Adventure

Posting from a phone is difficult, so this will be short!
We have been without WiFi for a few days now, ence the pause in updates.
We are now in Bowentown, near a town called Waihi, where Bryce lived a part of his youth. Bryce has always been a big story telling when it came to the stories of his growing up. The boys faces are priceless as we see the famed places  and experience the same wonders of their Dads childhood. Just yesterday we got up early, no choice there, and drove up the road to Anzac beach. It’s a beautiful little cove we call Shelly Beach, I don’t know if that is a local name for it or what. We didn’t go straight down to the sand and sea, but hiked over a moderate hill, and came out to the most beautiful secret cove beach! We were the only ones there. The water was so still and crystal clear. It was a great to get out our goggles and discover under water. We saw little fish, lots of krill, and even a stone fish! The boys found lots of drift wood and abandoned fishing line and attempted to make a raft. We packed up and headed to our Bach for a quick lunch. After lunch we headed to the post office and spent $36 dollars on postcard sendings! Haha, so worth it, when ever will we send post cards again?!
We also got some great coffee for us, cuz we were on our way to the Karanahaki gourde , and little did we know we would be hiking for the next three hours!  We started out by crossing a suspension bridge that lead into an old train tunnel! This tunnel had to of been like miles long, it went on for forever! The boys lovedddddddd it! Here is the gist of the tunnel: dimly lit, drippy, walls covered in old train engine soot aka face and body paint, amazing echoing abilities and glow worms covering the ceiling like stars... it was a boys paradise in that tunnel. When we emerged through the other side  we crossed another bridge then climbed down under the bridge and swam in the gorge! The war paint from the tunnel stuck to the boys like glue, so the idea that it was a bath in disguise, well, failed. It was amazing to see each boy cross their own personal boundaries in the category of what they were brave enough to do. Jumping off boulders and swimming in unknown moving water, were big check points for most of them. After that we continued on the hike around the bottom of the gorge. At one point we had the option of going down one path that would have taken us back to the car park, but we chose to go on further hence 3hr hike) and travel through the mountain in old abandoned mining tunnels! Parts were PITCH black, and scared the boys into singing “this little light of mine” when we brought out the cell phone light! 😂  The rest of the hike consisted of a suspension bridge over rapids, narrow paths over steep gourde walls and sooo muchhhh funnnn! Today’s hashtag would have been adventure, and would have made us the poster people for the book Wild At Heart, at least!!!
My thumb was s killing writing this, so here is the end: amazing pizza for dinner, friends visiting us, and scrubbing the boys down in epic baths where they said this should be my job!😂 Can I say it was an  amazing day again??! It was. We love you NZ.

-Spa Lady Out aka Christina