Off the Grid - Northlands

There be Dragons! Mate!

Jan 2 my Dad (Kevin Stewart) came on out to New Zealand to visit the wayward fam, enjoy young Beau, and see some of the sites. Since Dad is a true Floridian and pretty much gets goose bumps when the temp doesn't start with a "9" (Fahrenheit....think 33 C) we decided to go up North. I only took  a Friday off so it was going to be a quick weekend trip. The itinerary was:

1) Leave Friday Morning, stop in Matapouri to see the Mermaid Pools

2) Arrive Friday afternoon in Mangonui (mong-go-new-EE). This is the Doubtless Bay area

3) Leave Sat morning for Cape Reinga. The tippy-top of NZ!

4) Sunday head back home, stopping a few places and getting late lunch at Ransom Vineyards

A flat out drive to Mangonui is about 4.5 hours. Mangonui to Cape Reinga is another 1.5 hours. Luckily they had completed paving that road (to Cape Reinga) late in 2012....so it was smooth sailing.

First stop Matapouri. We were all impressed with how clear the water was. This was a neat little vacation spot for Kiwis. Tons of baches. Looked like very simple accommodation and quiet. Would be lovely to spend a few days and just unwind and soak up a few rays.

Whoa. Clear water?!

Now THIS is a kiwi Summer!

We stopped here because Lonely Planet reading Dad was talking about "Mermaid Pools". To get to the pools you had to hike up a treacherous path. I gave it a go with the bubber in tow but it was just a bit too dangerous for my liking. Kim, Dad and Ella soldiered on.

Kim thought this was REAL funny....

Dad and Beau found a nice posi (position) on the beach and relaxed while the real troopers saw the sites.

Str8 lounging.

 Turns out the Mermaid pools weren't all that impressive. Dad and Kim were back in about 30 min and we all just took in the beach for a while.

A "Four Shot"

 Then it was back in the truck and onwards to Mangonui..

We were immediately in love with Mangonui. Highly recommend it. This used to be a bustling port for the whalers way back in the day. Today it is a very quiet little town in a protected bay. Top attractions are:

1. Tons of fishing. Next time we are going to charter the "Snappa Slappa"....I'll bet this captain knows what   he is doing.
2. Mangonui Fish and Chip shop - apparently world famous. It was good Fish and Chips
3. Access to Doubtless Bay beaches.

Just a great, quiet place to get away from the city and enjoy the warmer weather.

We stayed at "Mill Tide Apartment"...which really is just ONE apartment below a lovely couple's home. They allowed dogs, babies, and smoking dads.

There was a bit of discussion around whether we should just spend Saturday enjoying Mangonui, or to bite the bullet and get BACK in the car and head up to Cape Reinga. After talking to some of the locals about how long it takes to get up there we decided to go. And we were not disappointed...

 The drive was about 1.5 hours from Mangonui on a very twisty rural road. As you approach the end of the island the views become more and more spectacular. There is a nice facility at the end of the road and appears to be managed by some Maori officials. There is no eating on site and no dogs (sorry Ella). This is a very sacred piece of land to the Maori as they believe where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean is where souls travel to go to the underworld.

The door to the underworld is easy to spot. The water becomes extremely agitated where the seas meet.It just churns and churns. You can hear the noise from way up on the cliffs.

From the parking area you take a 1 Km hike down to the Cape Reinga lighthouse. From here the view are spectacular. And of course, there are one of those crossroad signs that lets you know how far you are from Los Angeles....not that anyone would want to go there.

Walk down to the lighhouse

View of underworld gate from left to right

Beau gets a bit heavy after a 1 KM walk

Stewart Fam...sans Li'l Ella

Triple Generation shot

Cape Reinga was very special. After we soaked all that up we decided to check out the massive sand dunes just outside of 90 Mile Beach. A lot of the people we have met here talk up the dunes as a great place to rent a boogie board and go sliding down them. Kiwis always have to turn everything into some kind of extreme sport....we just enjoyed looking.

Obviously you don't want to be caught out in some dunes with a 2-wheel drive station wagon. So we employed some Rangie grunt!

You'd think it was his truck..

Extreme Kiwi dune riding...

Gotta let Ella stretch her legs..

 These dunes were pretty massive. Its hard to capture in a picture. We tried to get some perspective with the panoramic shot below.

That was an excellent start to the day. We got outta there just before all the tour buses starting showing up and headed back to Mangonui. As if this trip wasn't laden enough with spiritual overtones we nearly took a wrong turn down Salvation Rd....thankfully it was avoided.

Now back to Mangonui. We had some lunch and then Me, Kim, Beau, and Ella decided to hike up one of the volcano looking hills which guard the entrance to the Mangonui harbour.At the top we had a gorgeous 360 view of Doubtless Bay and Mangonui.

Getting Pram up the hill was no small feat.

Ah. That was worth it.

.....and farther around to the right....

Even Beau was impressed.

Its steeper than it looks.....for real.

The rest of the day we just spent enjoying the apartment in Mangonui. The owners of the apartment had a nice German Shepard named Glen who kept Ella company for a little play.

Just keep a heads up, Ella.

Next day we packed up and had one last breakkie in Mangonui. Can't wait to go back for a few more days, a lot less driving, and a lot more fishing.

Boats.

Grampa and Beau

Sleepy old town of Mangonui. Got to get some Breakkie and lots of Coffee for the drive!

On the way back we stopped at Waitangi. This is another sacred bit of land where the Maori kings signed a bit of paper with the British. Not sure of all the details. There was a museum we were hoping to tour, but it was $45 a person...so not today.

Beau was solicited about what happens if he is hurt and cant work......yeah?

Wow....too much driving. We stopped in Warkworth on the way down to have lunch at Ransom Winery. Ransom is one of 2 wineries that harvest the Carmenere grape...an ancient grape....one of our favorites. We stretched our legs and had a nosh.

Awesome trip. It was great to see Dad again and share a trip like this with him. As quick as it was, we packed a lot in and really enjoyed it. By now Dad is back in the Florida Keys tending bar and telling tall tales of cold Kiwi nights and mythical Maori locations. Beau is already missing Grampa.

When is the drool going to stop?!

Kiwi XMas

Merry Christmas!

We just had our second Xmas in New Zealand this time with a little baby. Leading up to the big day we spent some time at the beach soaking up the beautiful summer sunshine. The sun is really strong due to a battered ozone layer, so be sure to bring your sunscreen!

Tent for baby.

Nice "Posi" at Bethell's Beach

My man wasn't in the best of moods come Christmas time. Mostly because all 8 of his teeth decided to come on in at what seems like the same time. This led to irritable, cranky baby...

You gots to have teef! (you can just see the bottom two in this blurry pic)

Since Kim and I have been together we have never done a proper Christmas at our place. Not because we are Jewish, but we just always traveled to family's place for Christmas. Ella would not have cared anyways.

But THIS year it was time to get the spirit going. I proudly picked up a nice tree and Kim and I decorated it up....not bad for first timers.

Beau doesn't know what it means either. He DOES know how to start off Xmas at 5AM, however...

Ahhhh. Christmas morning. I've always loved it. And of course we were to follow STRICT Stewart family Christmas morning rules:

• Rule# 1 - NO opening gifts on Christmas Eve....you have to learn to wait..."le pause"
• Rule# 2 - We open gifts ONE at a time from youngest to oldest...oldest looking...so I went last.

Mocka truck. Thanks Pa-Pa

• Rule# 3 - Mimosas for Mom and Dad. Go easy on the OJ....

Fortified on Mimosa at 530AM, presents unwrapped...time for a nap...whole family...

Santa brought us some sweet panoramic prints we have been meaning to get done for a while. Two of our favorites below. Bethell's Beach (the big one) and The 12 Apostles (Australia).

Then it was off to friends house for XMas lunch. It was Ham and Lamb all around....delicious.

Mommy needs a refill....

 The rest of the holiday season so far has been spent House Hunting. Our rental is up in February and we are on the lookout for a new spot....the pic below should give you a hint of what we are after...

...Is the Nicehouse

Kim and I are very close to becoming 100% debt free for the first time in both of our adult lives. The order in which our debts got paid down should not have surprised me. 

Car loan for the truck, gone.

High-Interest Credit cards that Kim (sneakily) held on to, gone.

0% interest loans for TVs, etc, gone.

Lee's student loan.....still carrying it? 

Here's how this works, my man. Kim is still currently working and gets paid in US $s in the a US bank. Those dollars go towards paying off any remaining debts. The logic for leaving the student loan until last can eloquently be summed up  in my wife's own words...."I'm not paying for the time you spent at college getting drunk with your buddies!". 

Obviously this is just an assumption on her part. We didn't go to school together so who knows what I was up to at UF.

Let me get to the point. 

We received a package yesterday and it was as if a stork flew straight from Gainesville and delivered a bundle of joy right into our growing family.....

so peaceful when they sleep. sure do pee a lot.

walkies in the bugaboo

safety first. don't want any trouble with the law.

time to eat

Such a handful (22oz!! Thanks Brian/Kia!!!!). Kim and I can't decide whether to have the cap removed or not....medically, they say, there is no reason.

We've been here for 1 year now, and it has been one year since my lips have tasted the sweet-deliciousness from the good folks at Plank Road Brewery. Cheers!

Turkey Day in Kiwiland

Last week, Lee says "I will cook the turkey."  Kiwis don't really "do" turkeys until Christmas seeing as how they don't really have Thanksgiving.  Another complication is that it is spring/summer here so your typical Thanksgiving side dishes aren't always available - as in, no brussel sprouts... think strawberry season...  And!  no jellied cranberry sauce in the can.... thank goodness :)

All that being said, we found a 3.5 kilo turkey and made some quick substitutions on the fly for side dishes but kept the traditional sweet potato casserole, stuffing/dressing, and cranberry sauce.  Lee dry brined the turkey for a few days and did a secret under the skin spice rub that I'm pretty sure had some Szechuan peppercorns in it.

What is Thanksgiving without some good college football?  We waited until today to have turkey day so that we could watch the UF vs FSU game which came on at 9:00am here.  It's becoming a Sunday morning tradition for Lee and Beau to get up for ESPN Gameday and then the UF game every Sunday.

beau gators!

Our fellow ex-pat friend, Carlton, came over for the football and feast.  Unfortunately for him, he is (was) a FSU fan!  Great come behind win for the Gators today.  Even our GT Yellowjacket nephew (sorry for your loss Ty!) got behind the Gators!

Dinner was nice to have with friends here, but we miss our family and state-side friends!!  Hope more of you can come for a visit in the near future....

turkey day table

fellow ex-pat carlton

lee requested traditional sweet potato souffle - marshmallow and all....

perfectly juicy turkey

just a little snack for me!

Dessert - had to be pumpkin pie!  Homemade crust and everything.... brandy whipped cream on top.

yum-kin pie

Aftermath....

and then there is always these....

tryptophan doesn't seem to impact ella...

3-Year Itch?

We decided (Lee decided) that it was time for us to leave the little guy with a babysitter and venture out for dinner for our 3-year anniversary this week.  We had managed to dine alone once before while Lee's mom, Shelagh, and her friend Jackie were in town back in September, but had not risked an actual babysitter yet...

The day started great.... awesome coffee from Ozone Coffee Roasters (New Plymouth, NZ).... Beau in a lovely mood.... got out for walkies with Ella.... then who knows what happened, but 3:00pm comes around and we've got a screaming baby on our hands for an entire hour!!!!  I truly think that he is starting to teeth as his cheeks were fiery red and he was putting any and everything in his mouth EXCEPT for his bottle!  He's all of a sudden started refusing to drink from the bottle without a true "bottle battle" on our hands.

So we worked through the 3pm episode and had a nice happy settled baby for our neighbor, Dayle, to come over for a sit with Beau while we went for dinner.  Beau likes Dayle and she brought over her partner's 11-yr old son, Frasier, who both Beau and Ella like.  So.... we left....  a bit trepidatiously, but stuck to our plan.

We went to the Refreshment Room in Titirangi.  It's a lovely little restaurant where the menu changes daily/weekly and the owner is the chef.  They grow most of their own vegetables in their home garden - a bit like Cakes and Ale for those of you from Atlanta.  I've got to say that it was pretty relaxing going out to dinner just the two of us to celebrate....

view from the refreshment room over the waitakeres

chef with fresh bread for asparagus mozzarella bruschetta 

Dinner was excellent - we made it through some pre-dinner beverages, the entree/appetizer of bruschetta with grilled asparagus and fresh mozzarella, and our mains/entrees before Lee's phone started blowing up with texts from Dayle that got a bit more frantic with each one.  Needless to say, dessert had to be takeaway and we headed back to the house not really sure what to expect...

You would never guess the MAYHEM that was going on!!!! No wonder Beau was screaming and exercising his baby lungs to their full extent.... Not only were Dayle and Frasier at our house with Beau and standing outside on the front porch, but two of our neighbors came over to see what the ruckus was about and brought their dogs which caused Ella to go into hyperdrive.  The circus had come to Kopiko Rd and Beau was just not ready for that!!!

Took about 5 minutes to get Beau settled, fed, and happily asleep in his cot - no worries whatsoever... meanwhile, Dayle enjoyed a glass (or two.... ) of wine with Lee.

Lessons Learned:  No matter how much the babysitter insists on Beau being awake so she can get a good cuddle in, make sure he is fed and in bed before leaving the house for dinner!!!!  Mommy knows best.

pre-dinner pic.... did not capture the circus :)