Christmas Vacation Part I - Our First Visitors

As promised, here is a bit more detail about our three-week Christmas break. People don't seem to love slideshows because they can't access them from mobile devices, so I'm going to break this one up into a few different photo essays.

First up we have our very first visitors from the States - Ruby and Pegah! I cannot even express how great it was to have someone from back home visit us in Auckland.  Even though they were only here for four days before heading off to bungee jump in Queenstown and then do whatever it is people do in Australia, and even though two of those days were Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we managed to pack a lot into those four days.

We did a wine tasting on Waiheke Island, spent Christmas at a stunning beach house (the ad does not do it justice),  hiked across Auckland and went black water rafting in the Waitomo glow worm caves (which is easily one of the coolest things I've ever done).

We picked up the ladies at the airport the morning of the 24th and caught a ferry over to Waiheke Island for an afternoon of wine tasting.

Ruby and Pegah did not let jet lag keep them from having a good time.

Clockwise from top left: view from the beach house; Christmas dinner; the ladies getting caught in a Christmas morning downpour (thankfully it cleared up!); Christmas surfers; stockings

Coast to Coast walk: Before, during and after

A Coast to Coast mid-walk feast - french fries and beer.

Pre-rafting photo shoot

Inside the caves. The water was 40-45* F and by the end of our tour my hands were frozen, but it was oh-so-worth it. The glow worms lit up the caves like constellations.

Thanks again for coming to visit ladies - we miss you already!