Kapiti Coast

Ben had a 4-day weekend with Good Friday off so we took off on an adventurous day trip! We set off in the morning and began our journey to the beautiful Kapiti Coast. Our first stop was Pukerua Bay and a photo op. Next up was a visit to Queen Elizabeth's Park and a walk to its beach. And lucky last, a stroll through Paraparaumu. It was an amazing day with many laughs, great memories and fun times.

Here are the Line Ladies on the cliff in Pukerua Bay, overlooking Kapiti Island.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Maori settled on the island. Te Rauparaha formed a base here, and his Ngati Toa tribe regularly sailed in canoes on raiding journeys up to the Whanganui River and down to Marlborough.

The sea nearby was a nursery for whales, and during whaling times 2,000 people were based on the island. Oil was melted from the blubber and shipped to America for use in machinery, before petroleum was used. Although whales can be seen once every year during birthing season, there still are not as many as there used to be. www.wikipedia.org

A view looking up the Kapiti Coast.

Not sure what face she's making here but it's pretty cute.

Next stop: Queen Elizabeth Park

The park has much history, including Maori tribal sites and reminders of the 20,000 US Marine camp from World War II.

We parked and took the century old tram to the beach. It was a great ride that we all enjoyed. (Tram pics are below)

Once we got off the 15-minute tram ride, the kids thought a game of tackle was in order.

Don't worry about Caroline, she can definitely hold her own against her 2 older sibs!

Deep thoughts by MaeMae McIntyre

Martha and Faith Ann really enjoyed strolling along the beach. We took our stroll after our morning tea (sammies and apples). Faith Ann even found some really cool shells to bring home. Caroline loved picking up and throwing sand, MaeMae loved to run up and down the beach and Calvin loved exploring with his daddy. This beach is sandy unlike our Eastbourne beaches.

Father and son, a handsome duo.

My 2 sweet aunts! They were so fun, were fabulous house guests and so helpful with the kids.

Heading back to wait for the tram.

Family photo! After a few tries, we finally got a good one.

It was so nice to have Ben with us on our adventure!

Control Room #1, Control Room #2 is on the other end. Once the tram reaches its destination the driver gets off, switches the electrical hook that the tram is connected to and goes to the other end of the tram to drive it back to base.

This tram had 3 compartments: 2 "ladies" compartments on either side of a "male" compartment. The ladies compartment had 3 steps to enter and exit, while the male compartment had one big step. Also, the gals sat in a windless, smoke-free area while the gents area was open air and allowed smoking. Pretty cool!

Chilled out...

3 Muskateers

Caroline, being the ham she is, entertained us all by blowing bubbles on the glass. Yes, I know it's disgusting but it was hilarious and don't ya know that "God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt?" :)

Especially when it involves this much fun!

Watching the laughs she's getting...

from her fam on the other side.

After our round-trip tram ride, we visited the beautiful horses and even fed them hay.

They had some ponies too.

MaeMae really wanted to ride the horses but I don't think they were available to ride that day.

Caroline...not so much. She walked to the fence to see the horses but once one started walking towards her, she was outta there!

Lucky Last Stop: Paraparaumu

Here we found an awesome playground and a little village. Unfortunately, most all the shops and cafes were closed due to Good Friday. We played a bit on the playground and then while Ben and Calvin checked out the beach the girls went to look for a place to eat lunch. We found a place but we won't go into details other than it was the worst meal we've had in a while. Ewww, ewww! Ok, one little thing was when Faith Ann and I order fried scallops it came with white and orange stuff. After googling it I found it to be called coral and considered by some a delicacy. Again, ewww, ewww!

Wonderful playground nestled between the village and the beach.

Fearless is my son Calvin! Monkey man is his nickname. :) He's on his way to the top.

Reached it!

Paraparaumu Beach

Our last meal together...I fixed lamb loin chops and roast vege. It was delish! We ate a lighter dinner since we ate our fab (not!) lunch just several hours before.

We had a bit of excitement before dinner. While the kids were eating, Caroline managed to stick a green pea up her nose! I noticed her putting her finger up her nose and sitting real still. When I went to see what she was up to, I was surprised to see the pea. Thankfully Ben was home and after a few tries he finally got it out with his surgical tweezers. Oh, what drama! It took me and Martha both holding Caroline down while Ben fished out the pesky veggie. She was traumatized a minute then was back to eating her green peas and corn. :)