Ferry ride to Auckland city

Absolutely the perfect way to absorb what this beautiful country can offer! A ferry ride back to Auckland City from Hobsonville Point. Such a peaceful place.

 

The last boys get together photo until our next visit. 

Our ferry came just in time. 

We had two more passengers on board who had a very short ride to the other side of the bay. The rest of the trip we were the only passengers - very lucky!

An exciting part of the ride - going under the Auckland Harbour Bridge. 

We always make sure we do something new each time we visit. The boys went to a cricket game for the first time. And this ferry ride became another new experience for them :) Next time we will make sure Ashley gets a ride too (she was too tired so Merryn kindly took her back home in the car).

Greenhithe visit

On the last day of our NZ stay we managed to visit Greenhithe on the North Shore. To be honest we didn't plan our days too well during this stay, as all we wanted to do was relax and play it by air. But it backfired on us a bit towards the end of the holiday. We found more things we wanted to do with very limited time left.

In the end we managed to squeeze in the last two things we wanted to do. The last family get together at the Fenwicks and a ferry ride to Auckland City.

Our kids always enjoy being at the Fenwicks place. They love the treehouse of course.

We had a lovely afternoon tea together. 

Harriet and Ashley:

We had a plan to get on an earlier ferry back to the city but Kylie and Lindsay came up with a much better plan suggesting catching a ferry from a different port later that afternoon. So instead of rushing home we all got to play family cricket one more time!

We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. Thank you everyone for being there to make our last part of the holiday very special.

Car wash

We don't have a car in Singapore. So it was certainly a great experience for the boys to go through a car wash!

Story time

This is one of the photos I really enjoy taking each time we visit NZ. The kids are very keen to hear bedtime stories from their grandparents.

Movie night

Matthew and I had a movie date night thanks to Merryn and Dennis. We have been trying to go to a movie for a long long time but in Singapore the timing never works - we always ended up just going out for dinner. 

There wasn't anything we really wanted to watch but we had to take the opportunity :) Matthew treated me with a Gold Class seat.

The movie Focus  was very average though...

Natural smiles

Ants!

Cornwall Park

The kids really enjoyed visiting this wonderful park in the middle of the city. Especially seeing the live farm animals very close up.

We were lucky to join in for feeding some carrots to the sheep. Next time we must remember to take our own carrots!

Ashley was most impressed to see so many animals at once :)

The kids had a great time with their grandparents too. I hope our kids appreciate spending so much time in this beautiful nature as much as I do. 

Luca was determined to catch sheep. Every time he got closer to them, he was too excited and couldn't hold back. Very entertaining to watch though.

There was a farmer who was moving the sheep from one paddock to the other. It was very entertaining seeing the sheep dog barking and chasing and controlling the sheep (you think I am still a Japanese tourist? I must be, every time I see sheep I get excited and take loads of sheep photos!).

I would like to spend more time in the park next time. Maybe we will try walk up to One Tree Hill. Apparently at the summit you will get great views across Auckland city and the harbours.
(Photo borrowed from Wikipedia)