Aotearoa - Te waka a Maui

cher whanau, well finally after 2 years of being here in nihon we decided that it was time to go home for a holiday and boy was it awesome being home again.. Our trip home was for 3 weeks and split into 3 places..AUK/BLENHEIM for one week..WELLIES for one week then finally NAPS/EAST COAT for the final week.. BUT before we reached home we had a 6 hour stopover in TAIPEI, TAIWAN so ....

TAIPEI..
We had a 6hr stopover in taipei, so we decided to get out of the airport and have a tiki around the city..we ended up getting a taxi with a really cool dude named Jerry..at first i thought he was trying to rip us off, buthe turned out to be the man.. we went to see the worlds tallest building TAIPEI 101.. the building was huge and it was cool to down a TUI outside this mean building .. after this we went to have a look at one of the night markets.. as usual heaps to see and buy.. just ended getting a snack.. but it was cool as even our taxi driver jerry was shouting us.. mean alright.. after that we head back to the airport to carry on our journey to aotearoa..



AUCKLAND
Week one was spent in auckland for the night on our arrival in aotearoa and then a week down south in blenheim.. we spent our first night in auks with chanels cousin Brandon and partner Paul..it felt so wierd being home and seeing normal looking people and also hearing nz accents again..well we drove back to Pauls place but had to stop off at the bakery to say kia ora to some old friends..( Mince n cheese pie, sausaage roll)

Chilled at Pauls place and had abit of a nap, chanel was catching up with brandon and paul. Later on in the evening we went out to lonestar, to have a good old kiwi steak.. it was mean...after that criused home for a moe..

next morning we were up and went to the otara markets.. it was cool having a look around and getting a few things.. after that we went home and got ready for our flight down to bleheim.it was good catching up with brandon and paul.. cheers for having us....


BLENHEIM...
we arrived in sunny blenheim and meet up with chanels dad, and lil brother paul..after that we meet up with the rest of the whanau and it was good catching up... but the main part of the night was still to come, watching the ABS vs the Springboks.. we went down to the pub to watch the game.. it was also so primo to catch up with a lost cuzzy.. old cuzzy TUI... lets just say i savored that sweet nectar taste that is TUI...

The next few days were spent chilling around and just catching up...On the tuesday we criused down to Mangamaunu in Kaikoura, down to see chanels Marae and whenua , plus help chanels dad out with the sheep that he is grazing on their whanau lands.. what a truely beautiful place Mangamaunu is and we really loved being down there..

We returned that night and met chanels aunty Marcia and went and stayed a few days with her in picton..It was cool just chilling and also going to get some kuku..what a great day and the dinner we had was also pirmo..cheers heaps Marcia for having us...It was choice...

We only had a few more days with chanels whanau, so we just chilled at home and did a bit of carving which was cool..

Saturday was our last day in blenheim and we went to watch Paul play rugby which was cool.. he is a good player with abit of a step on him as well..after this we went home and chilled and got ready to leave.. it was so Primo being down south and spending time with chanels Dad and whanau.. This was the end of our southern journey as we heading to TE IKA A MAUI... It was so sad to leave but our next journey awaited us in TE IKA A MAUI!!!!!!!!!!!