Category Archives: Travel

We are enjoying our dog-sitting gig in Northland. The water in Opononi has Crayola’s robin’s egg blue color to it: We spent the other day going over details about the house, kitchen, dogs, etc. so we could watch Holly, Moses, Buzz, and Muffin for about 10 days. Jan sometimes says “oh goodness, no, life is tooContinue reading “meercat.”

Northland Jan and Steve I was sad to leave Kennedy Bay and Raewyn. We spent our last night steaming our own mussels from the estuary 100 yards away and frying up fresh snapper that was delivered from a neighbor. I kept thinking, how can we beat this? What will this next place be like? WhyContinue reading “hot tub, cold pool, steamin’ coffee.”

This is the view on our way from Raewyn’s house to Coromandel Town, home of the coolest coffee shop/secondhand bookstore, Driving Creek Café. These are taken with my Canon Powershot from Aaron and Carlee, on the vivid setting…almost captured how blue the water was.

Our new friend, Cody from the grocery store (that’s how he’s entered in our phone), was having a huge family reunion this weekend. Big, like wedding tents, lights, sound systems, dance competitions, bounce houses kind of big. And somehow, we got invited. When we arrived, there was plenty of food left, plenty of kids doingContinue reading “crashing a family reunion.”

My walks in the morning are refreshing. There’s something cool about being the first one on the beach (not many people live in Kennedy Bay, and there are so many other bays and beaches, I think around six people a day walk on this beach, so if I get out there around 8am, I stillContinue reading “tp on demand.”

Here’s a hot topic:    Volcanic activity from 5 to 9 million years ago has leftlava about 2 km under the sand at Hot Water Beach, about an hour from where we are staying. So 2 hours on either side of low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and hop infor aContinue reading “oo la la.”

Here’s a deep subject: Sandbars. It’s amazing how small you feel while on a shallow sandbar in the middle of the sea. I have felt so incredibly small lately in this land of big beauty. Multiple times a day, I can sing loudly with confidence no one will hear me. When I walk in theContinue reading “deep.”

Kennedy Bay, Coromandel Peninsula Our “home” keeps changing and it’s amazing how quickly we feel comfortable in certain places. When we mentioned we were heading to the Coromandel Peninsula, the response has been a resounding head nod and twinkle in the eye. They speak as though it is a place where dreams come true, whereContinue reading “ooh, kennedy bay.”

We hiked up Mount Maunganui and were left speechless and hungry for a Korean pancake. I’ll let these pictures speak for themselves.  

At Mount Mellicks in Mount Maunganui (holy alliteration!), happy hour meant you ordered any beverage and got to spin the wheel full of awesome options like free drink, free bowl of fries, 20-50% off, and better luck next time. Kasey ordered a drink, we chanted “free, free, free!!” and it landed on FREE. We cheeredContinue reading “so good!”