We went to the North Island of New Zealand for a couple of week during the Christmas break.
Here are a few photos from the trip!
/K
 |
| A Cuban cafe in Coromandel Peninsula. We assumed the 1950s wooden high chair was part of the theme, but apparently lots of restaurants had the exact same type of chair... |
 |
| Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula. Apparently they filmed Narnia here. |
 |
| Emily looking at fishes in a glass bottom boat |
 |
| Emily is enjoying walking around in a giant bird park (although getting chased by hungry birds when holding onto a bag of bird food was less fun!) |
 |
| The Pohutu Geyser and boiling water in Whakarewarewa |
 |
| Emily and Anna in front of a Maori sculpture at Te Puia |
 |
| The Pohutu Geyser in Whakarewarewa |
 |
| Walking through the forest, we found a couple of cool lakes with really clear water. |
 |
| More geysers! |
 |
| Christmas Day at Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland! The smell of rotten eggs was in the air... |
 |
| Wai-O-Tapu |
 |
| Steam and bubbles rising from the boiling water |
 |
| A yellow sulphur lake |
 |
| Start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Emily is looking a bit sceptical and the fog was rather thick... |
 |
| Beneath Mount Doom! Luckily the morning fog had disappeared by now, or the view would have been somewhat boring... |
 |
| Looking over the volcanic landscape - not much growing here! |
 |
| Sun shade up! The sun was really strong in NZ... |
 |
| Lunch beneath Mt Doom |
 |
| More spectacular volcanic landscape |
 |
| Emily managed to find some soft grass to sit on among all the rocks |
 |
| Blue Lake from a distance |
 |
| Emerald Lake |
 |
| Emerald Lake |
 |
| A long walk... |
 |
| Walking past Blue Lake |
 |
| Nice view of the valley below! Still a long way to go... |
 |
| Steam erupting from the volcano that last erupted in 2012 |
 |
| Hiking is hard work... There were signs saying we weren't allowed to stay too long in the area since it was dangerous because of the volcanic activity, but some of us needed a bit of rest... |
 |
| Hot springs! Apparently a bit too hot as somebody died here from being scalded in the water... hence the closed track. |
 |
| A bit of Maori grimaces towards the end of the walk (note the change of scenery - now we're in a rainforest!) |
 |
| Our car was quite cramped... good thing we got our "medium size" car in the end, and not the tiny Toyota Yaris they wanted to give us... |
 |
| Driving around NZ was spectacular! Looks like there could be Hobbits living here... |
 |
| Where are the sheep? Plenty of nice lush green grass... |
 |
| Seeing the glow worms at Waitomo was cool! We went on a boat ride in the dark with the glow worms above us shining like stars... |
 |
| The art gallery in Auckland. Emily and I enjoyed playing with Lego, building houses. |
