Okay kiddies, I hope you have packed your bags and remembered to bring your sense of adventure, because this is going to be AWESOME! Day 0 Today we are going to drive to Sydney and stay in a hotel near the airport. Maybe we will see or hear airplanes. We might visit Nan Nan on our way to the hotel. When we get to Sydney we will drop off the car at a special car park it will stay there while we are on holidays. Then we will walk over to the hotel and check in. We might be excited or nervous, but we have to go to bed at a reasonable time tonight because we will have to get up early in the morning. Diary: Write about one thing that happened today. We will be flying with Emirates airlines tomorrow.
Day 1 Today we go on a big airplane and fly to New Zealand! We will have to get up early (about 6am) and walk from the hotel to the airport. We have to put our luggage in two hours before the plane departs. The plane leaves at 8.45am, so we need to put our luggage in by 6.45 am. Our seats on the plane might look like this! After we have dropped off our luggage we can go through security. This is where we put our carry- on bags through an x- ray machine and we get to walk through a metal detector. The guards do this to make sure everyone is safe. When they have let us through we can get our carry- on bags back and get some breakfast! We will board the plane a little while before it takes off. We have allocated seats. Don t forget to turn off your ipad and ipod before we take off! When the plane takes off it will feel like it is going really fast. FACT! Our airplane is an Airbus a380. It is the world s largest passenger plane and can hold up to 850 passengers! Don t forget to be polite and use your inside voice! We will land in a city called Auckland. It is near the top of New Zealand s North Island. After we get off the plane and pick up our luggage we will collect the keys to our hire car. We also have to hire a booster seat for Ava! Then we will drive to our hotel the Harbour Oaks. Can you find Auckland on the map of New Zealand? Diary: Write about one thing that happened today. FACT! We will leave Sydney at 8.45am and fly for about 3 hours. Because New Zealand is in a different time- zone, it will actually be 2pm when we get off the plane!
Day 2 Today we are going on an adventure to an extinct volcanic island. There won t be any lava but there will be amazing views don t forget to pack your binoculars or camera! Rangitoto Island! The Rangitoto Volcanic Explorer Tour leaves from the harbour, which is just a short walk from our hotel. We take a ferry ride for about half an hour to an enormous island that used to be a volcano! This is Rangitoto Island. FACT! Rangitoto Island is a 5.5km wide island with a distinctive symmetrical shield volcano cone rising 260 meters high over the Hauraki Gulf. It is Auckland s newest volcano. It only formed 550 600 years ago! When we get off the ferry we will have a tour in a four wheel drive. There will be a tour guide and might also be other tourists so don t forget to be polite and let everyone enjoy the ride. Afterwards we will take a walk to the very top of the mountain we will be standing on the very top of an ancient volcano AWESOME! This adventure departs at 9.15am and will take 4 to 5 hours. We will take water and some stuff to eat. When we get back we can explore the city. Diary: Describe one amazing thing about Rangitoto Island. FACT! Tonight is New Year s Eve! Our hotel is right in the middle of the city, where there will be lots of parties and excited people. It might be a bit noisy but we can stay up later if we want to! We might even be able to see some fireworks at midnight New Zealand is the first major country to celebrate the New Year!
Day 3 Today is New Year s Day the first day of 2014. Happy New Year everyone! We might go on a drive up north to a place called the Bay of Islands. If we are really lucky we might even get to a town called Russell pretty cool! It will be a long drive, but we will pack lots of snacks and have a lot of picnic stops on the way. While we are driving we might sing songs or play travel games. The scenery is beautiful, so don t forget to look out the window regularly! If we don t go for a drive, we might visit a museum instead. The Bay of Islands looks beautiful! FACT! Your Great, Great, Great, GREAT Grandfather, Michael John Russell, and his brother George, owned a hotel near the town of Russell. It burnt down during the Maori Wars. Diary: Draw a picture of something you saw today.
Day 4 Today we are going to leave Auckland and head south to Lake Taupo and our holiday cabin. Can you find Taupo on the map of New Zealand? Hobbiton full of hobbit holes! Before we get to the holiday park we are going to visit Hobbiton. This is where they filmed parts of the movies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. At Hobbiton we will take a short bus ride before going on a walking tour with a guide and other visitors. The tour will take about two hours and will end at a café. After the tour we will drive to the Top 10 Holiday Park in Taupo. We will be spending three nights there. We can relax, take advantage of the park facilities, and go out on some adventures while we are there. Diary: Write about one thing you did today.
Day 5 Today is a day to just enjoy the holiday park. We might go into the town of Lake Taupo, but will just see what happens! We should take some time to just relax, because there is a lot more to see on our New Zealand adventure! Diary: Write about The best part of our holiday SO FAR. FACT! Lake Taupo is New Zealand s largest lake, AND it lies in a caldera created by a supervolcanic eruption, which occurred approximately 26,500 years ago! A caldera is a cauldron- like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters.
Look at the amazing colours in this steaming pool! Day 6 Diary: Write about something interesting you learnt today. Today we are going on an excursion to Rotorua. This is a place with bubbling mud pools, geysers, and lots of extraordinary geothermal activity that means all kinds of interesting stuff is happening underground, and bubbling up to the surface! We might take a walk to see funny coloured lakes, steam rising from the ground and much more. Rotorua is also known for its strong smell. Some people say it smells like rotten eggs, but everybody says that after an hour or so you wont even notice the smell so give it a go and enjoy the sights!
Day 7 Today we will leave Taupo and drive to Napier. This is a town on the east coast of New Zealand and it is full of old fashioned looking buildings. We will only spend one night in Napier, so will only have a chance to do a couple of things. We might have lunch by the ocean, or take a tour on a bus that looks like a steam train! Napier also has an aquarium full of exotic fish. FACT! In 1931 the city of Napier was destroyed by a massive earthquake and fire! The city was rebuilt in the popular building style of the time, called Art Deco. Today Napier is full of beautiful Art Deco buildings. How many Art Deco buildings can you count? Diary: Draw a picture of a building you saw today. The New Zealand National Aquarium.
Day 8 This morning we will explore a little more of Napier we might take a walk, do some shopping, or even visit the aquarium. Later, we will drive to Wellington. The drive will take a bit over three hours, so we will probably have a stop along the way. Wellington is New Zealand s capital city and is full of amazing attractions. It is at the very bottom of the North Island. Can you find it on the map of New Zealand? We will be staying for three nights at the CityLife Hotel, right in the heart of Wellington. It will be comfy, but like all hotels we will have to be careful not to make too much noise. A picture of Wellington taken from the International Space Station! Diary: The CityLife is the last hotel for our holiday. Think about all the hotels (and cabin!) we have stayed. Which one did you like the best? Why?
Day 9 Today we will explore Wellington. We might do some shopping and take a walk. Dad would like to go to the Weta Cave. The Weta Cave is part of Weta Workshop, a company that makes things for movies they created many of the items and monsters for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. I wonder what cool things we will see at the Weta Cave? The Cable Car This afternoon we will take the cable car up to the botanic gardens. We will wander around the gardens, and then visit the Carter Observatory! Diary: Write about one thing you learnt today. Carter Observatory
Day 10 Today is our last full day in New Zealand, so we had better make the most of it! Today, if the weather is fine, we are going to visit Wellington Zoo. Wellington Zoo has many different animal exhibits. It is also where the TV show The Wot Wots was filmed maybe we will recognise some parts! A Sun Bear! Giraffes don t climb trees do they? Diary: Write about your favourite part of the Zoo, or draw a picture of an animal you saw!
Day 11 Today is our last day in New Zealand. We have many options for today. We could: Have a fancy breakfast somewhere Go shopping (if we have any spending money left) Give Dad a massage We have to go to the airport before lunch to drop off the hire car. Then we can wander around, have something to eat and get ready for our flight. Maybe we could go and watch some airplanes landing or taking off. Our flight is at 4pm and will take about three hours. Because of the time difference between New Zealand and Australia we will arrive in Sydney at about 6pm. We will pick up our car and drive back home. It will be late by the time we get home, so you might want to have a sleep in the car. When we get home we will all be very tired, but we will also be very happy. Diary: Write about your favourite moment in New Zealand. Wellington Airport sometimes has huge sculptures like this!