New Zealand!

We've just returned from 2 great weeks in New Zealand or Aotearoa, The Land of the Long White Cloud as the Maori's call it. Now you're probably wondering what in the heck are they doing over there? They just barely just got to Australia! Well, the opportunity just kind of landed in our laps and we thought maybe we deserved a "holiday" after our crazy last 8 months so we packed our bags and flew across "the ditch" as the locals affectionately call The Tasman Sea.

New Zealand consists of two islands, altogether roughly about the size of Colorado but with only a population of 4 million total. We only visited the North Island, landing in the capital Wellington on the southern end of the island. We rented a car and gradually worked our way north, eventually flying out of Auckland, the largest city in NZ. Of course the Woodward travel curse followed us and we had rain probably 10 of the 14 days we were there! Since it is further South, it is very much still winter there; I think we brought almost every piece of warm weather clothing we had! While in the Wellington area we were able to see several Lord of the Rings film sites. Many of the locals cannot wait for "The Hobbit" to begin filming. The boys fished in the rain near Taupo and we saw the powerful Huka Falls. We learned all about sheep in Rotorua, attended a Maori hangi, which is similar to a Hawaiian luau, and saw some thermal pools. NZ is a land of volcanos and has alot of thermal activity. Speaking of sheep, we probably saw about a zillion of them as we drove through the beautiful green countryside. (actually there are about 40 million of them in the entire country). The new spring lambs were very cute! We attended a session in the beautiful Hamilton Temple, and toured the nearby Waitomo caves to see the glowworms! (if you want to know more about glowworms, write me an email). Took another drive to see some huge Kauri trees on the northwest coast in the Waipoua Forest. Almost as fat as Sierra Redwood trees but not quite or near as tall. Very impressive. We laid around for a few days in Paihia, near the northern tip; poor Alex was pretty bored with us older folks! Felt great though. Temperatures were maybe in the 60's, if we were lucky. Had been in the 50's as we were driving the week before.

Other remembrances: nasty biting flys that leave a very itchy bite, friendly people, beautiful rhododendron trees, giant tree ferns, Burger King with refillable drinks! (we don't have them here in Auz and drink refills are nonexistant period), no pennies or nickels - all prices are rounded to the nearest 10 cents, lots of gorse and scotch broom, and transplanted California coast Redwood trees!!!

So much of this beautiful country reminded us of our childhood home in Northern California, which made it doubly great!
All in all, had a wonderful time and highly recommend everybody visit NZ!!

Alex made lots of friends in NZ!































one of 4 non-rainy days!

Kia Ora! that's hello or good-bye in Maori.