Our First Day on the South Island- New Zealand

After visiting the Coromandel Peninsula, we drove back to Auckland and flew from Auckland to Christchurch. Christchurch is in the South Island. The airport was super cool. It included a giant Christmas tree, lounge hammocks outdoors and painted poles in the car park.

We picked up our rental car and drove north to Hanmer Springs. This town was in the middle of the mountains.

Lunch in the middle of town

We stayed in an adventure holiday park that had a fun playground. A 2 minute drive from the holiday park were thermal pools. This complex had 22 hot pools- all heated from the ground- and 4 water slides. It was pretty empty so we were able to go on the slides multiple times. My favourite slide was the Conical Thrill- which is NZ's largest slide and just opened in Novemeber 2019.

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Introducing the Family

This is my first post. My name is Nathan and I am a 9 year-old boy (almost 10) and can't wait for this trip. My older sister Chelsea is 12 years old and my younger brother Parker is 7 years old. I am looking forward to sharing pictures and stories with you over the adventurous year ahead! This picture was taken a couple of years ago so we are all a bit bigger now!

Tongariro Crossing - New Zealand North Island

Sorry for the brief hiatus folks - limited wifi slowed me down! We did the Tongariro crossing 15yrs ago and fell in love with it then - we knew our kids had to experience it too. Ummm... can anyone say AMAZING! For those unfamiliar, the Tongariro Crossing is a 20km hike/tramp that takes you into the caldera(s) of Mt. Ngauruhoe (more famously known as Mt. Doom in Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings trilogy). The mountain lies above Lake Taupo - New Zealand's biggest lake - which makes for a fitting backdrop throughout the 2nd half of the hike. Turangi - not far from Tongariro National Park We holed-up in VRBO/HomeAway a little town called Turangi, close to Tongariro National Park. Cheryl's wrote a post about Turangi - check it out ! The hike route This hike is, very debatably, the best day hike in the world - certainly the best we've ever done. If you like the outdoors, you're fit, and you can do only one thing in NZ - hike the Tongariro Crossing.

Lanterns and Rice Paddies- Hoi An, Vietnam

When we were in the planning phase of this trip, I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Vietnam. I was nervous about stories I had heard about crime, health and safety, crowded buses, etc. and I wasn't really sure how comfortable I would be taking the kids to this country. After doing some research, I came across some information about a small town called Hoi An and decided this might be a great place to spend some stationary time- soaking up the culture, enjoying cheap food and doing some school work. So that's just what we did. We spent 10 lovely, low key days in Hoi An, Vietnam. One of many flower displays along the river A calm town in the morning The famous Japanese covered bridge Hoi An is a town of about 120 000 people. It used to be a major port- for the Champa kingdom from the 2nd to the 10th centuries and then, after the 15th century, it was one of South East Asia's major ports. The Old Town of Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site and ap

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