Mostly, it was in aid of showing Mama's friend from China (who Mulan and Miya call Ganma) around the country. (Ganma is here in New Zealand for about a month, staying with us in our home.)
We left on Saturday afternoon, after Mulan and Miya had finished their morning music lessons.
Our first stop was Huntly, to do a property inspection of an investment property we own there. The little two-bedroom cottage, which we bought a couple of years ago, is about 110 years old.
All was good at the property, so our next stop was an afternoon tea break in Hamilton.
With not much of a plan, and simply wanting a nice scenic park alongside the Waikato River, we found the Parana Park/Soldiers Memorial Park area and wandered down to have a look.
After eating, the girls and I discovered the old Rangiriri boat, and so took the opportunity to learn a bit about the history of the area. The official information signs at the park taught us something of the English colonisation of the area in 1864. The handwritten graffiti scratched into the signs taught us that what some see as "acquired" land, others see as "stolen" land.
And then it was off to Kihikihi, where we were staying at Free Range Farmstay for the night (no they are not homeschoolers, we were told, but they do let their kids run free there). The accommodation was very comfortable, and we highly recommend it. They had set up their homestay accommodation in the granny flat above their main house, giving the five of us two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchenette. The flat had its own external entrance in the form of a spiral staircase up to the bedroom balcony.
The next morning it was raining, but we had a short walk around the farm and a swim in their pool.
Just after 11 am, we headed to Waitomo to see the caves. Our farmstay owners work in tourism in the area, and they were able to get us discounted tickets to the caves. So, since two caves was cheaper than one we decided to go to both the Ruakuri Cave and the Glowworm Cave.
Two years ago, the four of us had visited the Glowworm Cave during our winter campervan holiday, but none of us had been to the Ruakuri Cave.
At just over an hour, the Ruakuri Cave was a decent walk through a pretty spectacular cave system. The highlight for me would have been the sheet-like stalactite formations on the ceilings. There were glowworms in the cave, but not nearly as many as in the Glowworm Cave.
Immediately after that tour finished, we drove the few minutes to the Glowworm Cave entrance for the start of our tour there. This tour is less than an hour, and has much less walking. Once again, the big highlight for us was the boat ride through the dark with countless star-like glowworms above us.
Visiting these caves is expensive, and it is not something that we would want to do regularly, but they are indeed spectacular and must-sees at some point for everyone.
After the caves, we headed back up north towards home. We stopped off for afternoon tea at Pirongia, parking on a side-street in front of a small alpaca farm. The girls enjoyed watching the animals, and were fascinated to observe that each animal had a quite distinctively recognisable face.
All in all, a pleasant little holiday. It is a good reminder that we should do these sorts of short trips more often as a family.
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