Month: December 2023

We were told to remain silent during our boat ride through the cave because noises cause the worms to turn off their glow so to speak. Nor could we take pictures so we actually paid the $20 for the photographer to take our picture before the trip and superimpose us onto many different backgrounds. Cheesy but somewhat effective for our purposes.

The word Waitomo in Maori means “water hole”. This cave system was not the largest we have toured but does have the most interesting inhabitants. What you see us pointing to here are tendrils of snot put out by each glow worm to help it catch its food. When an insect buzzes by and gets stuck on the goo it then retracts the tendril and eats its meal. Each worm puts down 5 or 6 of these gross sounding things.

The cave reaches a depth of about 100 feet below ground. Many stalactites and stalagmites were visited. It takes about 500 years for a stalagmite to grow up to one inch! No wonder they did not want us touching them.

Here is one final cheesy picture of us in love. The photographer did a nice job catching the sentiment. She ended up being our tour guide through the cave also. As with all other people we encounter leading trips, she had a wonderful personality and quick wit to boot.

Although the pose was the same, the background images of the glowworms were what we actually saw when we floated in total darkness through the cave. We must say that the complete stillness along with silence in our boat created a magical aura. Fabulous experience.

Once out of the cave we could take pictures again. Here is our group exiting the boat. Our guide stood on the front of it (very small area) and pulled us through the cave on a series of ropes hung from the ceiling. I asked her if she had ever fallen in and she replied “only once”. Must have been embarrassing eh? She was a fabulous guide who even sang us a Maori song usually sung around sacred events and places.

After our tour we took a nice mile long hike around the grounds to see what views were available. Cool path actually. We met a teenager sitting near the bottom and asked why he did not go on the hike with his parents. He said that he was tired after playing 8 hours of cricket the day before. We chatted him up a bit on the rules of cricket and found him quite interesting. He was on a travel team from Brisbane, Australia. I guess travel team has a whole other meaning around here.

We had recently purchased some fiddleheads at a grocery store and fried them in butter to see what they were like. We have also tried pickled fiddleheads. The pickled ones were better in our opinion. A fiddlehead is the top of a baby fern plant as it germinates and breaks through the soil in the spring. The ferns here in New Zealand are tremendously large. Larger than many trees here in fact. Check out the fiddlehead in the middle.

This was the view when we reached the end of our hike Extremely lush and verdant. The hotel on the right reminded us a bit of the Mount Washington inn we have stayed at on a few “important” anniversaries. It is called the Waitomo Caves Hotel. As stated in the blog before, New Zealanders have a literal way of naming things.

Saw this going on near a rugby field on our way home from the caves. We turned around and found a spot to park before hopping a few fences to watch. A teenager approached us with the question “how can we use social media to promote this event? No one seems to know we are playing here.” We explained that we were not from around here so could not really help her but then asked her what they were playing. It is a form of polo called lacrosse polo for women. Instead of smacking the ball downfield with a mallet, the women used a stick similar to a lacrosse stick back home to retrieve ground balls and pass them on to teammates. Pretty cool to watch.

Here is a short video of the game in progress.

With the roads being so twisty and narrow we are happy not to be here during the “frosty” months of winter.

When travelling to New Zealand most folks immediately ask “are you going to see where the Hobbit movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogies were filmed?” As we were based not far from there for 4 days we popped in for a visit to the Shire.

A photo op arose quickly on our tour. We are standing in what is called a “Hobbit hole”. This is where hobbits live. Each hobbit has a particular job in the shire and we visited all 44 of the holes during our tour.

The movie set was constructed on a 2500 acre working sheep farm. The bus driver taking us to the Shire was a bit impatient with these wandering sheep. He does have a schedule to keep you know.

A view of the Shire as we began our tour. Very lush indeed. They hired over 100 workers to keep the grounds looking this way as well as manage the enormous amount of small details that go into making our experience as real as possible.

These stone steps leading up to Bilbo Baggins hole are the only remaining “props” from the Lord of the Rings movies back in the year 2000. Everything else was dismantled and taken away so the farm could return to normal operation. Then, approached about filming the Hobbit movies, the farmer said okay on the condition that the set was built as a permanent set that would attract tourism in the future. Boy did that work out for all involved!

This oak tree sitting on top of Bilbo’s hobbit hole is actually made of steel and has almost 400,000 fake leaves all painted and attached by hand. A local college provided the labor by “loaning” their art students to the project. The oak tree in the original Lord of the Rings was a real tree, cut down nearby and stuck into the ground in the same spot. The steel tree that appears in the hobbit movies is a bit smaller so as to make the timing of the movies seem more realistic. The Hobbit books were written previous to the Lord of the Rings books.

Just a few shots of three of the hobbit holes set up for our appreciation. The first hole with the round blue door belongs to the Shire’s baker. He set up his loaves of bread for sale outside on his lawn.

The detail on the thatched roofs on the outbuildings of some hobbit holes was fascinating.

This hobbit hole belongs to the Shire’s cheese maker. Although the cheese was not real, you could not tell unless you picked it up…..or tasted it.

Not sure what this hobbit’s job was in the Shire but he was considered the town drunk. Note the bottles, probably empty, of wine on the table.

Notice the hanging laundry flapping in the breeze as well as the sheep that are still on the working farm having nothing to do with the movie set. Many of the hobbit holes also had real fires going on inside sending smoke out their chimneys.

Taking a short rest to give the perspective of how small some of the hobbit holes really are. This smaller type is called a “Gandolf Hole” as he was a wizard of human size and when standing next to it in the films, the scale of Human to Hobbit seemed correct. The larger holes, like the one we stood in earlier were made large so humans playing hobbits looked small.

Bilbo’s pipe on the famous bench used in a number of scenes.

A brand new concept emerged just days before our visit. They actually allowed visitors to tour the inside of one of the hobbit holes. All the other holes are actually empty on the inside. The inside shots in the movies are done in a studio down south in the capital city of Wellington, New Zealand. Once again, the level of detail pertaining to a hobbit’s life inside his hole is amazing.

Laurie and I enjoying a romantic moment in front of the real fire in this hobbit’s living room.

The bathroom in a hobbit hole is surprisingly spacious, notice there is even a newspaper for them to read.

A desk for this hobbit to take care of whatever business needs taken care of. A hobbit hole with lots of windows signifies great wealth.

There is even a working well in this hobbit hole. Pretty cool.

A washing machine to help this hobbit keep himself clean and tidy.

This kitchen has more room than our kitchen back in NY! Only the food was fake as all other props seemed like normal pots and pans or whatever.

Double click on the video above to see Laurie operate the working pump in the kitchen of the hobbit hole. Not too exciting but really cool that it is actually operational.

Double click above to get a short tour of the inside of a hobbit hole. It was cool to have a hobbit docent there to describe things like their scale versus humans etc.

Once our tour was over we were invited for an ale at the Green Dragon Tavern.

We passed the Old Mill on the way to our refreshments.

Relaxing and enjoying a “complimentary” amber ale made just for the Green Dragon on the movie set.

While on the east coast of the Northland Peninsula we chose 2 cool hikes on the same day. One was a 4 mile loop hike to Smugglers Bay and the other was a bucket list hike for many up a mountain called Mount Manaia. In New Zealand the “wh” is pronounced like an “F”. Our favorite town name so far is “Whakapapa.” Try to pronounce that one when not in public.

A view of McLeod Bay from atop Manaia. Gorgeous.

Another view from the summit. The town of Parua Bay is a cool spot to sit on the beach or find a nice cafe for lunch. Cafes in New Zealand are the most common type of restaurant. They are a cross between a greasy spoon diner and upscale cafe back home. Most are very good.

We did get a sneak peak of the summit views about half way up. Many tracks for tramping (trails for hiking) are created with an amazing amount of well built staircases in the woods. Not usually our favorite, but when in Rome they say. This walk had over 1000 steps according to google. We did not count them ourselves.

A view of the pointy summit as we approached.

This sign at the summit was interesting as are most signs describing the spiritual meaning of the place to the Maori. We heeded all warnings and were two of only 5 people out on the viewing platform. The other 3 were from New Mexico back home, they were on Winter break from school we presumed. Nice folks.

Next on the daily agenda was a loop hike to Smuggler’s Bay. I figured Laurie was up to something like sneaking a picture of me ready to get going.

First stop was an old WWII gun battery. Designed to look like a farmers barn to trick the would-be invaders. As it had signage on it we were not fooled. Pretty cool history though.

Glad they never had a chance to test it out.

This is the view from inside. Imagine being on watch duty peering through this window looking for the Japanese invaders?

A stiles is a way to get over a fence. Usually a fence to contain the livestock in a farmers field but not always. This is a fairly simple version of one that seems to be common in New Zealand.

New Zealand has some of the most fascinating trees we have seen. Somehow, as in the States, conservation efforts helped save some of the oldest specimens.

Any time a path leads into a cool forested area with a warning sign that significant falls exist ahead is a good indication we are going to have fun.

Here is one of those precarious spots along the trail out to the point, or as locals call them the “head”.

The track out to Busby’s Head. Fabulous walk it was. We did take care to stay in the center of the track as a fall to one side or the other would have been problematic to say the least.

A view of the beach at Smuggler’s Bay from the Busby Head.

We arrived near the beach and decided to go off track and walk the rocky beach to the cove around the corner. Usually we would stay on a track but we did not figure anyone would mind us walking on the rocks by the shore at low tide.

Come on Laurie! Looks like a nice beach for a swim!

The water was not bath tub hot, but certainly nice enough for a quick dip. Crystal clear and refreshing.

No post from New Zealand would be complete without some photos of livestock. Many were taking their siesta but one cow gone rogue decided to stop on the track hoping for a scratch. We did indeed give him a scratch and he licked our hands with his very course tongue.

We end this post with a picture of the nicely landscaped driveway to our little Air-BNB and the owners horses clothed in thin blankets. Most horses have blankets all day. We presume it is due to the intense sun rays as it certainly was not a bit chilly here.

Check out the volcanic cone in the background. This is the famous Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It kept getting closer and closer during our hike. We have not hiked 12.5 miles in quite a while, not to mention the 750 meter uphill, or about 2500 feet, over the first 5 miles.

We arranged a shuttle bus to get us to the beginning of the hike 40 minutes from the shuttle parking area. The bus driver was a riot as he gave us, and the other hikers some advice and information. He noted that if the volcano erupted we should simply run like hell as that is all one can do. He apologized for the volume of dust kicked up during the 10 mile dirt approach road. He said that “it sucked but that he got us here alive.” The very narrow road had 3 separate bus on bus crossings today. He also said that an 87 year old man did the hike a while back so toward the end, if you are tired, suck it up and dig deep.

The relief map above shows our route along the Alpine Crossing. Does not look like much at this scale but it was a hike!

We are set to go. The biggest sense of angst for us was that we would be out in the blazing New Zealand sun for 6-8 hours with no respite. Bucket hats and sun screen would have to do. I chatted with the 3 workers stationed here (all Maori with thick accents) and two of them said they have never done the walk even though they have worked there for years.

We thought Mount Doom was sending off smoke signals early on but realized it was only a wispy cloud!

It was exciting to get closer and closer and to see the evolving image with all the different lava flows.

Their version of the our National Park Service placed placards like this every now and again warning of potential bad weather and what to do if you were too tired to continue on. No bad weather today but we were a bit tired. Some of the trek was along boardwalk like this. Same reason some hikes use boardwalks back in the States, keeps folks from trampling the fragile alpine plants.

Made it half way up in elevation and found South Crater to be an easy half mile stroll to the longer, steeper part of the climb. This picture did not capture the steam rising from the trail ahead. Geothermal stuff is cool.

This picture almost captures the trail leading up to the summit of the crossing. Very steep and loaded with volcanic scree. You can see a hiker traversing the last section at the top. Very small because he is very far away.

View of the South Crater trail we just left. Red Crater is pictured on the left of the pic.

Climbing quickly in altitude. We had a fabulous view but for how many kilometers we do not know.

View of a lava dike from half way up our climb. They form when magma rises into an existing fracture, or creates a new crack by forcing its way through existing rock, and then solidifies.

Finally reached the high point of the trail and spied these fabulously colored glacial lakes below. There are four of them but this pic captures only two, but what a scene.

An up-close look at the pristine waters of one of the Emerald Lakes. They are sacred to the Maori people so we were asked not to skip stones, put our hands in or go swimming. We heeded this spiritual warning but got nice pics. Only one rogue creep actually got wet. Maybe his karma will become bad?

The initial decent from the summit was the only time we were a bit iffy about our abilities to keep our butts from landing on all the sharp edged lava scree.

I am blowing off a little steam one might say. The sulfur smell here was intense at these fumaroles near the lakes.

Our next visual to feast our eyes on was Blue Lake. Wish my color blindness did not get in the way of these things but I am able to see that it is blue!

As we moved away from the volcanic cone we saw this more recent lava flow into North Crater. Really cool.

Ready to head down the hill to the shuttle parking area only 6 miles away. What a view!

A very nice lady took our picture on the way down. Do we look as tired as we felt? Only 4 miles to go.

The lake in the foreground was formed by a fairly recent landslide and the lake behind it is the very large Lake Taupo. We will be kayaking on that in the upcoming days.

Made it to the parking area to meet our shuttle bus at 5:30. As it was summer solstice down here in the Southern Hemisphere we had plenty of daylight to spare. Check out the age of this bus by looking at the really old clock that did not work anymore!

The water surrounding the island and flowing into the secluded bay was a fabulous turquoise in color.

As with many places around here, we needed to take a nice 30 minute ferry ride from the town of Paihia pictured in the background here. There was a nice farmers market at the ferry terminal for a few avocados and coffee. We also ran into the lady hiker from Switzerland that we met in downtown Auckland who said she was having a marginal time on the long north-south trail so far. She is taking a different ferry to Russel to stay in a campground there before continuing her journey. Small world eh?

Too many islands in the Bay of Islands to picture them all but this one was cool as it had a cave or two going into it.

We saw a cool schooner sailing toward the bay on our ferry ride. We took a 10 day schooner trip back in 2000 out of Camden, Maine. Laurie still wears the hat (for sun protection here) from the bar/restaurant called Cappy’s there.

Another shot of some of those islands. We can see why it is called the Bay of Islands.

This was the scene as we pulled into Otehei Bay. Love the jagged rocks.

Here is something we have not seen before. It is a “sea yurt” you can rent to stay in as your accommodations. Not sure of the cost but cool for a night or two maybe.

We were supposed to rent kayaks and paddle around the bay but the summer season did not start for two more days. We were a bit bummed but quickly got over it by enjoying pulled pork tacos and Kumara fries. These are sweet potato fries and may have been the best thing to go into my mouth in a long time. I do not even like sweet potatoes. The pork tacos were very good too.

There were quite a few interconnecting hiking, or tramping tracks on the island. We had to be back for a return ferry in about 4 hours so did not figure to get so lost we would miss it. When we found a fork in the road we simply took it.

This is Vicky. She is from Hong Kong here on a workers visa as a nurse for the last 9 months. It was absolutely fabulous to talk with her for a few hours as we hiked. She quit her job, for many reasons and is waiting for her husband to join her for a few weeks of tourism before heading back to China. We learned a ton of good information about traveling in Southeast Asia from her as she has traveled there extensively.

Another beautiful shot from our hike through the sheep-lands of the island.

Vicky asked us to look excited! How could one not be in such a beautiful place?

Such beautiful trees in the area.

These two characters were out fishing on opening day. They had a huge net they used but had no luck while we were talking to them. This beach was also a campground for folks to use for free. Bathroom and outdoor shower to boot.

Vicky was impressed with my sheep speak as this group of sheep came at my beckon call. Cute little devils they were.

We walked through thousands of sheep this afternoon all grazing out in the hot sun but this group we deemed “the smart ones”.

Gotta love animal communications!

On our way home from the ferry we stopped in to see this nice waterfall and have a snack. It was begging me to go swimming but not this time.

Had to say hello to the ladies before getting back into the car. Reminded us of Hawaii where the chicken problem is out of control in places. These beauties were obviously hand fed by the locals regularly. I fed them the remains of a strawberry stem and they were instantly my best friends.

Our hosts for 2 days were a neat couple about our age named Rick and Lindy. We found that interesting as our tandem bike dealers back in NY are named Rich and Lindy. Their farm has been raising beef cattle for “the freezer” as they put it but they also have a small herd of Scottish Highland Cattle. These they just enjoy as “pets” and had just lost a few before we arrived. Very sad.

These “freezer” cows are called spotted cows. Another example of how folks here are very literal with their naming. As fans of all things bovine we were in heaven. It was tough to traipse around all the cow patties in the field but well worth the effort.

We were allowed to feed the highlanders some of their favorite treats. Not sure what they were but the cows certainly enjoyed them. Boy did they drool a lot!

Lindy allowed us to pose while giving this highlander a nice scratch. She said to really dig in with our nails or it will think we are just another annoying fly and swat us with her tail.

These cute little calves were interested in us until we got too close, then they scattered. One of them had just been treated for a huge abscess. Lindy popped it while Rick calmed the cow down. That led to a discussion of what is meant by “woman’s work”.

We mistakenly bought this bag thinking it was potatoes. Note the name “Lotatoes”, 40% less carbs in every spud! We only ate them once as they tasted like watery mush no matter how we tried to cook them. We offered the bag to Lindy as chicken food. She said she had never heard of such a thing but would cook them up and feed them to the chickens (if they will eat it?)

Their dog Max was a real attention hound! Always hanging around our door looking for a scratch. We were told to always wash our hands if he licks you as his favorite toy is the dead possums Rick catches in his traps. It was a bit morbid, but fun, to watch him shake this around and carry it with him on our walk through the cow pastures. They usually try to make him forget about his possum prizes during the walk so he does not have to bring them all back home.

We decided to take a nice “stroll” up to their property line (123 acres) and pass through a gate onto protected land, much like state forests back home. Boy was it uphill the entire mile and a half but the initial view of the surrounding landscape was beautiful and lush.

Pretty cool concept indeed.

Not usually flower people but this one was too pretty to ignore. They grow all over the place out here in the hills. Rick said they are called Foxglove and are poisonous to cows if they eat them. Hope our bovine friends know this.

Wonder if Max left one of his toys up here?

New Zealand is full of these huge “fern trees”. This one appears to be doubling as an umbrella to keep us out of the sun. Really pretty!

Check out the strangling vines this tree has to put up with. They are so strong and sturdy that when they cross the path in the air they even hold my hefty weight up when I stand on them!

A quick glimpse of what the inside of a $70 per night entire house Air-B-NB looks like. Did not need the wood stove as the temps are always between 60 and 70 degrees here this time of year, day or night.

Had to show y’all this picture of when we arrived at the property after a nice 25 minute drive along the country dirt roads to get here. Never seen a sign that was hand written telling me that the road actually works. It would not have if we were driving a Corvette! It was a good foot drop off to where they want to pour cement next year.

One of the only places we had previously heard about was the northern tip of the North Island called Cape Reinga. As you can see the scenery was well worth the 90 minute drive from out base north of Auckland.

While at the very northern tip of New Zealand we braved the wind and took a walk out the spit of land to the end and found this neat multiple signpost. Still a bit closer to the Equator than the South Pole but just about as close to the South Pole as Los Angeles where we flew in from. A group of German 20 somethings approached us and asked us where we were from. When we said NY they decided that was cool and spent some time chatting with us. They were miffed about the signpost having no distances labelled for any cities in Germany. We had no explanation but they didn’t seem to care that much anyway. Bluff is the southernmost tip of the South Island. We plan on visiting next month.

The color differences in the water are turquoise and slate grey, not really captured here but you get the idea. The water on the left of those breakers is called the Tasman Sea and on the right is the Pacific Ocean. Check out the video of the waters coming together below by DOUBLE clicking on it.

Nice looking lighthouse built in 1941 and retrofitted with LED lights way back in 2021. The light flashes every 12 seconds and can be seen 19 kilometers out at see. That is about 12 miles. They say “kill” “oh” “meters here in NZ.

Another beautiful view of the Cape.

Above is the start of the famous 90 Mile Beach. In NZ they are very literal with how they name things. It is quite the hoot actually. There is a hiking path, or track that spans from the tip up here almost 2000 kilometers to Bluff on the South Island. We have met two hikers so far that are attempting it. One is trying to do the entire hike and has previously hiked the Appalachian Trail back home and the other was from Switzerland and only had 3 weeks to hike from here back to Auckland. They were both single women between 30 and 40.

On our drive home we stopped into the Te Pake Sand Dunes as there was a little sign on the side of the road saying the place existed 3 km away. Had no idea what to expect but we ended up spending a few hours there.

We took off the boots and put them in my pack as we had to cross a stream to start walking on the dunes. Feels much better to walk sand in bare feet anyway.

Double click on the youtube link above to see how hard it is to trudge up these dunes.

We did not have surf boards but got this cool video of someone who did. Check out the video below by double clicking. When entering our car to leave a younger couple approached us and asked “Do you have any cash?” Normally we would figure they were out to rob us but, with non-English speaking folk they did not mean that but wanted $15 to rent a surf board and had no cash. They offered to “Venmo” or Ping Pong us the money electronically. We told them that we did not use these apps and they apologized and walked back to their car. After thinking about it, realizing that $15 NZ was only about $9 US we decided to make their day and just give it to them. They were very excited but worried that they were not going to be able to pay us back. We consider it “paying it forward” as many folks have helped us out in the past as we travelled by foot or on a bike. Never asked for money but some kindnesses afforded to us were worth a lot more than money.

Double click the video above to watch a daring soul go screaming down the sand dune on her surf board.

The next stop was at one of only 3 access points to the 90 Mile Beach. Evidently you can drive on the beach all you want. We read that driving very far is not recommended as the firmness of the sand is occasionally suspect. We settled for doing a few “donuts” while no one was watching. We were actually the only people here!

Found this really cool jellyfish waiting for the tide to come in and rescue it from us.

As there was no one around we figured a walk up this path to the high spot in the area might give us a few nice views. Back home we would be a bit more cautious about private property but have found that here in New Zealand very few places like this have any No Trespassing signs and there are no people or buildings around for miles (or should I say, kilometers?

Looked up the meaning of Hukatere. It is not the name of a town but means “Tears of the Avalanche Maiden”. A Maori story of their creator making a glacier here. A love story describing How Hine Hukatere took her lover Wawa into the mountains that somehow ended in tragedy causing her tears to form the glacier. No tragedy here as the views were very nice.

We found some cool wild horses roaming around near the beach (We hoped they would not “drag us away” ala The Rolling Stones). Why did the horse cross the road anyway? This particular horse starting the road crossing was a teenager so we understand. Check out the perfectly shaped Christmas trees in the area.

On our way home we found a few things of interest to us:

In the absolute middle of nowhere on a 3 mile road to the beach that we did not see a single car on we found this avocado stand. Had to buy some. At 6 for $4 NZ or $2.5 US we could not resist. The farmer drove by on his ATV and waived with a thumbs up. One week later they are still not ripe but getting there.

Next we saw this poor little guy on the side of the road with no herd or houses in sight. As the sheep population of New Zealand has a ratio of 5:1 with the human population we figured it was bound to happen that one of them goes rogue at some point.

We feel this may be our coolest video to date. Check out the fabulously large herd of sheep being shepherded across the road by dogs and a guy on an ATV. I sound like I have a nephew who is a sheep (goat actually) herder with my response to Laurie’s question. Unfortunately we shut the video off right as the baby lamb to the left ran over and collapsed onto the grass in protest. The farmer zoomed up on the ATV, got out, grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and plopped it into the back of the ATV before zooming off. We wonder if this was a daily occurrence?

As we entered our little town the school had these signs posted. An elder person with a cane helping a youngster to school. Says something about the culture here. The Māori phrase kōhanga reo means “language nest”. In a language nest, older speakers of the language take part in the education of children through intergenerational language transference.

With some time left during our stay in the city of Auckland we found a cool little ferry that took us a half hour out into the Pacific Ocean to the newest of the volcanic islands in New Zealand. It was formed about 600 years ago and while it erupted into existence, scientists know the Maori were watching from the neighboring island of Motutapu. Footprints in fossilized ash from the eruption were discovered proving their theory.

After getting up early to meet the ferry Laurie says “Let’s go!!”

A view of our upcoming hike up the volcano through the ferry railings.

A map of the island with a path leading most of the way around its shore and a few different ways to reach the summit. They call hiking trails “tracks” in NZ.

Very cool to see one of the UNESCO sites in person. The word “BACH” is pronounced batch here in New Zealand and it means small holiday cabin.

Here is a pic of one of the bachs on the island. The government is trying to eliminate most of them and bring the island back to close to its natural state for many of the birds and flora are unique to Rangitoto. A half century or so ago residents either gave them up for demolition or signed an agreement that says they get to stay there until death but cannot bequeath it in a will. Much like the Adirondacks in NY.

Laurie is being very patient while waiting for me to tie my shoes. She knows the views from the summit will be fabulous!

The hike started out by walking through lava fields like this. Tough walking indeed.

A short half hour detour off of the summit track led us to these spectacular lava caves. They formed when the lava on the outside cooled down and the flowing lava inside eventually ran out so to speak.

Turned out to be about a 100 feet of tunnel. We opted not to get on our hands and knees to exit the other side and doubled back after a while.

Laurie was getting up the courage to give it a shot. We did need the flashlight on the phone after a while.

At just about the half way point there was a break in the roof to allow some light and vegetation in. Pretty cool.

When we emerged out of the tropical forest at the summit we surely felt the sun’s rays on us. We were told, but did not really believe what we had read, that the sun is much more intense in NZ than elsewhere. Something about a hole in the ozone layer around here. Boy does it heat you up quickly with stinging intensity. Laurie figured two hats were better than one!

A view of the shores of the neighboring island Motutapu. How lush!

A hazy view of downtown Auckland. We noted to ourselves that the bridge on the right was the one we travelled over many times. Once we had to cross it twice due to gps issues in a new country. Thank goodness there was no toll on that one!

We will end this post with a picture of inside the summit cone of the volcano. See what 600 years of dormancy can do?

The happy couple all ready for a 2 month adventure. The Uber to LAX just arrived.

We flew out of Los Angeles at 10:45pm on December 1 and arrived in Auckland at 2pm on December 3. Our one layover was on the island nation of Fiji. We would have loved to explore a bit there but not on this trip. We took two pictures during our 22 hour ordeal and one was out the window of our Fiji Airways plane. A 2 hour Uber ride to LAX, 3 hours in the terminal, 11 hours flying to Fiji, a 3 hour layover there and a 3 hour flight to Auckland. The other was of a very interesting purchase at the Fiji duty free shop. We have never been able to buy liquor at a duty free so this was cool.

The Fiji dollar is valued at 45 cents to our dollar so some quick calculations told us that the $180 we spent on 3 bottles was actually $81 American. A bit expensive but New Zealand liquor prices are quite a bit higher.

Our digs in the Grey Lynn neighborhood of Auckland. We had a week to get adjusted and explore the city and its surrounds before heading north to what the locals call the Northland. Our ride for the month on the north island is a really nice Kia with only 7000 km on the odometer. For you English unit fans that is about 0.62 X 7000 or 4340 miles.

We did not realize our rental was an PHEV. A plug in electric hybrid. I went to put really expensive gas in it and opened the gas cap to find a socket for a plug? I had to reposition the car so the hose could reach the “other” gas cap on the other side of the car. That gave us an idea to try the charging station right outside our unit for free.

Our unit was just constructed and we were the first to occupy it. It had a new washer/dryer combo unit. Check out the time it takes to wash and dry a load! Not sure how it works but it did.

On the left are the switches/outlets on the kitchen counter top. The outlets each have their own switch above them. If the switch is on the outlet will work. Suppose that makes sense. On the right are the light switches and the EV charger on/off switch. We figure we were sharing the charger with others as it was near 4 different parking spots. Maybe if the switch is on the owner of that particular unit will be billed for the electric usage?

No comments please on the shape of the T-bone steak but the price is in NZ dollars which are valued at 0.62 US. This steak only cost $3.61 US!! We here that the entire nation is dotted with cows and sheep so lamb and beef should be affordable. Also, to export the meat would be expensive as NZ is in the middle of absolute nowhere. Just the way we like it.

We decided to book a 2 hour walking tour of the CBD (Central Business District) and find a bite to eat for lunch. The weather was very iffy so we jumped into a tourist gift shop set up for the cruise boat passengers to purchase a few umbrellas. As it is supposed to rain quite a bit we figured we would use them frequently.

A cool sports complex, mostly for rugby was about a mile from our abode. You entered the park passing through and interesting sculpture and then we watched a robot mark the lines for the upcoming match. Not sure why they don’t use these in the States?

Our tour guide recommended this cool looking restaurant with a chef making the dough for these steamed bao buns in the open window. Mine was filled with a pork mixture and very good. Bao buns are a fusion of Vietnamese and Cantonese cuisine. Auckland seems to be an extremely diverse population.

Our guide also recommended we visit the free Maori Cultural History Art Museum if we had time. We are not art aficionados but as the free admission came with a free hour long tour with a guide we decided to check it out. The first sign we saw was interesting to us with the politics in our country being what they are. All stalls in each bathroom were private so we suppose it did not make a difference.

We will not post too much about the art but this painting done in 1897, shows a good representation of what the classic Maori look like. Women also have facial tattoos but generally only on the chin. From what we have seen so far in person, most Maori men and women show off their tattoos proudly. Common practice for Maori women is to tattoo the chin only. They say that back in the day, these tattoos were really just scars left from facial cutting without any antiseptic. Must have hurt!!

Here is a pic of a Maori woman’s tattoo I lifted from Google Images.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger painted this in Belgium around 1610. It is a scene of commoners at the time during the celebration for Saints Hubert and Anthony. Over the centuries it has been owned by different Puritanical people who were not happy with all the nudity, defecation and debauchery so they painted over the offending parts. During its cleaning and restoration all these things “came back to life” so to speak.

A nice walk around Arnold Park near the museum unearthed this gem of a statue. Never heard of the South African Wars of 1900-1901. The statue face is representing the Maori people.

The park had many trees that were donated to the city of Auckland by cities all over the world. They even had a “mini” redwood and sequoia. I say mini because they are not all that old but still larger than most of the other huge trees here. not sure what type of tree the one above is but it took a nice photo we thought.

Here is a shot of the lone California Redwood we just mentioned. Still pretty large.

After our downtown tour we headed out for some exercise. One of the supposed nicest walks in the area is up One Tree Hill. The tree is now gone and replaced with a monument but a nice walk it was.

A nice view of the CBD from the summit. Very cool 360 views this chilly and windy day.

Speaking of downtown, Here is a shot of the Sky Tower. It is the second tallest building in the southern hemisphere. We are finding out that New Zealanders do not get creative with their names. Much more of that to follow in upcoming posts. The picture was taken while on Federal Street. There were pubs galore and nice eateries too. New Zealand has overtaken Ireland as the country with the most breweries per capita in the world. Cool!

We did not know this but New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Women of all races and colors too. This happened in 1893. Fabulous! Our tour guide said his great grandmother is one of them in the centennial celebration photo above. He is very proud.

We spent our first day exploring the Coromandel Peninsula about a 2 hour drive from our Auckland home. What a cool place! The scenery reminds us of Newfoundland in Canada but quite a bit more lush.

Check out what it looks like to drive one of these narrow and windy roads by clicking on the youtube below:

The national bird of New Zealand is the Kiwi. That is also what folks are called if you are from New Zealand. The bird is flightless and nocturnal so we might not get to see one in person. We love taking pictures of the road signs warning of animal danger and this one was particularly cool.

As New Zealand has no large predatory animals their rat population has blossomed over the years. The favorite meal for an NZ rat is the poor kiwi itself. We find these box traps all along the trails we walk. Evidently the rats can fit through the small opening but not the kiwi. Some traps had eggs placed inside them to lure the rats in. This section of trail was “adopted” by the local school children who made and decorated the traps.

As New Zealand is smack dab on a fault subduction line it gets constant earthquakes which mean the possibility of a tsunami is very real. To us, it did not look like there were too many “safe zones” for folks to walk to. All signs in NZ are in English and Maori as the Maori people are the natives to the island.

Okay, call me a tree hugger. Worse things to be we suppose. This is the kauri tree and this one is over 600 years old. The Maori used them to create huge dugout canoes back in the day and the invading Europeans used them for sail masts. They have incredibly straight trunks which make them fabulous for this. Unfortunately, as with most nature-human interaction, they became almost extinct until the mid 20th century folks decided to start a conservation effort.

We found these shoe cleaning stations at both ends of our first hike. They have brushes and a spray hose with disinfectant also.

This contraption also had a brush and a foot pedal that sprayed the bottom of your boots with disinfectant. As it was a loop hike we used it going in and coming out. We did follow the same rules of the road as when driving….Stay left. Check out the video below by clicking on it.

The forests around here are of a very tropical nature. The bird noises were fabulous. If only my Merlin app on my phone would work here we could identify them.

Not sure if this natural umbrella would keep me dry in a rain storm but it made for a cool picture.

Our next little hike was to a cool hidden waterfall named Waiau Waterfall. The serenity was fabulous! Click on the video link below to hear what a Southern Hemisphere waterfall sounds like:

While on the highpoint in the area we had a view of a fishing boat going out to check on their oyster farms you can see in the background. We were not sure what they were but a nice local walking her horse down the road back to the car confirmed our suspicion.

Another nice animal warning sign on the left. We saw no sheep near here but did “run into” many a wild looking pig. Not sure who would stop to feed these homely creatures?

After checking out the local farm animals we took a drive by the water as it was on the way “home” anyway:

Cool driftwood art on the side of the road, or should we say, the side of the ocean?

Had to check out the temperature of the Pacific! Bathwater warm it was. No swimming today but maybe in our future here.

The New Zealand Crimson Christmas tree in full bloom here in December. It’s real name is Pohutukowa.

Thought this was a cool and peaceful picture to end our first New Zealand post with.