The Black Jetta Convoy Begins

So the Bartholomew adventure up New Zealand's north island has begun! We aimed to leave the house 10am on "boxing" day, the day after Christmas, however did not end up leaving until 12:30! Typical! But all is good, we barely hit any traffic and so far we have yet to forget anything!

The last time we did this drive was my second day in the country and I kept attempting to get in the drivers seat not realizing it wasnt the passengers seat! It's crazy that yesterday, I was the driver, of one of the cars that is! We are the black jetta convoy, so if you see us coming watch out!!! Yesterdays leg took us about 6 hours with a few stops in between! My poor mother has been forced to take pictures out of the window, there's just no time to stop!

Our first stop is Taupo where we are camping for 4 nights! I survived night 1, only 3 more to go! Today, we went on a "20 min" hike according to Oliver and Amanda who have "done it before!" 2.5 hours later we returned back to camp! It was well worth the hike though! Huka Falls is the most visited place in New Zealand and I can see why! My favorite part about the hike was spotting my first New Zealand fern. I've seen a million pictures of the beautiful ferns that grow and twirl and today I got to finally see it in person!