Kerikeri, NZ

Kerikeri was our last stop on our New Zealand trip. We almost didn't go up there because there had been a lot of rain, so much that it was flooding up in the Bay of Islands. (Kerikeri is one of the towns in the Bay of Islands.) But we called up our B&B and they said it should be fine; there was no flooding near them and all the main roads were now open. So we decided to risk it, and we are very glad we did. We took these two pictures on our drive up to Kerikeri.

For dinner we ate at a fabulous little place called Jerusalem cafe. We had a sampler platter, and we really enjoyed everything we had.

The next morning we woke up to clear skies, and we were happy we had booked a boat tour. Micah enjoys a quick cup of coffee in our suite before we depart for our day. We started with a boat tour around the Bay of Islands. It ended up being a gorgeous day, and the best part was that we got to see four separate pods of dolphins while we were out on the water. We even got to see some of them jump out of the water. It was amazing!

At the end of our boat trip we got off at Russell, another cute little town on the Bay. We had a fish and chips lunch while we enjoyed sitting outside looking out on the Bay. Next we took a ferry back to Kerikeri, where we did some souvenir shopping (we still had not found much for the boys). Thankfully we found a few things we thought the boys would like, then it was off again. We drove to some glowworm caves we had spotted on our drive up to Kerikeri.

The glowworm caves were very interesting. I was a little freaked out about being underground in the dark, and I was very thankful we were in one of the small caves. It was amazing to see the glowworms. They looked like a miniature version of the milky way.

One of the best things about our stay in Kerikeri was staying in the Lyness suite. It was a wonderfully peaceful retreat after our crazy days, and we really enjoyed getting to know the owners. The property is beautiful, and our room was private and comfortable.