After Munazza left for Rotorua and her Qi Gong trainer retreat, the boys were left on their own. Uh oh.
Somewhere along the way... (Johnny's notes are a bit random. He seems to write mostly about the food they ate, while I am interested in the places they went and things they saw. It's my blog, so you aren't going to hear about the things they ate.)... they found a rabbit car.
and another playground...
... and caves...
If you click to enlarge, then squint, you can read the blurry writing about these Abbey Caves, one of which Steve and the kids are peering out of above. What I read says: "The caves can fill with water more than waist deep on an adult. Always check the previous week's rainfall and the forecast before entering." What do you bet they did not do that? Remember, it was 4 guys. Munazza was at the retreat. (Johnny admits the water was deeper than their boots.)
While driving from someplace to someplace else, they saw this waterfall alongside the road.
And then they took a speed boat ride across the Bay of Islands to... an island...
This is the island they took the boat ride to, and then hiked around.
Another boat ride took them from that island to another and the town of Russell.The town of Russell was the first place settled by Europeans. This fig tree was planted in the 1800s...
Cedrus joyfully put his dad in stocks...
This concrete wall had mesh against it, planted with succulents.
From Russell, they took a ferry back to wherever they had started their Bay of Islands trip.
Across the street from wherever they were staying was this checkerboard. The kids knew the rules on moving from square to square but Johnny did not figure it out.
Also nearby were these Maori totems.
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Somewhere in here, Johnny's hearing went haywire. Steve took him to Auckland and a hearing specialist who succeeded in unwaxing his ears and he was able to hear better than he has in years. She used a different technique... a suction device... than he has had used in Oregon. It worked much better!
While going to or from Auckland, they stopped to see a toilet. Yes, really. It is not open 24 hours but this little one behind it is.
From Wikipedia: The Hundertwasser Toilets is a public toilet located at 60 Gilles Street, the main street of the town Kawakawa on New Zealand's North Island. It is one of few toilet blocks seen as an international work of art[1] and a tourist attraction in its own right.[2]
The facility – designed by the expatriate Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser who lived in Kawakawa from 1975 until his death in 2000 – features the use of recycled materials from the local community.
This is a wall with colored bottles embedded in it so light shines into the restroom.
How the bottle wall looks from inside...
The lobby to the restroom...
Then they were off to Waihi on November 8... and another waterfall...
Their destination was Victoria Battery area, where gold was processed out of rocks.
Another battery site they hiked to led over a bridge to the tunnels where the gold-impregnated rocks were mined from...
Yet another site, an open pit gold mine, was near a town...
Rocks were hauled out of the pit with big trucks like this one that held many metric tons of rock, out of which were gleaned 2 Tablespoons of gold and 11 tablespoons of silver. The rest was "trash".
Their next destination was Munazza's retreat location. They were allowed to eat dinner there with her. Munazza was very happy to see them. And I'm sure the kids were glad to see her!
At one of the motels/airbnbs/whatevers, Johnny took a photo of the sleeping companions that the kids had brought from home... It doesn't matter where you sleep, so long as you have your stuffies with you.
With Johnny's hearing improved (but not his notes much)... and the children in bed with their stuffies... I'll leave them for now. Next up: Part Three of Johnny's New Zealand Adventure... the Taupo area.
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