Our trip north of Auckland...

On Tuesday after Stephen's birthday, we all packed up and loaded up their little car for a trip up to the north of Auckland, called, appopriately, the North land. It's sub-tropical, and just beautiful. We had food, wine, snorkle gear, swim suits and sunscreen - we were all set for a great trip. Craig and Stephen had found a "bach", or beach house in Russell, which we rented for 4 nights.

The area on the Pacific ocean side of the north land is called the bay of islands. There are hundreds of little islands all around that area.

A stop along the way to Russell.


Craig and Stephen

We took the car ferry from Pahia to Russell - a 7 or 8 minute sail, as you could SEE Russell from the dock. As Stephen says, they should build a bridge! : )

This is the view from the deck of our beach house - a beautiful little harbor. It was great to watch the tides come and go!

Wednesday morning Lee and I were up early, enjoying coffee on the deck, when Stephen appeared with the camera! How lucky are we???

More major enjoyment! Makes me want to go back!

We went to Waitatangi, which is where the treaty was signed between Britain and the Maoris. This is a "waka", or war canoe - it could hold nearly 200 warriors.

As you can see, it's really long!

Craig and Stephen with the carved head of the waka.

The view from the Waitangi treaty grounds.

Flagpost

Two old people....

This was the home of the first appointed official to preside over the area. It was a kit house that was shipped in from Australia -- similar to the Sears Roebuck houses that used to be shipped all over.

The Maori meeting house.

The meeting houses have incredibly intricate carvings, both on the inside and the outside. The inside of the meeting house has intricately woven matting on the walls, as well. Just amazing!

We took a long walk through a mangrove grove - this was on a board walk, suspended over the water. It was pretty amazing, and my first experience with mangrove, other than in pictures. We took this picture of Craig and Stephen as this was the first time they had been back in 12 years. They had a picture from the first time, too.

Mangrove grove and boardwalk.

Here we are, suspended above the water.

The water falls at the end of the hike! We cheated and didn't hike all the way to the falls, as that was a 6 hour round trip hike! Instead, we hiked in about half-way and then back, and then drove to the falls!

On Thursday we set out on a quest to go snorkeling! We drove to a beach that was north and east of Russell - some of the area was pretty remote and some of the roads were metal (gravel). This shot looks down on the beach where we did some snorkeling and beach combing.

Craig and Stephen snorkeled (Lee's mustache kept letting water into his mask) and I beach combed.

Looking for sea shells. And remember my quest for sea glass? Well, I found the mother lode of NZ sea glass at this beach! I came home with lots of neat sea glass, including colors that are hard to find.

After our snorkeling, we did some hiking. You can see that the terrain was pretty rugged, but the views from the top were spectacular!

The Bay of Islands.

Craig had his gorillapod, so we were able to get shots of all of us.

Such a beautiful place!

Thursday night we had a drink at the Duke of Marlborough - this is one of the oldest buildings in Russell, and was built in 1840 as an Inn and pub. It has a restaurant and the rooms have been redone. By the way, it's for sale - anyone interested?

Enjoying the Duke and watching the sunset over the bay.

This is the view from the Duke. Just beautiful!

On Friday our incredible string of good weather ended, and it was gray and cold, with rain showers. We had booked a boat trip to sail through the bay of islands, and go through the hole in the rock. However, the seas were rough, and our boat pitched and rolled in the waves. The very loud group of German tourists, one by one, became very quiet, and then began using the sea sick bags! I felt sorry for the crew, running around with buckets and disinfectants. My wonderful wrist bands worked like a charm! :) You can see the lighthouse at the top of the picture, and the light keepers house, below. Quite a trek up there!

Here is the hole in the rock that we didn't go through! Some of the passengers were disappointed, but we felt that erring on the side of safety was the way to go! Next time!

Our farewell breakfast on Saturday morning, again at the Duke of Marlborough.

On our way back to Auckland, we made a stop in the little town of Kawakawa. This town's claim to fame is the public bathroom, designed by Fredrick Hundertwasser. As you can see from the pictures below, they are totally unique!

After this stop, we headed on into Auckland, and began the re-entry tasks of unloading the car, unpacking, etc. It was nice to get home on Saturday, as it gave Craig and Stephen a day before they had to go back to work on Monday. On Sunday, we took the ferry over to Devonport and had a wonderful dinner with Tony, Deane and David. A great end to a great trip!

Our time in Auckland...

We arrived at Craig and Stephen's Saturday afternoon, in time to get ready and go to the Auckland Starlight Symphony. This picture was taken in their lovely back yard.

Lee, me, John and Stephen at the Auckland Starlight Symphony - before the starlight! It's like Opera in the Park - everyone brings a picnic, and of course, lots of wine! Wonderful!! As it gets dark, there is a laser light show, and fireworks. They close the symphony with the 1812 Overature, complete with cannons! It's an amazing sensory experience - laser lights, fireworks, music and cannons!! It was unlike anything I had ever experienced!

Lee and I dancing to a waltz - they invited the crowd to join in the dance, and our blanket-mates encouraged us to dance! It almost looks like I know what I'm doing!

Annual General Picnic!! 17th annual, was held at a lovely park south of Auckland. We had the luxury of having a house to use, which allowed the AGP committee to spend the weekend there and not have to do set-up and tear-down all in one day. I think they enjoyed that! Above is the AGP flag that flies at each picnic, and has a patch with the theme for every year for the last 17 years!

Some of the picnic-goers, enjoying champagne! As you can see, it was another beautiful New Zealand day.

The picnic is a potluck. The theme this year was "wild things", and we had an amazing array of wonderful food!

In the lower left-hand corner, you can see Jo's wonderful baked fish! Lots of "wild" veggies, too, including mushrooms that were picked from the field.

No one went hungry!

Gathered around the AGP flag. Everyone is looking forward to the 20th AGP, which will be held in Crete!!

The Monday after the AGP was Stephen's birthday! Here's a picture of Lee and I with Craig's Mum and brother, Mark. We all went out to a lovely Thai restaurant to celebrate the occasion.

Stephen at the restaurant.

Stephen's birthday gift from Craig and his Mum and Mark - it's beautiful in their dining room, and as you can see, Stephen really liked it!

After our trip to the North land, Craig and Stephen took us north of Auckland on the Tasman sea, to visit a gannett colony and see some more spectacular scenery. I bet you're getting bored with all these blue skies! : )

Beautiful coastline with great waves!

Note the gannetts on the flat rocks on either side of the inlet.

There were hundreds of them! We also saw fuzzy little chicks. It was great to watch these large birds gliding on the currents. They build their nests right on top of the rocks.

This is the Auckland Sky Tower - the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. Lee had never been there before, so we visited it, and went up to the highest point. For a modest sum ($200), you can bungy-jump off of the tower! And for slightly less, you can suit up, get into a harness, and walk around the outer ring at the top! Needless to say, we did neither!

At the top lookout point, sections of the floor are GLASS!! Very thick glass, with lots of promises that the glass is as thick as the concrete and that there is no way you could fall through! However, still made me queasy walking across it! Talk about a birds-eye view - from the birds eye!

The tower provided amazing city scapes of Auckland. If you look closely, you can see a person suspended from a cable - this person had just jumped off the top!

And of the harbor.

Our final night in Auckland! Craig and Stephen hosted a farewell dinner for us - Tony, Deane, Marilyn and Dave came. We had a lovely time and Craig and Stephen fixed a wonderful dinner! It was sad to leave everyone! Craig and Stephen are wonderful hosts and made us feel very much at home. Now it's their turn to come and see us!

The next day we did a bit more touring around Auckland, then came back to the daunting task of getting all of our possessions back into our suitcases, and getting the suitcases closed! It wasn't easy! But, in the end, we managed. We were most fortunate to be able to get seat assignments immediately upon checking in, and not having to wait till the last minute. Another uneventful but incredibly long flight, and we were home!

(Note: If you see a picture you really like, you can double click on it to make it larger...)

The Bay of Plenty...

Around the Bay of Plenty - February 16 - 18

Our last "tiki tour" before heading off to Auckland was to the Bay of Plenty. We focused on the Mt. Manganui area, which is on the east coast, on the Pacific ocean.

The weather was spectacular - nice and warm, with a gentle breeze off the ocean. We spent two nights there, the first night on the bay side, and the second night, right across the street from the first picture, below. Fabulous! The Bay of Plenty is known for its beaches, and I was all about beach-combing and finding sea shells. We were particularly looking for scallop shells for Bryan, as he has them in his palm trees at Raglan.

We did a lot of walking, beach combing, hiking around Mt. Manganui, and soaking in the mineral pools. This area has a definite relaxing, vacation vibe, and is at the top of our "do again" list, and next time we'll stay longer!

This is what we could see from our motel room. The little island is a peninsula at low tide. We found lots of gorgeous scallop shells along the beach, which went for 3 or 4 miles. We loved it!

This is a picture of Mt. Manganui, at the mouth of the harbor. There's a hiking trail all around it - we hiked in one direction the first day and the other direction the second. The NZ'ers are very active people, and I was very impressed with all of their well posted hiking trails, wherever we went.

When we arrived in Mt. Manganui on Monday, the Princess Cruise Line Millenium was in. We were able to watch her set sail, a continuation of her Austrailia/New Zealand cruise. We would have liked to have been stowaways! :)

This view of the beach was taken from Mt. Manganui. Isn't it beautiful?

Another view from the Mt. trail

And another one! Everywhere we looked was a picture!!

This is one of the shell beaches around the Mt. There is no sand, only shells! I dug down about 4 inches, and still there were shells. It was just amazing - especially since shells are hard to come by on the CA beaches. Needless to say, I came home with a few shells!!

During our beach combing, I was also looking for sea glass from NZ - we looked in Napier and that area, as well as along the Coromandel peninsula and in Raglan! No sea glass!! There was none to be found in the Bay of Plenty, either - very strange!

Shell beach

Walking trail around the Mt. - about two miles long, and as you can see, nicely paved. There were walkers and joggers of every size and description!

Shag getting ready to take flight! Bryan hates these birds, as they prey on the fish that he stocks in his pond. Notice the clouds - I kept being reminded that we were on an island, as the clounds and weather moved on through.

This picture of the Mt. was taken from the little island that you saw in the first picture, above. You can see the hotels and building that is going on in this area.

Out on the little island. Another beautiful, sunny morning.

Lee enjoying the island, too!

This is a view of the Mt. from the bay side. Another beautiful, long beach to enjoy! There was lots of activity on the bay side - kayaking, sailing lessons, swimming, etc.

It was a wonderful three days in the Bay of Plenty! We headed home on the 18th, and went to a pot-luck dinner at Richards! There were 11 of us there, and we had a great variety of yummy foods!

Thursday was a "catch up" and laundry day, and Friday we spent with Bryan, as he was off on Friday. It also rained on Friday, so the paddle boat cruise that we had planned to do with Bryan and John was shelved, and, instead, John came out and joined us for lunch. Friday was our last full day in Hamilton, as we headed up to Auckland on Saturday for the final leg of our incredible journey!

It was so sad to leave Bryan and Peter, but we knew that we would see them at the AGP on Sunday, so it wasn't really good-bye!! And it feels great to know that we will be seeing them TWICE next year, as we'll visit in January again, and they're coming to see us in July! :)

Feb 19th, Cambridge...

John, Richard, Lee and I went to lunch in Cambridge, about 20 miles from Hamilton. We had lunch at the APO - a converted post office. After lunch, we had a walk around Cambridge, which is home to many well-known stud farms, and winning race horses. This statue was right downtown and dedicated to a specific horse, whose name I don't recall! John or Richard, feel free to help me out!

As you can see, it was a slightly overcast, but warm day, the way that 98% of our days in NZ were! Delightful!