North New Zealand-Autumn

New Zealand's pretty. Well, the top half is anyway. I haven't yet been to the bottom. I've heard the bottom half is even prettier, so I'm excited about being there for a few weeks. We're going to be in an RV from the 17th to the 28th, meaning we'll be in the RV for Christmas. We already have little battery powered lights to hang up in the RV and the movie ELF downloaded onto the tablet.

Anyways, my thoughts on the North Island (each bullet is a new thought):

• From what I've heard of the South Island, and what I've seen of the North, it's like a warmer Iceland. There's lots of sheep, geothermal action, and not heavily populated cities. 

• Seeing my grandparents was really fun. It was nice to see a familiar face for the first time in 6 months, especially my grandparents' ones. It's sad that we couldn't have spent as much time with them as planned due to my grandpa going to the hospital. 

• Cathedral cove was shaped like a cathedral. Pretty cool, right? Dad let me borrow his camera for the day and I got to take some pictures at the beach. I enjoy taking pictures of moments in action and "freezing" them.

It was a 30 minute walk to the cove from the parking lot, and the views along the way were very nice.

Bryce enjoys standing in the waves.

Splish Splash

I got lucky with only having one unintentional photobomber. The beach was BUSY.  

Mom and Dad.

 <3

The cove in the right side of the picture is the Cathedral Cove.

Bryce loves running on the beach too.

Running towards the cove.

Bryce makes some fun faces

More running.

Mom, dad, and brother.

\

More splashing.

More running through the waves.

Bryce enjoys chasing seagulls. Who doesn't?

Lots of seagulls around Bryce.

We went through the memorial forest on our way back.

More prettiness.

Those are kayakers

I did the touristy thing, jumping off the rock that everyone else was jumping off. This is the only pic in this blog that isn't mine. Thanks Dad!

• The WiFi here has been waaaaaay better than in Australia. It's been nice because I've been able to get some good school work done in advance of the RV trip.

• We visited a "Geothermal Wonderland" south of Rotorua, and some of the pools were quite cool. 

Here are some pictures:

This geothermal lake was called "Artist's Palette". The different colors are caused by different minerals.

This lake was actually neon green! It's crazy.

More geothermal sctuff.

These crazy ducks were finding food in the boiling hot water!!

• Zane is becoming seriously annoying on all of the long car rides we take. 

• I love seeing all of the Christmas things up in all of the stores. Christmas in an RV will be...interesting for me, but hey, I can't really complain, because I'll be in New Zealand

• Lastly, I've spent probably 30% of my awake hours in the North island of New Zealand in the car, and the views have been wonderful.

Some town was getting into the Christmas spirit!

I love when sunsets have sun beams in them.

I caught the sun!

This picture was taken at our Airbnb in Hamilton, our last night on the North Island!