I have no shame when it comes to trying to convince friends and family to visit us over here in New Zealand. I’m a huge fan of using whatever means that I have at my disposal. Offering to pay for part of plane tickets, reminding them of the mild weather, waving the carrot of free room + board… I’ll sink to pretty low levels! And after our vacation/holiday in Paihia, I’ve got a whole lot more ammo in my arsenal. I won’t tell you how beautiful and fun it was. I’ll just let you look at my photos, think wishful thoughts, and then start researching plane ticket prices on Kayak and Airfare.com…
Paihia Walks – Walk to Paihia Veiwpoint
Birds in the Bay of Islands
Cape Maria van Diemen and Motuopao Island
Happy Baby!
The Hole in the Rock, or Piercy Island
Attractive Expats!
Beautiful Footpaths
Historic Lighthouses
Great cross-training! “Bend those elbows, Chris! Strengthen your core! Mush! Mush!”
Lots of one-lane bridges – great for sharpening your nerves as you hope no other cars approach!
“The Melting Point” – where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet at Cape Reinga
All of this is yours for the viewing! It’s conveniently located a scant 10,479km (6,500 miles) from Los Angeles and I can assure you that the flight staff on Air New Zealand or Qantas Airlines are perfectly lovely.
And you know what? I hear that the South Island is even prettier… 😉
Great photos. Northland is one of my favorite places to visit. In fact I am thinking of moving up there for a while
Great photos Jenny – esp the smiley one of your little man. He is sooo adorable!! I’ve nearly talked my husband into a trip up to Northland in the holidays this year. I’ve been, but he hasn’t (and he’s the Kiwi!!) – so why not!?!?
~Sarah @ degenshands.blogspot.com
Jenny,
These photos are breathtaking and I am 100 % convinced I need to visit New Zealand one day 🙂 To see what a difference in “kiwi” and “aussie” really are. That really would be my dream one day though, to visit. I’m sure it would be quite different than the North Carolina views I’m used to taking in haha.
Little Joe is just adorable and I love that smile! He is really growing isn’t he 🙂 Looks like a great trip!
Laura
laurasblondemoments.blogspot.com
Hi Diane – thanks for commenting! I know what you mean about customer service in NZ. But you’re right about taking the good with the bad. And as you can see from the photos in my post, there’s a whole lot of “good” over here 🙂 Hopefully some day you’ll make the trip to Cape Reinga – it’s definitely worth it!
Hey Jenny! You posted on my blog, American in Exile, the other day and just wanted to say thanks for reading! I commented back on my blog and am now poking around your blog. Isn’t Northland gorgeous!? Your pics are great. We’ve been up there several times because my husband’s twin lives up there. But I’ve never made it all the way up to Cape Reinga.
I’m adding you to my favorite sites! Will you add me to yours?
Have a great trip!
Diane 🙂
Ooh, hope you enjoy your trip! It’s really gorgeous up there 🙂
Looks gorgeous! 🙂
So gorgeous!!!!!
Oh my gosh, I want to go to New Zealand so bad!!
Beautiful pictures!!
I sink to the same lows 🙂 It seems hard to entice people but I know they’d love it! Love the photos, we booked a trip to Bay Islands last week, soon we will get to enjoy the beauty first hand. Hope you had a lovely week!