Ferry Ferry Nice

Sea, Sand and Skippers on Motuihe Island

It's not every week you get a free $100 voucher to spend on going out and having fun. So when Mum won one through some sort of competition, we knew we had to make the most of it.

Great, we thought, we'll go to Tiritiri Matangi. Mum and Dad have wanted to take us there for ages!

...except it's fully booked. Darn. Oh well, Motuihe Island will do just as well. We drove into the city and hopped on a ferry to take us out past other islands and a bunch of ships. Luckily there was hardly any wind, so it wasn't anything like as rough as the last time we went on a boat. No being sick this time for poor little William!

The sun was out and it was beautiful weather as we stepped off onto the island. There's lots of walking tracks, so we wandered about for a while, listening to all the birds (and Dad doing bad impressions of birds).

There's amazing views out across the water from some of the high points. After lunch we went to the beach for a swim, and the water was so warm, we stayed in for ages. William especially loved the beach because he found so much sea glass; he's collected a bagful to take home to make some artwork out of.

There were also some cool ruins we would have loved to explore, except they all had signs saying they were in danger of collapsing. They probably wouldn't have survived two kids rushing about everywhere between them.

When it was time to take the ferry back home, me and William obviously impressed the skipper so much with our nautical knowledge and seafaring abilities, that he let us captain the ferry for a while. We sure do look the part with our cool sunglasses and relaxed vibe.

It was another great day out in this super-hot summer - and all it cost us was the price of an ice-cream on the island. Bargain! As for Tiritiri Matangi, we'll get there one day.