Matariki Weekend

Kia Ora! As mentioned previously, Matariki is a Maori holiday that a few years ago (2022, I do believe) became a national public holiday, which means Brad gets the day off work! This year Matariki fell on June 30th, a Friday. We decided it would be the perfect day to take the kids to see the ocean for their first time (Daniel, Autumn and Brynn - obviously James and Ryan saw the ocean when we came to NZ last year, well, Ryan saw it before that, when he moved to NZ last February). Anyways... we decided to take a family daytrip to the east coast of New Zealand and visit Tauranga, specifically to go see Mount Maunganui, which is in Tauranga, well, on the edge of it.

Here's a map, just so you have an idea. I've shown Hamilton and Tauranga. It's about 110 km from Hamilton to Tauranga (around 70 miles) and took us about an hour and a half. We didn't yet own a car that would seat everyone, so whenever we went anywhere all together we took two cars. Brad's Lexus and Ryan's Honda Accord (that he bought when he lived here last year and then some friends took care of it for him until Brad came here in March and drove it until buying his Lexus right before we arrived). Anyways, here's the map, just showing the north island.

And here's a little info about the road system in New Zealand (of which I am still learning). There aren't interstates like back in the states. There are some state highways that, around the major cities (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington) are similar, with two lanes going each way. However, most the roads are just two lanes, one going each way, and at times they aren't even that, they are just one lane - either one lane bridges or just some areas of the highway where it's just one lane and you hope no one else is coming! They are also very windy. In some areas, very, very, very windy! So, while the speed limit may say 100 km (about 60 miles) an hour, you will very rarely go that fast for long (especially when driving the vehicle we bought for our family, but that will come in a later post).

When we got to the coast in Tauranga it was kinda fun to check out the houses that were right across the street from the beach. This one in particular was something else, so I took a picture to share with you.

I told the children to avert their eyes and not look at the beach, yet. I wanted to wait until we were all together (there weren't two parking spots close together so we had to find each other after parking). We walked down to where Mount Manganui is. We first went on a short hike, just around the base of the mountain (we didn't go all the way around it, just a little bit). We found a spot where we could sit and watch the waves crash against the rocks. Which I love and Daniel discovered that he also loved. We had fun sitting and waiting for bigger waves and guessing which one we thought would be the biggest.

Can you tell how much Autumn loves having her picture taken? I appreciate her willingness to be in this photo.

The stone on this little monument (?) was so smooth. Daniel decided to make it look like it was a guitar he was playing.

And he asked me to take a picture of him in this little cavity of the rock.

Not too long into the walk around the mountain we decided we wanted to head back and try the hike up to the top of the mountain. Now, I am no fool, I know that myself and several members of my family are not in the best physical shape, but we figured we could at least try to do the hike (we didn't really know how rigorous a hike it is). So, we started off. There were steep spots, areas with lots of steps and many breaks taken, but I'm glad to say we all made it to the top! Eventually. First, we went to the lookout that looks out over the land, not onto the ocean. And we have to say we were a little disappointed. We took a little break there, had a snack and then, after looking at Google maps we concluded that we hadn't quite gone to the right place and there was a summit that would look out over the ocean. This meant more steps and a bit more of a walk, but not much and it was most definitely worth the effort!

The beautiful view, looking back just after starting the hike.

Some of the beautiful scenery on the trek, and a handsome son of mine.

Here we are, at the true summit, taking a well deserved rest!

We were a little bit sweaty! It was a beautiful winter day. We really did luck out with the weather this day. Beautiful, sunny, didn't even rain once on us during the hike!

We hung out at the summit for a little bit, took a few pictures, did a couple Marco Polos and then began the trek down. There were two path options for the way up, one that we were told is steeper, lots more steps, but quicker and the other that is more gradual but a fair bit longer. We took the steeper, shorter path up and decided to take the other path down. I think that ended up being a good plan, as I enjoyed the longer trip down, giving us time to enjoy beautiful views like this as we descended.

About halfway down we stopped at a place for the boys to take a few extra pictures. There was a small group going up and one of the men stopped and suggested that after I get to the top I take the other path down, I explained that we had already made it to the top via that path and were now heading down, not up. Though I appreciated him sharing with me that there was another way up or down.

After we made it to the bottom of the mount (and oh man my feet were starting to hurt, I don't have the highest quality hiking shoes and going down my toes were pushing into the front of my shoes a lot) we made our way to the beach, where the kids had fun stepping into the ocean for their first time. It was cold (it is winter after all) but we waded in a bit and enjoyed the feeling of the water covering our toes and feet.