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 Crossi...

Velika Planina - Slovenia

Velika Planina, in a Nutshell This could have been Heidi's village Ever wish you were Heidi ? Well, it turns out, you can find the backdrop you need for your make-believe at Velika Planina in Slovenia. You can hike (a few hours) or take a cable car up to a high-altitude plain where you will find a village nestled on the lee-side of an ever-present windy peak. A hearty people live here - a tribe of herdsmen. They build unique huts, in an ancient way, and allow tourists to explore their space/land. This is not an adrenaline jolt, but it is quaint and unique and undeniably historical. Come for the views, stay for the peace and quiet. Getting Here The cable car runs fast and saves a lot of time and effort... we'd recommend it You can hike up to this peak from the valley, but it is pretty high at 1600m - a good slog on a service road. Alternatively, you can take a cable car up from Kamniška Bistrica . We did the latter - the kids wanted to 'save the...

Roaming Brood

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