Tag Archives: Wingspan

Ohope and Rotorua

Late Sunday night we high tailed to Plumbers point just out of Tauranga. Its a favorite spot for me as it’s just down the road from Tiwai and Lettie’s Grandmas house. Plumbers point park is laden with Avacardo and fruit trees which we gleefully harvested, stored and juiced. Mmmmm. Tangelo juice is the best!

I had a glorious three days playing, having sleep-overs with Tiwai and Lettie and doing school work. Sadly Wednesday came and it was time to go to Pikowai camp ground and have some family time.

We happily spent the next two days rafting the small river and doing school work.

Thursday night we arrived late on the grounds in Ohope. The Ohope fair was sooo weird and small because over half of the Gypsy’s had gone to Splore (a big festival). They took with them the stage, the cafe (my job) and many other stalls. All the woofers had gone as well leaving Dickinson’s emporium staffless, so I happily offered my services and helped them out over the weekend.

Time to meet our cousins from Peru in Rotorua. Off we went to the Rotorua thermal holiday park for the week. Auntie Daniella, uncle Brent and my cousins Dominic and Samantha are awesome. They live in Lima and come every year to Rotorua to meet up with us. Dominic is 7 and plays crazily with Dallas and Jaz. Whilst Samantha is the cutest 4 year old you’ll ever see!

We had a wonderful week visiting thermal craters with boiling mud, and relaxing in natural hot rivers to soothe our pains away.

What I wouldn’t give to be there right now!

                         Kerosene creek. Yes the water is hot!

Thursday Mum left for Queenstown to M.C Miss pole dance New Zealand, while we topped our week off with a visit to wingspan. Wingspan is a must see in Rotorua. It is New Zealand’s only Raptor rescue center.

Orphaned birds are taught hunt using traditional falconry training before being released back to the wild.

They rescue injured and orphaned birds of prey. We learnt all about these amazing birds and even got to hold one.

Shadow, a beautiful young NZ bush falcon/Karearea. 465 grams.
The actual falcon/Karearea used on the NZ $20 note came from wingspan.

That afternoon we all sped back to plumbers point, where we said our sad goodbyes to our cousins. After some important Gypsy baker cake baking, Dad played the single Dad card and Yani let us onto the grounds in Tauranga that night. We put our awning up as it got dark, we needed an early start for setup with no Mum to help us.

That was a lovely couple of weeks at Plumbers point and with our cousins. Tomorrow setup, this weekend Tauranga. Bye!