New Zealand Day 1&2

After a fun week in Australia, the girls and I met James at the Sydney airport and then flew to New Zealand together. The flight was easy since the girls were so happy to be with their daddy again. We landed in Auckland and soon found out that James' baggage was lost, and we received a $400 fine from the NZ airport customs because I forgot about a jar of honey left in my suitcase! So a bit of a rough start, but we finally left the airport, picked up our moter-home, and headed to Piha beach to spend the night. It was only an hour drive from the Airport, but it was already dark when we arrived. The girls were so wound up from  the excitement of sleeping in a motor home, but luckily they were also exhausted and fell asleep quickly. The next morning we woke up to gorgeous Piha beach, and spent the day exploring! 

Adelaide LOVED playing in the little river that led to the ocean.

We said goodbye to Piha and headed back to Auckland airport to see if James' suitcase  arrived yet.They told us that they still hadn't sent an email to the Sydney airport, making it unlikely that his bag would arrive that day, so we changed our plans and drove north. Our first stop was Snells Beach, which was covered in seashells! The girls weren't even interested in collecting them because there were so many. It was a lovely beach and we could have stayed there all evening!

We had dinner in a cute little town called Matakana. We wanted to find a place to stop for the night soon, but since we didn't plan on going North of Auckland we weren't sure where to go.  I asked a friendly local for a few suggestions. (If you look closely you can see him sitting at table next to James and Torah) He recommend the Tawharanui Penninsula which was only 8 kilometers away.  I'm so glad I asked him because it was one of my favorite camping locations. So beautiful!