FYI – WARNING – This video contains scenes of hunting and processing of livestock and Game.
8/5/26 – Cambridge to Opotiki
After saying our thanks and goodbyes to Dani and Andy we hit the road to Opotoki and the bay of plenty. We had been looking forward to getting here and they boys had been hanging out to see Dave, check out the farm and also to go hunting. Firstly though we wanted to head straight to Uncle Rogers house and say hi – it’s been ages since we have seen him.
The drive wet pretty quickly and it wasn’t long before we passed through Opotoki and up the valley to Rogers house. Nothing had changed as we rolled down the drive, the weatherboard house still stands as it has on all of our previous visits, it was great to be back. Unfortunately Roger was nowhere to be found. The house was open though so we headed in and made ourselves some lunch and a cuppa then sat on the deck and waited for him. While we were waiting Luciano called past to drop off a bale of hay, it was great to meet him and we look forward to catching him again over the next few days at Tania’s. Once the boys finished their lunch we dared the boys to head up the steep hill opposite Rogers house. They accepted and headed on up but got a bit worried about reaching the top as it was pretty high!
Finally Roger rolled into the drive and was happy to see that we had made ourselves a home! It was lovely to see him again. With Rogers Dogs in tow – Frank, Jess, Chook, Tukka, we headed down to the river behind the house and the boys had fun watching Jess – a Labrador retriever cross – literally dive under water and pick up rocks off the bottom of the river in her mouth and bring them to shore! ive never seen a dog do that! We said out goodbyes to Roger and organised to catch up later at the Golf club for dinner.
Next we headed to Nat and Dave’s, again it was awesome to see them and Dave took us up to Nat’s late Grandfather’s house for us to use while we were here. It was set on a Kiwi fruit farm and had a view out to the ocean. So beautiful! Back at Nat and Dave’s we caught up with Tania and her daughter Freida before headed to the Golfy for dinner with the crew. Awesome day and great to be back in Opotiki!
9/5/26 – Opotiki
Jeff told us about the Hukutaia Reserve which was just up the road so Oliver and I went for a great run around the reserve first thing. In the reserve is Taketakerau, a huge 2000 year old sacred ceremonial tree. The reserve is beautiful and we had so many fantails fly around us as we ran around all the trails. On our way back we had a look at the kiwi fruit orchard in front of the house we are staying at and picked some of the fruit left over after they harvested.
After breakfast we headed to Jeff and Nat’s and had a cuppa while everyone woke up from Nat’s 50th celebrations last night. Oliver, Arthur and Patrick then went for a horse ride and loved being led around the property and giving the horses a brush. Arthur went to feed on of the horses, I told him to keep his hand flat when feeding grass to the horse without realising he had his fingers upturned a bit and as the horse grabbed the grass it also grabbed his fingers. Arthur got quite a fright and pulled his hand out so quickly, once his hand was free Arthur said he felt the teeth of the horse and was relived to see he still had all his fingers….I must admit it was quite funny to witness but only because he didn’t actually get bitten.
After the horses were put away we went for a great tour of the dairy farm. The boys have been so excited to see the cow shed and had a ball seeing how it all works, they pretended to be cows and went for a full rotation. They were full of questions for Dave and were impressed a cow can produce up to 24L of milk each milking! They had a turn with the high pressure hoses which was great to watch as they all found it hard to hold the hose due to the force of the water.
After the cowshed excitement we went to the kiwifruit orchard and had a blast picking kiwifruit from the vines. We were picking yellow kiwifruit which is delicious. It’s amazing how many were left behind from the harvest due to size, shape or marks. It was great to learn a bit about the industry and crazy how much it is to get a licence to grow the fruit. This year to get a new licence for growing red kiwifruit it was going to cost approximately $450,000! And that’s just for the licence to grow them it doesn’t include the set up cost or getting the actual fruit – crazy!
We then went for a drive to the end of the farm to find the young herd of cows, it was great to fun watching the boys try to get close enough to give them a pat on the nose. Patrick got the closest and was so happy with himself. Oliver then had a turn driving the ATV which he thought was the best. It was great driving around the farm, it bought back a lot of memories from growing up on a dairy farm and how much I loved it and I was getting a lot of enjoyment watching the boys have a ball and get excited about small things like opening and closing the wire fences trying to avoid getting an electric shock.
Back at the house we fuelled up with bacon, cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches then got ready to head to the beach for some long-line fishing and sand boarding.
It was not a very calm day so Dave was a little doubtful the torpedo would get through the waves however to all our amazement it pushed through the waves and went out nearly 2km! Epic.
While we waited for the fish to be hooked we had a blast watching the kids board down the rather steep sand dunes. Far out it was hilarious watching them, on Oliver’s second turn he flew off a hump of scrub and flew through the air about 3m before landing on right on his bottom winding himself pretty bad. Patrick also had a close call with sliding down and nearly landing on a log at the bottom of the dune. Towards the end of the evening Luciano and Rhys had a turn and encouraged Oliver to have a go surfing down the dune which he was actually quite good at.
Dave cooked up some delicious venison sausages for dinner then it was time to pull in the torpedo. The kids enjoyed waiting for the line to come in to see if we had fish, we were very lucky and caught 5 fish, including 1 huge snapper. It was a great evening at the beach hanging out with the family.
10/5/26 – Opotiki
The day dawned on mother’s day, Oliver was up early and cooked up an omelette for mum, Arthur helped get a pot of tea sorted and Patrick assisted in carrying it all in on the tray. The boys also gave Raelene a Greenstone necklace whose shape is meant to mean a strong connection to country which the boys thought was really nice because Mum is from NZ. Best news is that Raelene loved it! Following breakfast we all headed out for another walk/run around the reserve down the road and there was a VERY friendly fantail that came down really close and checked us all out.
We headed round to Rogers today, and what a day to visit! When we arrived, Rogers old neighbour Willie was also there. They were in the process of shifting gate sheep up to the sheds to drench them however while they were there Willie also decided that they may as well slaughter, skin and hang 3 of the nearly 2 year old lambs. Willie slit the throats of 3 sheep – being an ex butcher he made very short, humane work of it. Then from here the boys were involved in the whole process!
It was pretty amazing, Patrick and Arthur helped drag the sheep over onto the tractor then I even got my hands dirty, learning from Willie and helping to skin the sheep before Oliver controlled the winch in order for the sheep to be hung and gutted by Roger. Roger also has a Coolroom on his farm so Oliver helped load the sheep in there and the job was done!
We then headed back up to the yards and both Oliver and Arthur helped Willie drench the sheep by marking which had been done, dividing them up into which sheep were going into the which paddock by spraying either their head or tail with pink paint. The bus enjoyed being involved in the process except for when it was time to get them out of the yards…Patrick got rather scared as he had a number of sheep running towards him in a rather tight space!
We finished an awesome day by heading around to Tania’s house for a BBQ. Luciano is Argentinian and Cooked a mean chicken on the BBQ. We caught up with Jeff and also saw Tania’s daughter Stella who was so little last time we were in Opotiki! What an awesome day!
11/5/26 – Opotiki to Wairata Valley
It was an exciting day as we were finally going to see Wairata Valley, I have heard so much about this place and I am excited to finally get to go, and well the boys level of excitement with the prospect of hunting a deer was next level. By the time we arrived at Dave’s most things were packed, Rhys and I went to the supermarket for some supplies while the boys helped Dave pack the final things, then it was time to go. Oliver and Patrick went with Dave while Freda and Arthur came with us. Along the way Oliver enjoyed talking to us with the walkie talkie pointing out highlights along the way.
It was only a 40min drive to the bush house aka amazing farm cottage, as we unpacked Rhys and Oliver got stuck into lighting the fire to take the chill off the house. After a quick bite to eat it was time to start our hunting adventures with some fishing, we all piled into the Prado and drove through the property to the river.
For the next few hours we enjoyed walking up and down the river trying to catch a trout, the river was gorgeous and crystal clear. Arthur had a trout on his line but it jumped off in fantastic fashion then 10minutes later Oliver was lucky enough to land a beautiful rainbow trout, he was stoked. While taking a photo of him holding the trout he had butter fingers and dropped it about 4 times which caused all the kids to laugh a lot.
Freda and Arthur go the munchies so went back up to the car to grab some snacks to enjoy by the river while Rhys was getting pretty good at freeing the lures from rocks just deep enough he had to take off his trousers.
When it was time to return we slowly crept up to the car in case a deer was in the back paddocks, no deer so we all piled in again and drove back. Dave then spotted two deer up on the hill in a clearing, surprised to see them this early in the afternoon. Everyone was quite excited and with a bit of encouragement it was decided we would walk up the hill to see if we could shoot the deer. Dave told us to be quiet before we even existed the car as the deer will bolt if they hear us. It was impressive to see Oliver, Arthur or Patrick follow the instruction so immediately and stay quiet for the next 20mins or so. However as we got out of the car, quietly, it was Dave who made the error of shutting the door loudly hehe
Up the hill we climbed, it was steep right from the start but this did not deter anyone. In single file, Oliver and Arthur both trying to be right behind Dave. We had to jump a fence and again it was Dave who make quite the racket getting over the fence. We all had to smother our giggles. We then came to a boggy patch, Oliver and Arthur got through well then poor Frieda fell in and got quite wet and Patrick slipped going up to his knees nearly then as he tried to get out his hands went under. He was covered in mud and again it was hard to smother our giggles. Up the hill we continued, it was very steep in sections, Rhys slipped down at one point. It was truly a comedy of errors as we approached the top of the hill but to our great surprise and relief the deer were still in the clearing on the next hill. We all lay on our bellies with great views as Dave set up his .223 riffle. Patrick and Arthur were right beside him while Freda, Oliver, Rhys and I were a few meters back. It was pretty amazing lying there watching the deer on the hill waiting for the shot, then bang the deer was dead and rolled down on top of a shrub. Dave made the perfect shot, the second deer ran across the hill and Dave attempted to get it but missed. Woohoo we just got our first deer, everyone was so excited.
We now had to walk down the hill we were on and up the next hill to find the deer, we found him on top of the shrub. Rhys and Dave dragged it out to an open space where Dave could gut it. We had shot a good size spika. When Dave finished the gutting I asked him to blow up the lungs for us so the kids could see how they work, I was impressed he actually did and the kids were in awe of how big they go with air in them – a great biology lesson on the side of a hill. As I carried the heart down the kids rolled the deer all the way to the bottom of the hill to a spot which was easy to access with the 4wheel motorbike.
Dave and Rhys walked back to the car as the Kids and I walked to the house, the whole way everyone relived the moment we got a deer it was brilliant.
Dave and Rhys went to pick up the deer with the motorbikes as the kids played their version of pool or the game guess who, I started on dinner. After delicious homemade venison burgers the excitement continued and Dave got it .22 riffle and we went on the hunt for the pesky possum. It was great walking around in the dark being lead by the spot light and the red eyes of possums. Oliver was the first to have a turn, he did very well and after 4 shots he had his first victim. Freda had a cracking shot, Arthur had a few goes but was just a little off. Oliver then had some more goes before finally Rhys and I were allowed to have a shot. It was incredible how many possums we saw in such a small area, they are such a problem here in NZ as they kill so many native birds and trees. Maybe one day NZ will get on top of the possum issue. The kids loved how soft the possums fur was, they enjoyed pulling the fur off which was quite easy. Apparently when the possum cools down the fur cannot be plucked. At the moment the going rate for 1kg of possum fur is $150, not a bad way to make money for teenagers.
It was getting quite late and Patrick was getting more and more tired, expressed by his sadness in not being allowed to shot the riffle so we walked back to the car, on the way home we had a few more shots out of the car window, I must admit I was pretty happy with how accurate both Rhys and I were with our shooting. Patrick ended our night by asking us not to shoot the mother and baby possum we saw in the tree (which we all agreed was a very good idea) good to see our morals are still on point.
What a day! An absolutely awesome day in Wairata Valley, the kids all fell asleep rather quickly while Dave, Rhys and I enjoyed a cuppa to wind down.
12/5/26 – Wairata Valley
Today Dave took us over the river and up through a neighbouring property to walk in to a spot by the river for a fish. The country was classic steep north island bush and the trail probably won’t be long for this world before it simply slips off the side of the hill and into the river below. Thankfully though we were ok to still use it and after a challenging 2km amble, we dropped down off the trail and onto the rocky river bank.
We started a fire with some driftwood then got to the task at hand, trying to catch a trout! Frieda and the boys had a great time flicking lures into the river but didn’t have much luck. Patrick and raelene headed up river slightly and fished. They came back empty handed and with Patrick wringing wet! Apparently a trout had chased his lure and he had got so excited that in the process of casting, managed to fall into the river!! Poor little man was a bit cold but luckily we had the fire for him to warm up.
It’s was now time for lunch and dessert of fire roasted marshmallows. Patrick was now dry and keen to do more fishing so off he went with rod in hand.not even 5 minutes B.S. later he called out, I got a fish! Sure enoughS we all looked over and here he was holding his rod up with a fish dangling off the end! Well done Patrick! P for Patrick and P for persistence. Woot woot!
The rain began to come in and we were about to head off when we spotted some humongous eels in the same spot that Patrick had caught his trout. We rigged up a hook with some trout guts and popped it in the water. Sure enough Arthur got a hook up! And this eel was a monster. We were pretty out gunned though, the lightweight trout line was no match for these horses. What follows was absolute mayhem as advice from mum and dad was thrown around Oliver was in the mix, dad was getting fed up with too many cooked in the kitchen and Arthur was struggling to walk back over the rocks. It was not our finest family moment to be sure….anyway needless to say the eel finally snapped us off and away he went. We tried again however a similar thing occurred so we decided to pull the pin and head back to the car.
Back at the house we got dinner on the go. Smoked trout, venison steaks and sausages and potato bake. A great combo. Luciano and Tania came and joined us which was lovely!
Patrick crashed out hard after dinner however the kids were still keen for possum hunting. Poor old Dave dug out the rifle and spot light again and off we went, leaving Patrick to sleep like a log.
All the kids bagged more possums which was good fun, we also headed down into the creek and found a huge wall of glow worms that looked beautiful. By this take the kids were pretty cooked and it was time to head home and hit the hay. Another great day at Wairata. Thanks Dave!
13/5/25 – Wairata Valley to Whangamatta
First activity of the day was target shooting, on the way down we tried to back track our steps to find my head torch which I lost on the first night, rather annoying but with all the excitement of possum shooting it must have fallen out somewhere. No lucking finding the torch, oh well.
Once at our chosen paddock the kids filled up the water bottles from the trough then went the small hill to place their targets.
It was now Patrick’s turn to have a go shooting a rifle, Dave was extremely patient while Patrick looked through the scope to aim for his bottle. Unfortunately with both shots the target was missed. Arthur was next up and also unfortunately missed, Freda hit her target on the second shot as did Oliver. Rhys and I then had a turn and both hit our targets, thank goodness. Patrick then wanted another turn with Dave and after another patient testing wait missed the target. Arthur was up next and hit his target so well we could see pieces of milk bottle fly. Patrick wanted to hit a target so after my second shot he lay down with me to hit a target. As I lined up the bottle, Patrick looked through the scope then I double checked the aim and Patrick pulled the trigger, bang juice bottle was hit and Patrick was delighted. The kids then all ran to the target to check them out and to our surprise Patrick and Arthur had been hitting their targets right from the start but the bullets had gone straight through and not blown up the bottle like all the others, Dave was relieved as he was sure he was getting the boys to aim correctly.
We then had a little challenge of aiming for a target while sitting and holding the riffle, Rhys missed but I hit the target on my second shot – it’s nice to still be able to aim correctly. Dave impressed us all by shooting his targeting standing.
Second activity of the day before we had to leave was to watch how to skin a possum, Oliver had kept his possum from the other night to skin and really wanted to learn how to do it. Dave once again was fantastic with the kids to teach them how to do it.
This also meant it was the end of our time in the valley, Arthur and Patrick drove into town with Dave while Rhys, Oliver and I drove back via Roger’s to say goodbye, unfortunately Roger wasn’t there but Nathan was so we had a quick chat, returned Roger’s lovely warm coat and went to see Tania at her salon. I had a quick fringe trim then we got to Dave’s house Patrick and Arthur were settled in front of the TV looking very sleepy. It was hard to leave for many reasons but the time had come and we needed to hit the road.
The 4hr drive to Whangamata went quite quickly and before we knew it we were pulling into Karen and David’s, the boys ran inside and after big cuddles were in awe of their awesome coffee table which was full shells, rocks, feathers and other great treasures. Karen also had some toys out ready to play so the boys made themselves at home very quickly. We had a wonderful evening catching up on the past few months while eating yummy fish’n’chips.
14/5/26 – Whangamatta
A cracking day in Whangamata set us up for a packed but exciting day! First up was a few holes of golf. Oliver, David and I headed to the golf course for an early morning hit at around 7:00. Oliver was excited to hit some balls again and he did quite well after having so many months off. David was very impressed with his swing which Oliver was proud about.
Next up was a tour of the beaches. David took us to all the choice spots however Arthur chose to stay home with Aunty Karen as he was besotted by the collection of rocks and shells on their coffee table, plus there were some really cool dinosaurs to play with. Later he also informed us that while trying to catch the eel the other day he had hurt his knee…
Back to Karen and David’s house for lunch preceded a jaunt into town for Arthur to find some last minute gifts for Patrick for his birthday. He had great success in finding a pair of haviana’s for $10! Bargain! We then met up with Karen in town for a coffee which was nice.
Next on the cards was a hit of tennis with David. All three boys were into it and David – who is amazing with the kids – had them cracking balls back accross the net in no time.
Before heading back to late and David’s, we took a little family drive down to the marina and walked amongst the boats that were noted there. There were so many large game boats however a squat, wooden launch over on another pontoon caught our eye. We headed over for a look and found the owners there. They invited us onto the boat, it was incredible! A 113yo kauri hulled launch called Mana-Nui. It had underdone a refit 17 odd years ago and it was immaculate.
Back at the house we then scooted off to the other golf course to see the huge eels in the creek and feed them. The eels were a writhing mass of bodies in the water and they attacked the food with earnest. With such a huge day we were happy to get back to Karen’s for another home cooked meal.
Back at shag point Arthur had found a beautiful little glass bottle that had washed up on the shore. He had been hanging onto it knowing that we most likely would not be able to take it with us. We suggested to him yesterday that maybe Karen would like it as she has lots of treasures in her house but he wasn’t keen to part with it. Tonight however he went out to the car and by his own volition returned with the little glass bottle. He presented it to Karen and said that he would like her to have it. It was a beautiful little moment and Karen was perfect, showing Arthur her other special bottles and how his would be perfect in her collection. Well done Arthur.
15/5/26 – Whangamatta to Auckland
Happy birthday Patrick!!! Oliver and Arthur were the first to wake and couldn’t believe how long it took for Patrick to finally walk out of his bedroom. As he walked out looking half asleep he said “why is everyone so loud, is it the morning?” It was adorable. We went next-door to Karen and Davids to open presents, I love how excited Oliver and Arthur got giving their presents. Oliver found Patrick a handlebar bag and Arthur found a baby shark teddy bear(Patrick had been missing his big shark teddy from home). Karen then gave the boys an infinity pad (they are quite cool, it’s a modern version of a magna doodle). Patrick had requested one of Oliver’s omelettes for breakfast and enjoyed eating then rushed off to play with his new slinky and the dinosaur toys.
It was then time to drive north to Hot Water Beach, along the way Patrick was able to speak with Granny, Grandad, Nicola, Walter then Grandma and Pa.
As we walked along the beach towards the hot springs the boys could stop with questions about how hot the water will be, it was very exciting. As Karen said we simply looked for the crowd and followed as there were already quite a few people sitting in pools.
It was difficult to pick a spot to start digging, we had borrowed a little shovel from Karen, we started in 3 different places before settling on the ‘perfect’ location. We borrowed a larger shovel and it didn’t take long to have warm water come up into our pool. Patrick immediately lay down and relaxed.
The people next to us left their pool so we took over that one to make ours big enough fro all 5 of us to lay down, the pool we just claimed was right on the spring so extremely hot at times, we made a tunnel to join the two pools which created the perfect temperature. 2hours disappeared rather quickly and when the tide was getting too high it was starting to splash into our pool was the deciding factor to leave.
2nd birthday wish was to get an ice-cream so off to Pokeno we went and the birthday boy ordered a huge 6 scoop ice-cream!! Patrick was in ice-cream heaven. Oliver and Arthur each got a 3 scoop ice-cream which they also thought was pretty cool. No one was able to finish their ice-creams but gave them a good crack.
Final wish was rice for dinner and a chocolate cake with strawberries so when we arrived at Peter and Janes we ordered some Chinese take away. Jane had baked a lovely chocolate cake and spent a small fortune on strawberries to fulfil the birthday boy’s wishes which he absolutely loved. We had a lovely evening catching up with Erina, Kevin, Max, Peter and Jane. The birthday boy requested a movie night to watch Bolt which they enjoyed lying in bed.
16/5/26 – Auckland to Mangataupere
The boys got some knitting lessons from Jane this morning, it was cute to watch them remember what they had learnt back in Arrowtown and icky to have such an accomplished knitter in Jane to teach them! After such a lovely time with Jane and Peter we said our goodbyes and began our drive up to where our cycling trip essentially began all those months ago – Alister and Eileen at Maungatapere. Not only were we excited to see them both again but Oliver had been hanging out for a game of golf with Alister since the start of the trip.
The drive up was great however the majority of us were running on fumes after such a huge week. Unfortunately the kids don’t sleep the best in cars anymore but that didn’t matter as they were excited to get to maungatapere. As we pulled into Alister and Eileen’s driveway Oliver yelled out with excitement “we’re here!”
The reunion with A&E was great, we had an awesome catch up and another laugh about how the weather turned sour at the very start of our trip. The boys had a great time getting the Lego back out and Patrick was delighted to see that some of his lego men were still intact and mounted as he had left them.
The time had come for Oliver and Arthur to head out with Alister to the golf club for a hit while the rest of us stayed at home and enjoyed a quiet spa!
The boys returned from golf in good spirits. Oliver and Arthur both hit some good shots and just really enjoyed the activity and heading out with Alister.
Following dinner the boys watched a movie while the adults retired to the lounge and continued to have a great yarn while also watching the Auckland blues get pummelled by the hurricanes…..
17/5/26 – Mangataupere – Auckland
I woke up to an odd feeling today our last full day in NZ, I have very mixed feelings about leaving. I am excited for our next adventure however I have absolutely loved being back in my home country spending time with family, our mission of ensuring Oliver, Arthur and Patrick see where their Mum has come from I think has been achieved in the most special of ways.
So to take my mind off it we had our morning cup of tea/coffee in the spa – the perfect remedy. Alistair then took the boys down to help move the cows, they had a great time and came back laughing. Apparently Oliver did not believe Alistair about the fence not being hot so Alistair had to prove it to Oliver by grabbing the wire and putting it around his neck.
We headed into Whangarei for a walk, play in a great playground, coffee then our final ice-cream in NZ. It was now time to say see-you-later to Alistair and Eileen and make our way to Auckland stopping for some last minute bike supplies.
The afternoon was spent with trying to pack everything into bag and sort out what we do not need to keep or take with us. Arthur struggled to say bye to his rock and feather collection so we culled a lot and decided to send some home. We also sent home some teddies and other souvenirs we don’t need with us. it will make for a fun box to open (if it gets through customs with all the feathers we kept…) when we get home. Max was fantastic at dealing with the chaos and cooked us a delicious meal.
