The Joy of Life is Family and Friends

SM:  We happened to be in Hamilton on the day we learned of the passing of our dear prophet, Thomas S. Monson. The flag was flown at half-mast  at the Hamilton Temple to acknowledge his passing. He was such a great man and truly the Lord's appointed servant.

We were so glad that Jim's brother, Bill, and his wife, Diana, were able to spend part of an afternoon and evening with us in Auckland. They flew in to catch a cruise around New Zealand and over to Australia. It was great to see them!

Kim Woodbury works in Public Affairs in Salt Lake City. She is amazing and we were so fortunate that she came to New Zealand during the bi-annual seminar for Directors of Public Affairs from throughout the South Pacific.

Kim Woodbury, Sister McGuire and Elder McGuire having lunch at Hunny's Cafe.

This is the great group of Directors of Public Affairs who serve in the South Pacific.

Elder O. Vincent Haleck, Pacific Area President, with Sapele Fa'alogo (on left) and Kalilimoku Hunt, Directors of Public Affairs in Samoa and American Samoa, respectively. These are all fantastic men with whom we are blessed to work.

Three Samoans (two from American Samoa and one from Western Samoa)

We were blessed to meet in the High Council room of the David O. McKay Stake and Cultural Events Centre.  President Eyring commented when he was visiting this past June that the table was the largest high council table ever built for the Church.

JM: We had our meals in Kai Hall, just across the parking lot. Kai is Maori for "food" and Kai Hall was restored and expanded as part of the Temple View project to honor the labour missionaries who built the temple, the Church College of New Zealand and many other Church facilities. Kai Hall is where they had their meals.

Kalilimoku Hunt (foreground) and Muriel Samuela (right), some of our favorite people.

Three of the 11 passengers in the van Jim drove (Kalili, Sapele and Simon)

We had the pleasure of welcoming Elder Lane and Sister Marian Wright (of Draper) to the Pacific Area office. Also joining us for that dinner in our little apartment were Kim Woodbury and Elder and Sister Pinson.

Look who's leaving to come to New Zealand, Todd, Celest and their five wonderful children. Celest's father, Paul Nelson, kindly took them and a ton of luggage to the airport. When we got this photo we knew we would need a larger vehicle than our little compact sedan to pick them up at the Auckland Airport.

They arrived! Oh, what joy filled our hearts as we saw this wonderful family for the first time in almost a year. Thank you for coming!!!!!!

Elder and Sister Holbrook were kind enough to let us use three air mattresses and sheets so all nine of us could fit into our apartment. I have never been so glad to be in a crowd.

A well-deserved rest following a long, long flight

Trystan easily beat Papa in a game of chess. He and Sydney were in chess club and it showed.

Sydney boogey-boarding at one of the beautiful beaches of New Zealand

At the War Museum in Auckland

New Zealand has the coolest trees. This one was in the domain (park) in front of the museum.

We went to the observation deck on the Sky Tower and then enjoyed some ice cream cones in the cafe.

Trystan assessing his treasured shells and deciding which to keep.

Todd and Dylan at the Takapuna Park playground

Look how strong Celest is!

Attending Church at the Glen Innes Ward which is comprised of beautiful, faithful Tongans and Maoris.

Muriwai Beach (notice the Gannet Bird Colony in the background)

SM: One of our favorite places is Muriwai. The bird colony is fascinating and will be flying back to Australia soon.  The scenery is majestic!  Starfish are interesting creatures and we always enjoy finding them there. The sand is a mysterious black - it takes on different hues depending on how you face it - with hints of purple, silver,  and dark blue. The kids loved getting their hands in it.

Papa and Dylan off on an adventure

Muriwai has black sand beaches that the kids loved playing in.

Cathedral Cove is also one of our favorite places in New Zealand and is located on the Coromandel Peninsula.  It's a 2 1/2 hour drive to where we stayed in Hahei at a place called "The Church".  From there we ventured out to hike down to the Cove and also enjoy Hot Water Beach.  The beach experience was definitely one of the highlights of our time with Todd's family.

Hiking to the Cove

One of the many beautiful views along the trail.

SM: How do you describe Hot Water Beach? Hot - scalding in many places, people-packed, lots of shovels, and people relaxing in their personal, hand-dug spas. The first place we selected and dug was just too hot.  We expanded our area to include a cooler water area and then things became quite comfortable.  Quite the adventure.

The

The next morning we drove to Rotorua, a town renowned for its geothermal activity and Maori culture.  We had some extra time so we decided to go to the Agrodome for a "sheep experience".

 Trystan was called up to the stage to participate in the program.

The Redwood Forest Walk is an amazing place. We were able to walk high among the Redwood Giants on a series of suspended bridges and decks. Once it became dark, hidden lanterns created a truly magical experience.

Redwoods Forest Walk

Living Maori Village at Whakarewarewa

Todd and Jim were asked to participate in a Haka. They could use a little more practice perfecting the eye bulging and tongue showing. Check it out in the video below.

 

The lovely shire of "Hobbiton" was only a short drive.  The country side is so beautiful. It's easy to understand why that setting was chosen for the "Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" movies.  Lot's of Tolkein fans come to  New Zealand just to visit this movie set. Sydney has challenged me to read "The Hobbit" and I have accepted.  In  return, I challenged her to do the same.

"Waitomo caves"  was an absolute must-see according to our grandson, Trystan. The main feature was the world famous glowworms.