Day One: Labyrinth Rocks, Takaka

 On our first day, 23 Dec*, we took it easy (after two days of driving in rain and setting up camp) and explored our new neighborhood.

*[I have to say here that NZ can make you crazy when it comes to dates! First of all, they're backwards! They always write the day first so that day was 23/12/13. Looks weird huh? Well, it gets worse, when you ask someone the date you're liable to hear, "it's the twenty-third of the twelfth". Seriously? Who talks like that?]

Ok, back to the twenty-third of the twelfth... Between our campground and the little town of Takaka we stopped to explore the Laybrinth Rocks. As a geographer, I have always gotten a kick out of karst formations (especially the ones that swallow entire houses) so I was excited to get to walk around in this formation.

We were greeted by this lovely couple. 

 The kids wanted to try out the bench before we even got started. We read the signs and picked up a "map". I put it in quotes because it was utterly useless. There was no scale, no indication of north, and no way to orient yourself once inside the labyrinth. That said, I have some of my mom's frankly incredible sense of direction (combined with a fear of getting lost with three hungry kids) so we braved the labyrinth.

Karst topography is formed when water erodes and cuts into limestone (in this case) and creates caves, sink holes, and basically cool looking mushroom shapes of rock. This location was pretty spectacular with the leafy vegetation.

 And mysteriously, there were hundreds of little Happy Meal toys placed all along the trails. We have no clue why they were there but we left them alone (despite the pleas of Ben and Maggie to take some home).

 Here we are at a fork in the path and uncertain which way to go. While it was being debated, Ben showed us how he felt about the delay. A few times he tore off ahead and once we very nearly lost him for good!

 Caty really enjoyed the walk and listened to my physical geography lecture. (She was the only one.)

 Erik, being a geotech, had to jump in with bits of engineering trivia about karst. My information was the most interesting, of course. ;)

 Caty found a cave with a skylight.

 This is looking up through the top of that cave.

 It was a nice warm day; we enjoyed the walk.

 At the end, glad to have found our way back, we took some group photos.

 Caty is getting pretty handy to have around. She's a fairly good photog when pressed into service.

 I like this photo because you can see the grooves in the stone so clearly. And Ben's in it too!

We were wandering around, um... exploring the rocks for about an hour on a beautiful sunny day before lunch in a populated (with tourists) area and yet we were the only people there the entire time. This happens all the time here in NZ. I love it. But I must say that at a certain point, when we were debating whether or not to wander deeper in, I thought to myself, "If we get lost in here it could be days before another tourist shows up!"

 After all that exertion, we drove into Takaka to play at their park and look at the shops on main street. We found a German bakery and ordered some bretzels and cinnamon rolls (proper German ones, not like at Cinnabon) and sipped some fizzy drinks (what they call soda/pop/soda-pop here). The kids get a kick out of my favorite brand: Phoenix. It's yummy!

The guy that was working the kiosk in front of the bakery was so high he was literally shaking! Upon investigation, people at the campground told us that the area around Golden Bay is the pot growing capital of NZ. After that, I noticed hand written signs in convenience stores (they call them Dairies here for some reason despite the fact that they are most certainly NOT milking cows in them) signs saying not to ask to buy pot! Stay classy Golden Bay!

After lunch we went fishing, but I'll post that separately.

The kids spent the rest of the day making friends with the other kids in the campground and playing a game of cricket (I kid you not) with one of the kids' fathers. (Erik and I are useless at cricket.) Apparently you keep trying to hit the ball until the "pitcher" for lack of the proper term, knocks this little, white, Lincoln-log looking thing off the top of three vertical dowels. (At least that's what I gathered.) Ben was first at-bat, again for lack of the proper terminology, and kept at it for nearly half a hour. By which time, the other kids were foaming at the mouth for a turn! The whole thing ended in crying and gnashing of teeth and was entirely undignified - in complete opposition to how it was all supposed to go. Personally, I think "catch" is a much more fun game. With or without mitts. #JustSayin