Hanging at the Donkey Farm
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Pukekawa, Auckland, New Zealand
Fri Mar 7
Boogie boards were checked no prob. Fast trip through security. Very nice to have minimal carry on.
Saw Island Air flight was delayed. Reinforced the airline choice.
Nice lunch in lounge. Again nice to have so light carry on. Maybe flying Hawaiian so can check bags makes a ton of sense. Sad we are losing access to that lounge. Will have to see what the other one is like.
Fine flight to Auckland. Always surprising how long flights get. Gonna be hard to sleep on those seats on way home.
We avoided getting sprayed. Worth the extra time. Customs and immigration were slow though.
Went with the larger car from Budget. Lady was nice and gave me a deal on the upgrade. Glad to have more space in trunk
Got to donkey place a bit before midnight. Place is very nice. All tired and to bed.
Sun Mar 9
Not best night of sleep so up early to check out the animals. Cool to have horses, donkeys and goats right outside your window.
Once the crew was up and running we went into Mercer and found the recommended breakfast place. Yummy bfast and we were all hungry. Locals had no real recommendations of sights to see.
Boys were excited to return back and hang out with the animals and play football from the tramp.
We met the host and his girls who were same ages. Laura and I helped the girls feed the chickens but the boys were too busy playing it cool.
Host recommended a loop drive so we headed out through the limestone country.We stopped at the Naiku Caves and got a raving review about the paid hike from a family who had just finished. We decided to give it a go.
We had some time and Laura was hungry so we ordered food. Kids were resistant but after some threats they settled in and enjoyed the pizza and sandwich. They also played by the stream.
The hike through the cave was fun. We were underground for an hour. The stalactites and stalagmites were very cool. The glow worms were awesome too. I was very bummed to not have my waterproof camera along.
There was a 15 meter belly crawl that was exciting and drenching. Laura thought about turning around but powered through it. All in all a good adventure and I think the kids had fun. It was definitely a unique experience.
We cancelled the rest of the loop and returned home so that the boys could choose the activity.
Ty played football from the tramp. Finn hung out with the animals. We all piled on the tractor and rode over to a dairy farm to watch the cows get milked.
We helped the girls feed the donkeys and horses hay. That allowed us to get close to the animals. Finn helped put a cover on the horse. It was neat.
Laura ran in to town to get Indian. I got the boys ready and we had a pretty mellow evening. Early to bed as we are all a bit behind on sleep. A very fine and full first day.
Mon Mar 10
Kids got up smoothly and Laura and I got out for morning runs. Interesting run through misty pasture land and trespassing. All good.
Met our hostess Anke and she offered to let is ride the Mauri pony Comet. Finn did great and I had fun taking her for a spin.
We had a late breakfast and pack up and then headed out to Rotorua.
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2025-02-13