New Zealand Days 5 & 6 (Whangarei)

Our second day in Whangarei was all about the boys in the morning. We met at the Town Basin playground so they could run around for a bit before walking along the waterway on a sculpture walk to the ocean.

From there, we headed over to Abbey Caves in search of some glow worms (a wild stab in the dark, really). This is because I wasn't keen on paying the admission fee to see the Waitomo Caves near Auckland (I think it would have been well over $300 for the five of us), and since Abbey Caves popped up as viable free option right near the Hale's, I figured it was destiny. However, we had no idea how long the hike was, which cave to look into, how deep/wet the water would be, whether there was a season for the worms, if it was safe enough for the kids, etc. In fact, the extent of our hiking gear were a bunch of cheap/free flashlights we accumulated over the years. :-) Needless to say, I was worried about dragging everyone on a wild goose chase to save a few bucks.

What a beautiful hike down to the caves it was- I wasn't expecting such beauty on a hike to some caves.

I consoled myself midway with the fact that it was such a gorgeous hike and day...but we got pretty lucky. Because the very first cave we came to, we encountered a European couple leaving that told us the cave had worms just a few feet in.

However, we not quite prepared for how slippery/treacherous of a hike it was to get down into the cave...it was so steep and slippery that my mom, Karen and Peter could not safely attempt it. It took a 3-man team of my father, Rich and I to get Ryan down the massive boulders safely. We all had to roll up our pants and take off our shoes for the decent (and were too scared to break our camera...so this image is someone else's picture from Google Image, and it honestly does not accurately depict how dangerous or steep the hike was).

However, once we managed to descend about 30 feet down and waded through some foot-high freezing cold water, within the first 25-30 yards...there were glow worms, everywhere! (Another borrowed image.) It was so surreal to be able to see them despite having no clue about how to actually do so. It felt like we were staring at a constellation of stars...just incredibly amazing.

Our third day in Whangarei we set out off in the AM to AH Reed Park, a gorgeous forest that amongst other things, contains the native kauri tree (think koa tree if you're from Hawaii...they're in limited supply, highly valued, but in the case of kauri tree- HUGE). If there's one thing I love, it's a hike. The only thing I love more is a hike on a boardwalk- no highly poisonous spiders hanging above you, angry/scared snakes, etc.

After the hike, we headed out for another shorter hike to Whangarei Falls.

From the falls, we went to a wildlife center so my mom and the boys could go on an educational tour and got to see the reclusive, nocturnal, rare kiwi bird.

After that, we had lunch at our favorite Irish restaurant so the boys could play at the park before heading back on the long drive to Auckland that evening (we had to wake up at 5am the next morning for our flight to Sydney). It was terribly sad saying goodbye to our friends, but if all goes well...we will reunited someday.

Two of the cutest kids alive, am I right?