Day 3

A bit of a sh*t show today.  Drove to a town called Paihia on the north east coast.  Torrential rains for a good part of the day.  We were supposed to go on a boat tour in the afternoon, but due to a series of almost comical coincidences, we missed it.  The good news is that they let us reschedule for the next day and we were able to juggle a different reservation from Day 4 to Day 3.

In the afternoon, we visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which is a very important historical spot for the Maori people.  There is an excellent historical museum onsite.

In the evening we took a ferry across to a town called Russell, which is quite picturesque and is a holiday spot for rich Aucklanders.  Russell was the first capital of New Zealand.

Day 2

Sorry for the delay in Day 2, but we were off the grid.  No wifi at the place we stayed and even though we have a SIM card, reception is spotty once you get out of the larger towns.

Today was mostly driving to a place called Hokianga up on the north west coast.  Sleepy little beach town.  The highlight was a stop at a place called the Kauri Museum, which is dedicated to the history of the Kauri tree.  It's really a fantastic museum and it's huge.  If you ever come here, it's a must do.

The Kauri tree lives thousands of years and is massive.  We saw the oldest and widest living tree in the Waipoua forest.  It's over 2,000 years old and is 17 feet wide.  We did a walking tour with a local Maori guide and learned about the trees and some Maori history.

Had rain on and off for most of the drive.

We've arrived

Well, it took more than 24 hours, but we got here with no issues.  All people and bags arrived intact.  We came on American Airlines, and it was a good flight.  On time and the best onboard entertainment system I've ever experienced.  We paid for the extra legroom and it was worth every penny.  Having said that, the next time we have to take a flight of this length, it will be in whatever class has those sleeper "pods". 

We just walked around the Auckland downtown and harbour area today.  The downtown has a lot of cool art deco buildings and the marina is packed with many incredible super yachts.  Like this one.  And this one, which was purchased a few years back for 45,000,000 USD.  They were docked next to each other.  There were several more.

No photos today, but likely tomorrow.  We're understandably bagged and will be hitting the hay early tonight.

An interesting aside - on the plane our friends were sitting next to a professional card player who travels all over the world playing cards.  He's sponsored and has qualified for the world championships.  You may be thinking that's not so interesting - there are thousands of professional poker players.  But I didn't say he played poker.  This guy is a professional Pokemon card player.  

The Adventure Begins

We're leaving today and returning on March 9.  We'll be doing both the north and south islands, mostly by car, but also train and ferry.  A map of our north island stops is here.  The south island stops (part 1) are here.  The south island stops (part 2) are here.

Flying Toronto to Los Angeles, then to Auckland on American Airlines.  Long flight, but we got the extra legroom.  Also, the inflight entertainment is excellent.

Until we get there.....

A New Adventure Awaits

Hello everyone!  This is just really a test so see if we still know how to use this blog.  If you got a notification to come and visit this, let us know.

We're leaving on February 5th for a month in New Zealand, so stays tuned.  Until then...

Surprise !! One more post...

I got on a roll and decided to post our African Safari photos from 2012.  Trust me, these are worth taking a peek at, especially if you like animal photos.

You can find them here .

I promise this is the last post.

Final photos and videos

Hello for the last time.  We finally finished the culling of the photos and put together the last video.

The photos are in chronological sequence if you view the folders left-to-right, top-to-bottom.  You can find them here.

You can find the video here.

Until the next trip...