Joel and I headed out for 'US' time and hit the trails by ourselves. Something we have been looking forward to for several months. Wow! What a ride. We hired some full suspension bikes so we could really get into the experience. The shuttle service (to get up the hill and out the back into the really fun stuff) only runs after 1pm during the week and not on a Monday - so it was climbing that had to be done. It was tough!! Bloody tough. There is a stark differen...

We headed to the mountain bike tracks with the kids first thing and hired bikes for everyone for a couple of hours. Decided to firstly take on the kids loop which was a pretty easy track. The track wound it's way through the redwood forest and it was beautiful and the trails well maintained. Jacob and Angie did start to get tired but I convinced them to climb one last hill and do Challenge - grade 3 trail while Joel and Caitlyn went off to tackle a few more track...

Sent Jacob and Angie to the beach while we packed up the cottage. On our way to Rotorua we decided on take the coast road to take in the last the Bay of Plenty had to offer. It was a very windy road as we travelled from headland to headland and soon discovered that What they call scenic reserves means bloody steep and windy. Stopped a few lookouts/beaches on the way to stretch the legs and settle the tummy. Stopped at Tauranga to walk up Mount Maunganui. Joel a...

I enjoyed an easy morning in bed while Joel got in his morning jog. He headed up to Te Pare Reserve to see the remains of a Pa (fortified village on the headland). The local Māori in the region were wiped out by another tribe further up the coastline. After being vacant land for a couple of decades, European settled the area in the 1860s. Went looking at the Pa from a distance you can still see the terraces that were built into the headland which would of been t...

To add to the disappointment of the motel room, the organised continental breakfast was frowned upon by everyone - egg and onion sandwiches and super sweet custard.... At least a couple of apples were also included. Packed up and headed back into the city to try and exchange Joel's bag. We noticed in Sydney that it was faulty with some of the stitching coming away. No joy at Strandbags even though we had been emailed our receipt by head office. Treated the kids...