What an amazing, awesome inspiring month this has been in the "Land of the Long White Cloud". We have traveled from the far end of the south island, including a jaunt over to the "third island", Stewart Island, to Auckland on the north island and many, many parts in between. There hasn't been a place …
Category: New Zealand
Auckland – the final day
This was our one full day in Auckland, which we both agreed would be enough. At least for me, I've thoroughly enjoyed our time in the countryside and our freedom of having the car. Being smack dab in the middle of a bustling city seems so incongruous with the rest of our time here. It's …
On to Auckland
We rose to a purposefully slow start to the day as our gracious hosts said there was no need to rush out. And as the only thing on today's agenda was to drive from Whitianga to the outskirts of Auckland to turn in the rental car, we putzed along this morning. As I was fixing …
Whitianga
We both had a wonderful night's sleep in this cute cottage. We had bit of breakfast then slipped on our bathing suits with clothes on top and headed out about 8:30. Today's calendar had a visit to Hot Water Beach first and foremost. A half hour's drive had us arriving at the beach, finding the …
Coromandel Peninsula
Or... How I celebrated my 65th birthday. Definitely one for the memory books. We made quick work leaving this morning, zipping down the hill from the house where we stayed and headed straight to the bakery we spotted earlier. It was a busy place so we knew that was a good sign. In we went, …
Thames
Another easy start to the morning. Fixed breakfast, packed up and soon we were on our way. Yesterday the director's wife told me to make sure we went to Tommos bakery in the morning and get their cream buns. She raved about them and even showed me a picture so I would know exactly what …
Hobbiton
We allowed ourselves a slow, easy start to the day. I woke up early even so, which turned out to be a great opportunity for me to have a video chat with my daughter, her boyfriend and my best friend, who was kind enough to fetch them off the Arizona trail as a large storm …
Waitomo
We woke to share our last breakfast with our gracious Affordable Travel Club hosts, Gerry and Maria. They were kind enough to allow us to share their home for three nights and to share some stories of their life. Both are Dutch immigrants from many years ago, with quite the tales attached to that time …
Rotorua, day 2
Up early, had breakfast and went on our way to the start of today's adventures. We headed back toward Rotorua and beyond to what's known as Hell's Gate. We came for the mud and sulfur baths that the area is known for. Well. We arrived a tad early for our scheduled time and sat in …
Rotorua
Our hosts had breakfast for us, then we headed out for the day. The town of Tokoroa where we are staying is a bit further away from the center of activity than we had estimated. Took us a good 45 minutes to drive to Rotorua. We found the "i-site" or information center easily. They were …
Redpath At Ease 