna's request

The famous Kiwi bird

Auckland zoo

One tree hill sheep in the middle of the city

The Lindstrom Clan





So, we spent the early part of the morning getting organized and packed. After 3 comfortable nights sleep at the Fraser household we were heading out to see some more of New Zealand. Got everything loaded into the car for the weekend away (Lisa and Ian came along for the weekend) which took some work- a lot of stuff in a little space.

Then we went over to have tea with Lisa's parents and sister. It was good to see them again. The last time I saw them was when they were visiting the US about 10 years ago. Lisa's sister adored Lillianna and helped keep her entertained while we were there.

Then we headed over to One Tree Hill- another volcanic mountain in the city of Auckland. It once had a tree on the top of it. That was cut down and another planted. That was also cut down, so now there is no tree, but there is a statue and it is the home to a ton of sheep. Different to be looking down on a major city and be surrounded by sheep.

We had lunch and then it was off to the zoo- the place of employment of both Lisa and Ian. It is a very nice zoo. I have to say it has done the best job of any zoo that I have visited of having the animals be both in natural looking environments and yet still be able to see them. Lillianna, of course, like it because she loves animals. The hippos and monkeys were big hits. We also happened to be there in time to go to the native encounter where we got to see a real, live Kiwi bird. It ran around a bit which was cool to see.

After Ian wrapped up his work for the day we hit the road to head to the beach- like nearly every other person in Auckland. We were stuck in traffic for awhile and Lil was in need of nap. The combination was pretty rough for a bit there. It was a beautiful three hour drive to our destination- Hahei- a beautiful town on the coast of the Coromandel peninsula. We stayed the next two nights at a cottage at a campground. After dinner we took a walk on the beach and got to see some gannets diving for fish.