Another week gone by. We've been enjoying the Wiapu/ Ruakaka area. We have been walking almost 3 miles on the beach every day and have even had a chance do some Kiteboarding. The weather has been nice.. not warm enough to lay on the beach.. but great for kiteboarding and traveling around. It has been so great to be settled for a little while. The whole week we actually had the entire campground to our self.Since we were settled we took the time to explore all the little towns nearby. We went to the chocolate factory and had the most amazing chocolate… absolute melt in your mouth. Mmmmm. We learned all about how coco beans are grown and harvested. We also went to a garden that had been built into an old quarry that was decommissioned. We thought it would be a nice stroll through the garden… it turned into more of a full on hike. But we had a blast. The trail wound from the bottom of the quarry to the top and around to the other side.The view from the top was spectacular. We finished the week off with some Kiteboarding. Nice 10 meter days. Nick landed a raley and s- bend to blind. He is pretty stoked.

After about a week in Wiapu we decided to start heading south so we could stop off in Mongatoroto to visit our Zimbabwian friends we had met camping the weekend prior. They own a beautiful Orchid farm in the country. We intended to stay for only the afternoon… but ended up staying all week.We got the whole tour of the farm.. how they grow the flowers, breed certain colors, how the colors change once brought from dark light to daylight and how they pick, package and ship the flowers. I had no idea that there was such a booming business in Orchids. They are such a pretty flower.The next two days we went fishing on their boat. We caught lots of snapper, gurnard, Trevally and Kiawhi.Fishing in New Zeleand is so much more fun than salmon fishing. No sooner had we dropped our hooks and bam… we had a fish. We would bring it up and either keep it (Stu would call it a welcome aboard fish) or throw it back and try again.It was like that all day long! Nick was so good to me and didn't make me bait my own hook.. that squid was really really stinky. We also went dredging for scallops. That was kinda a tricky task… but we made out well. The next few nights we had a full on seafood feast!Yum Yum. Nothing like fresh fish caught a few hours earlier. However, the highlight of our fishing trip was finding a pod of 30 bottlenose dolphins. We spent about a half hour with them. They were all around the boat… jumping in the air, riding the bow wake, swimming under the boat etc. It was really special.With all the activity the week just flew. It was so much fun… we really became a part of the family. :)

We left Mongatoroto on Friday and headed for Auckland to spend some time with some other Zimbabwean friends we met.

On Saturday we did a bit of driving around and saw some of the neat scenery Auckland has to offer. Today we went out on the boat and did some fishing. We had a great time. I choose not to fish.. but Nick had a blast. He caught 2 huge snappers. It will be fish and chips for dinner tonight.Yum. The sun came out today which made for great sunbathing… despite the breeze that was a bit chilly.. I still got a good tan. We all got home about 5 o clock all tuckered out.. it was a very full day.

Tomorrow is Monday and we are actually flying back home. Yep that's right… We are cutting the trip short. A few weeks ago Nick had some job opportunities come up in Maui and we decided that we wanted to give living on Maui a try and to explore these new opportunities. It was a tough decision to shorten our time in New Zealand, but we feel that this move to Maui will be a good fit for our career path and lifestyles we are creating.. and a big bonus… we will now just be a phone call away from all our friends and family. :)We sure have missed you guys! So we are flying to Washington for a week. During that week we will be catching up with family, organizing our affairs, unpacking and then repacking. We fly to Maui on November 15th. Whew… that's a lot of traveling. Ha Ha So there you have it.. the last of the New Zealand adventures. We have really had a great time and seen lots of very very pretty places and done some really neat things. I think we are going to miss all the rolling green hills down here. Ha Ha We've both learned a lot about ourselves and each other. We will be coming home with some really great memories and are so glad that we came to New Zealand. Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support! It has been wonderful hearing from everyone. Now it's on to the next adventure!

Cheers!