New Zealand
There are [0] photos and [19] stories about New Zealand
Wednesday, 28 Nov 2012 | Views [259]
Up early and out the door door for a two hour ride to Lake Manapouri to begin the bus/boat/bus/boat trip to Doubtful Sound, a rainforest at a similar latitude to northern Maine. through mostly spitting rain, we saw penguins, shags, gulls and a ... Read more >
Tuesday, 27 Nov 2012 | Views [238]
Began the morning with a short run on bike path path which runs about ten feet from our back patio. Our hotel is right on Lake Waktipu and the bike path runs a mile or so along the Lake before heading out of town. It was quite a luxury to run early in ... Read more >
Monday, 26 Nov 2012 | Views [240]
A lazy day from dawn to dusk. We are staying at a very nice hotel right on the lakefront a few K outside Queenstown. We have a very nice two bedroom unit with a large kitchen and livingroom and a deck outside. The accommodation is especially nice because ... Read more >
Sunday, 25 Nov 2012 | Views [214]
It looks as if we've come to another country, though to be honest, I've said this before on this trip. The palm type trees are nearly gone now, replaced by much more familiar looking trees, but on closer inspection the maple leaves are attached ... Read more >
Saturday, 24 Nov 2012 | Views [331] | Comments [1]
We woke in Betty's Bach (from bachelor, a primitive waterfront cabin), with eyes opening wider and wider at the display of all sorts of water birds (my current favorite is the Various Oyster Catcher, a lot like a Raven with bright red eyes, long pointy ... Read more >
Friday, 23 Nov 2012 | Views [210]
Had breakfast with Robert and Beth and headed off at 8 for Dunedin. Stopped about halfway at Fleurs', a highly recommended restaurant well off the beaten path on a bay overlooking the coast and had a suburb seafood chowder and salad. Then after a brief ... Read more >
Thursday, 22 Nov 2012 | Views [257]
Our itinerary called for a train trip to Arthur's Pass. By the time we arrived in Christchurch it had become obvious to all of us that spending our one day in Christchurch on a train heading away and then back in the evening was not the right answer.... Read more >
Thursday, 22 Nov 2012 | Views [257] | Comments [2]
we said goodby to Rosie after breakfast and headed off for Christchurch to visit Robert and Beth Winn-Wiliams, also friends from our days in Guelph. We had two options--a coastal route through Marlborough and wine country or a mountain route through ... Read more >
Thursday, 22 Nov 2012 | Views [259]
We had a wonderful day of touring twitch Rosie yesterday up to Pupu Springs at the top of the South (island). Our friend Rosie said she wanted to drive and we understood why after only a short time. The hill we went up and over took ... Read more >
Tuesday, 20 Nov 2012 | Views [306] | Comments [1]
Claire opted for a day poking around in Nelson and visiting with Rosie. Mark, Pat and I headed off about west northwest to Abel Tasman National Park for a day of "tramping" and kayaking. The park is inaccessible by car. We drove as close as we could ... Read more >
Tuesday, 20 Nov 2012 | Views [266]
We were up early to catch the 8AM Inter-Island Ferry. It's a beautiful three hour ride. The first part offers a spectacular view of Wellington and its harbor. The city, New Zealand's capitol, is built on hills, much like San Francisco. The ride then ... Read more >
Sunday, 18 Nov 2012 | Views [406] | Comments [2]
Wellington, the bottom of the North Island. Hard to believe we had only one more day on the North Island. Seems like a huge city to me, but not surprising after all the small communities we had spent so much time in. Wellington is tall ... Read more >
Friday, 16 Nov 2012 | Views [450]
This morning we headed off right after breakfast for a 260K ride south to see Tim and Trisha Pearce, a couple of NZ veterinarians I met 32 years ago when they travelled with me on my AI route in Ontario one weekend when I was in veterinary school.... Read more >
Wednesday, 14 Nov 2012 | Views [299]
what a great day! We did two things: a thermal area in the morning and a zip line /canopy tour in the afternoon.
Both were amazing and new to me. First we drove about an hour out of Rotorua, saw another half million sheep and cattle ... Read more >
Tuesday, 13 Nov 2012 | Views [365] | Comments [2]
Rotorua is a center of Mauri history and culture. The area is very close to the geographical center of the North Island, about 150 KM west of the coast where we did our bike ride. Yesterday we focused on caves and glow worms, today we spent at a museum ... Read more >
Monday, 12 Nov 2012 | Views [305] | Comments [2]
Today we faced a darkish and rainy day and decided that the best way to spend it was by doing a cave tour underground and seeing New Zealand's famous glow worms. We drove over hundreds of hills and dales to reach Waitamo. It turns out that ... Read more >
Sunday, 11 Nov 2012 | Views [284] | Comments [2]
Our East Cape biking adventure was a ton of fun. We were quite surprised by the physical challenge. The Lonely Planet cycling book Eli gave us for Christmas described this ride as fairly flat and moderately difficult. I would say the hills were respectable ... Read more >
Monday, 5 Nov 2012 | Views [325]
It is a beautiful but cool morning as we get ready to begin our ride. Yesterday we rode a bus from Auckland which gave us a great view of the central North Island. The first fifteen miles or so are through the suburbs of Auckland, but the landscape then ... Read more >
Friday, 2 Nov 2012 | Views [293] | Comments [1]
After a remarkably smooth trip, on the heels of a flight cancellation only hours before departure, we are now comfortably situated at the Shakespeare Pub and Hotel (top floor) in the heart of Auckland, NZ. We got in today at 6:30am, cleared customs ... Read more >
