This year for winter vacation I went back to New Zealand.  I hadn't been back in 2 years.
I was especially looking forward to meeting my family, especially my niece and nephew.

                           

It is summer in New Zealand, so the weather was great for the first week. It was sunny, warm (around 20-25 degrees),

and the days were long (it got dark around 9:00pm).

I went to a surprise dinner for an old friend who had turned 40. We used to play in a band together about 15-20 years ago.

The other band members came that night as well. Back then we all had long hair and played loud music.

It was funny to see that we had all become middle-aged men.

                           

My family gathered at my parent’s house for Christmas Day. My niece and nephew took turn at handing out the Christmas presents

and we opened them one by one. My niece got a Barbie doll set, and my nephew golf set among other things.

                 

We played together for while and then got ready for Christmas dinner. Before eating we all opened our Christmas crackers.

A Christmas cracker is like a paper tube. Inside the tube is a paper hat, a toy, and a piece of paper with very bad jokes written on it.

Two people pull on each end and it makes a loud bang when it tears open.

             

For Christmas dinner we had lobster, steak, and roast vegetables. For desert we had lemon meringue pie with strawberries and blueberries. It was delicious.

                 

This was unusual because we usually have a more traditional English style dinner with roast ham, roast turkey, stuffing, sausage meat, roast vegetables and bread sauce. However this takes a lot of preparation and isn't really suitable for summer.

             

After Christmas I traveled around and visited a few old friends, then went up to the Bay of Islands.

I stayed in a town called Kerikeri for two nights. Kerikeri is a very nice place with vineyards and   some very nice craft shops.
In Kerikeri I went to such places as the Rainbow Falls and the Stone Store - which is New Zealand’s oldest stone building (built in 1836). 

   

I also went to Paihia which is a great place that offers many outdoor activities for tourists such as horse riding, swimming with dolphins and paragliding.
From Paihia you also can catch a ferry to Russell - New Zealand's first capital, and also visit Waitangi - where a treaty was signed between the British and Maori chiefs from all over New Zealand.

           

Unfortunately there was a cyclone near New Zealand that week so the weather wasn't good for outdoor activities.
I did however enjoy shopping at the souvenir shops and had a very nice seafood meal there.

After my stay there I drive back to Auckland, down the Kauri Coast. The Kauri coast has a forest of Kauri trees.

These are native trees which are both massive, and ancient.
I visited "Tane Mahuta" (King of the Forest), which is New Zealand's oldest and largest Kauri tree. It is 13.77m across, and thought to be 1,250 and 2,500 years old. It was amazing to see. Unfortunately it was too large to capture in one photo.

The administrators of this forest started "The Family of Ancient Trees Project" together with the administrators of Yakushima.
It was set up to raise awareness regarding the protection of ancient trees, and promote eco-tourism between Japan and New Zealand.

          A large Kauri Tree                                                                             Tane Mahuta

                                            

My final few days was spent with my family, as well as sometime shopping for souvenirs to bring back to Japan.

I had a great time back there. However in just over two weeks I somehow managed to put on 4 or 5 kilograms.

I guess it's not surprising considering what I ate...