Sunday Drive

It is so amazing to wake up and look out the window to see such beauty every morning here at our rental so we are always so excited to go out and explore more of what this little island has to offer.

On Sunday, we thought it'd be nice to drive around a bit and see some more of the area. We took to the motorway to drive up the west coast of the North Island. It started out a beautiful day. The kids were really excited to see sheep because Ben had seen many as he drove up the west coast on his way to Palmerston for his out-of-town clinic.

We drove around Wellington to the outskirts of town, then out of nowhere...bam! you are hitwith the beauty of God's glorious handiwork. It's truly amazing. My words nor do my pictures do it justice.

Our first stop was a little lookout point that opened up to the Tasman Sea. It was absolutely breath-taking. To see the wide, open ocean, in all its grandeur was surely a sight to behold. I've looked out at the Atlantic Ocean plenty of times from the sandy shores of the East Coast, but somehow looking out into this open sea was different. I guess knowing that just beyond the horizon lay Australia makes it seem so vast and majestic. Having hills that are dotted with sheep and green vegetation makes it all more natural and serene.

Ahhh, paradise!

"Where's Waldo?", I mean "Where's MaeMae?" Oh yes, there she is hidden behind all that curly hair! It was a tad windy up on the hill. We tried hard to get a nice picture of the children with the view in the background...um yeah, no such luck. It's like herding cats trying to take a picture of all 3 of them.

Wide open sea...can you see Australia??? :)

The other side of the stop off the side of the motorway.

This is a picture of Ben taking a picture of me taking a picture of them. We like to joke and say we are definitely the tourists in town. You can spot us a mile away with our Canon shoulder straps and zoom lenses ready for action at any given moment while we are out on adventure.

We got a thumbs up and a peace sign from the kids...I think they liked this stop. :)

A group of cyclists on the road, they are some brave souls cycling up this road!

We found this little cafe while driving up the coast so decided to give it a try. It was so quaint and everything was homemade. They even had a darling little gift shop with neat trinkets. Cool place to eat and enjoy some coffee. I love the name as well, I mean how could you go wrong eating at a place called "The Brown Sugar Cafe"?

"Happy Face" Pizzas at the cafe. Ben and I enjoyed wonderful paninis and everything was on homemade bread. Awesome stop for lunch.

Love this old school wooden high chair. I had to hold the tray in because it didn't have a clamp to keep it in place.

Deep thoughts by MaeMae... (remember SNL? :)

The biggest palm tree I have ever seen!

The hills, that from a distance, remind me of putt-putt greens. Very sophisticated, I know...see below description. :)

The 2 pictures above show the rolling hills of the interior of this area. If you look at them from far away they remind me of the mounds at putt-putt. Very smooth and green yet when you get close you see the beautiful conifers and bush vegetation.

We stopped to see this sheep farm on the side of the road. Sheep are to NZ as cows are to the US. They are everywhere. We did see a few cows but the sheep definitely outnumbered them.

Grazing sheep. So peaceful.

On the way home, we got stuck in terrible traffic on the motorway. There was a landslide and only one lane was open. The weather had started to turn (which it often does quickly here) and it took us about an hour longer to get home. That put us late for our afternoon tea invitation by just a bit.

That is water from the ocean that splashed onto the road and our car...not rain!

It was crazy seeing the waves crash over the side of the road. Luckily, since we drive on the left we didn't get sprayed as bad as the poor cars driving on the right. They were totally salt-water washed!

Oh, Afternoon Tea went well! Ben's program director and his wife invited us over and were very kind and welcoming. We had delicious brownies, biscuits, homemade bread and wonderful tea. I like this "tea" concept! Very relaxing and makes you stop and just catch up with others. We have another Afternoon Tea invite for this Sunday. These people are so wonderful!