When my parents come to visit from South Africa, we always do a trip of some sort. This year it was to do the top part of the North Island ie North of North…
First stop, Coromandel Town. 2 nights in a 2 bedroom historical cottage. New Year’s Eve eve(?) & New Year’s Eve itself. I use the term “2 bedrooms” loosely but the rather large bed in the lounge was quite dominant & therefore I’m saying the lounge was more a bedroom with a couch & TV. It was very quaint but not ideal for the kids…too many non kid-friendly things etc around Luckily we spent very little time at the actual cottage so it wasn’t too bad, although the kids may disagree!
Karamana Homestead
We had a great time at Waterworks, although we didn’t have a go on everything due to 2 little people who had their own ideas about how the day was going to go down but we did get to see most of it. Eco-friendly water fun & endless amounts of interesting tidbits placed around the place.
every boy’s idea of fun..
How would you react to this if you were unsuspecting….?
…photo quality aside, this was Master 2’s reaction to the above!
I’m not too sure what to make of it…
Accurately keeps time
When he worked out he had to see-saw his feet to get the water to squirt me it was on like donkey kong (yes, I did just say that!)
Having a turn on the ET flying bike
This was always how it was going to end!
rocking see-saw thingy that skirts water
There were so many other photos but I decided not to bore you to death with all the “family holiday snaps”. Next up….the Driving Creek Railway. A really interesting story if you have the time to head over & read about it. Hubby & I have been before, years ago, but definitely worth a second trip. Master 3 L.O.V.E.D it & Master 2 tolerated most of it but did have a couple of meltdowns along the way. It wouldn’t be a holiday if the kids didn’t make you work for it!
One of the trains
Concentration
Hubby had more fun than anyone
View from the top
And no trip to Coromandel would be complete without time at the beach. Oamaru Bay is ideal for families, protected & calm. And the water is usually warm!
Sand castles!
Master 2 wanted to go in with Hubby
And before we knew it it was time to jump back into the van & head to Marsden Bay…a long drive but the boys were (mostly) great & tolerant. Lets just say we were all glad for the aircon. Oh, and the Ipad!
Loves his Ouma’s Ipad!
Lets just say there is sweet FA to do in Marsden Bay unless you have a boat! But 2 days of relaxation on the beach entertaining the kids on the beach was great.
Thanks Aunty T & Uncle R for the tshirt!
finding treasures
sea shells…yum!
surveying the scene
dainty
I’ll end there for now, come back for the next installment soon…
AfricanKiwi 
Yay, glad you enjoyed The Waterworks. We planned on going again over the holidays, but haven’t quite made it just yet. Hopefully over the next couple of weekends if David is around. Nice to have lots of sunny beach weather :). Bet you all had fun.