New Zealand North Island Nov 16 to 30

We met some great people while in Samoa. Clare and Kerry live in Auckland and invited us to chill out and clean up at their place when we landed. Yay for great people!! Clare and I bought the same sunglasses (sunnies they call them here!) Here we are showing them off!

So the first day we are there, Clare and Kerry both had to work. They generously gave us control of their house and washing facilities so what do I do? I break their washing machine! Sorry about that. It was Kerry's birthday when we arrived too. Good thing we picked up some "Royal" coffee from the Kingdom of Tonga. Happy birthday Kerry....glad you like coffee. The picture of Kerry didn't turn out but he's a nice New Zealand mate.

We had a nice dinner with Chis and Jenn Breen. They have a great house in Auckland! Thanks for the nice meal and visit! The kids had a nice visit also! Left to right: Sarah, Matthew, Ronan, Shayla....I hope I spelled the names correctly! Sorry if not. What a nice family!

Then, on the experienced advice of Kerry who is from the North Island - off to start our camping adventures in KiwiLand!

Here is our first campground. We try to stay at DOC sites (Department of Conservation) as they are nice, sometimes nature reserves, and cheap! Of course you get what you pay for. Once in a while you pay a few more dollars and get a cold shower (if the water is working!) We were there slightly before the summer season started so had some really quiet stays at most camps! We also could hear Kiwis during the night...they are nocturnal birds and extremely threatened due to introduced predators such as possums from Australia. (People here don't like possums!)

Some of the campgrounds were on the beach and some were at lakes.

This one is MaiTai Bay...we stayed a few nights even though the water stopped working because of the neighbor who is bitter at the government who took their land away and ......well there is a story I guess...land rights are complicated. Anyways, nice beach pretty-well empty with lots of sea life and birds. Matthew's favorite: the dead, rotting eel we found on the rocks at low tide. I'll spare the readers by not posting any of the eighteen photos Matthew took.

We made it to Pakiri Beach on the advice of the book "101 Things to do Before you Die" Sarah and I went horseback riding down the beach. It was stunning and we forgot the camera so no beach pics. We saw a dolphin while on the ride too!

We also saw lots of Pahutakawa trees starting to bloom. They have brilliant red flowers that bloom at Christmas time. Also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree!

Here is us at Kai-Iwi Lakes. There was a school group there also but we didn't hear a thing because they are far away!

We enjoyed many short hikes and lots of beautiful beaches with sea life and surfers! The drive north was sometimes on narrow curves and I thought it was funny most of the time to see a speed limit sign - 100kph - we were doing good if we could do 60! Oh yeah, nice to be in a metric country - I just wish I paid more attention to prices of produce 'per kg' at home so it would be easier and faster to know what is a good deal.

Some of the slow driving was through the Waipoua Forest where there is a 2000 year old tree named Tane Mahuta. It's alot bigger than it seems in the picture. We weren't allowed anywhere near it and the paths are all built up so the roots of these trees don't get damaged.

We didn't quite make it all the way north to Cape Reinga which is the tip and where the Tasman crashes into the Pacific although it is said to be spectacular to see. We also decided not to go tabogganing down slopes of sand as you can also do here. Maybe next time or just trust that it's fun! A favorite touristy place was Matakana. Lots of vineyards and just a nice area.

We drove through Auckland going south to go see some volcanic action. Visited Thermal Wonderland where we saw lots of color and smelled lots of sulphur. Wow!

The Redwood Forest just outside Rotarua was really interesting. These are California Redwoods that were planted about a hundred years ago just for enjoyment. They grow really fast here....I am a tree hugger just to show the size!

Rotarua was a great place for learning about volcanos and New Zealand in general. The museum had a video about the last eruption in 1886 of a local volcano with shaking and noise to make it real!

We visited an Agridome with a show about sheep (there are LOTS of sheep here!) and toured an organic farm with cattle, sheep, ostrich, emu, llama, alpaca, kiwi fruit, olives and some other fruit that I didn't know but it is only in season for about two weeks and doesn't keep so they don't export it. Kiwi fruit on the other hand is picked unripe and lasts up to 8 or 10 months which is why we can almost always get it at home. The camera battery was dead for this trip...dang!

Here is some bubbling mud at Thermal Wonderland. Pretty cool. I'm sure a bath in this would be good for the complexion! The Rotarua Museum was also the old 'bath house' where people from all over the world flocked to for treatments for all sorts of ailments. There were even natural mineral spas cascading down the mountainside but were destroyed in the 1886 eruption.

We stayed again with Clare and Kerry before flying to Christchurch on November 30. Goodbye North Island!