Livermore New Zealand: Kelly Tarlton's and Thames

December 13th:

Kelly Tarlton’s was a lot of fun. He was a New Zealander who was innovative for underwater exploration (he built the museum and died in the 1980‘s). We first got to see the Antarctic Encounter with several penguins. We learned about the 1900 Antarctic explorer Scott and how his camp was set up (they actually moved the whole camp up for the exhibit). We then took a snowcat ride around the Penguin exhibit.

Next, the kids found some new friends in an activity room with penguin foosball (the players were penguins), dress up, games, a large play on turtle, a mechanical shark mouth, a miniature deep water submarine, etc. Brody played with a New Zealander for about twenty minutes on the foosball table. The next section was Stingray bay and information section on sharks, octopi, giant squid, and vehicles for exploration.

The following section was our favorite. A walkway carried you around under an enormous predator tank. We saw various sharks, stingrays, turtles, eels etc as they swam around and on top of us. We ended up riding around three times. The final section was fish alley which had enormous lobster like creatures, piranhas, puffer fish, etc.

After that we went and played at a park for awhile before eating at a really great Italian restaurant, Tonino’s. He was from Southern Italy and we had the place to ourselves as it was an off time. It was the real deal food and everyone loved it.

We then headed off to Thames. We were stunned by the number of cows-yes there were sheep but a lot more cows than sheep-at least this far north on the Northern Island. Our first stop was the Karaka Bird Hide. We walked along a narrow walkway through mangrove trees which are one of the only things that can grow in deep soft mud of the mud flats around this area. It was low tide and we could see tons of little crabs scurrying around. We found a WW 1 war memorial on top of a steep hill.

The downtown area was wonderful. You realize how special it is to not be inundated with chain and box stores. Wonderful outdoor restaurants and unique shops for miles. We finally made it to Grafton Cottages. We had to drive up a one lane road in the mountains to get there, but it was worth it. We had our own little cottage set on the hill top with lots of trees and flowers and a great ocean view.. The kids made friends with those of the owners and they played together for a half hour or so. We made dinner in the cottage before heading off to bed.

Kelly Tarlton's Snow Trac

Underwater dome.

Grafton Cottages (the ones in the upper part of the photo).

December 14th. With the threat of rain we got up early and ate the wonderful breakfast provided before we headed to the Kauaeranga Valley on gravel roads. We parked at the visitor center and then headed up to find a few of the shorter “tramps.” It was easy to fall in love with the mountain views, unique trees, and wonderful flowers. We all crossed a suspension bridge one at a time to get across a river. Tara was a little nervous at first but did a great job. We then got to see the Billy Goat waterfalls.

We were able to make it through three walks and were stunned at how well maintained they were. We had an unbelievable time and saw many of the unusual birds of New Zealand. We particularly loved the Pakeko birds which are blue with a red stripe .

After going on the walks we headed for town and found a local restaurant to eat at before heading to the Tropical Butterfly and Orchid Garden. The kids had fun and everyone got to have a butterfly land on them. One took a fancy to Brody and walked up his arm, all over his back, and up and down his neck!