Nov 6 Wednesday Auckland A light rain is falling. We go to a good breakfast buffet then get the tour bus at 9am. We head to Mt Eden first for a 360’ view of the city. We find a group of cows professionally mowing the lawns, they were unconcerned with all the people. Mt Eden is the largest extent volcano (there are 48 in this area). The War Museum is next. It is huge ,3 levels- the ground level is dedicated to people of NZ both Mauri and Europe descents and the Pacific region. 2nd floor dedicated to NZ seafaring past and present . The top floor focuses on New Zealand at war. Light filters through the stained glass ceiling above the lobby. There was too much to absorb in 1 hour. Back on the bus we tour the city including Parnell historic district with it’s expensive shops, Queen street Aucklands golden mile entertainment and shopping center. We do the waterfront next and walk around the Maritime museum before boarding one of 3 sailboats Jim hires for us.Pride of Auckland. www.prideofauckland.com Our boat is 50 ft. we are on it for 1.5 hrs. It stops raining enough to enjoy a box lunch in the cockpit, then back to rain again. They provided raincoats. guess we can’t win them all. It was still enjoyable as great views. We arrive at Kelly Tartons underwater world in time to see them feeding the sting rays. Next we board the snow cat for a close encounter with Gentoo and King Penguins in a stimulated Antartic world. We walk through transparent acrylic tunnels ( all around aquarium) with views ofsharks turtles, and other marine life. www.kellytarltons.co.nz

My pictures are all mixed up so have to sort them again so will post pictures latter.

Nov5 Monday Paihia is just about on the tip of the North Island. It started out as a missionary town. We take a 4 hr boat ride to the hole in the rock and the Bay of Islands. We make a brief stop at Russel an a hour break at Otehei Bay. I walk the beach and gather some shells. www.fboi.co.nz It is raining on and off. We have lunch in Paihia and get a parking ticket ( over 4 hours) $21 We drive to the treaty house and see the huge war canoe. We return to the park for a social hour and briefing then pack to turn our motor homes tomorrow.

Nov 4 Sunday Waiwera to Paihia 194 miles 8 hrs. A long drive today.It is raining lightly . We travel through the Waysous forest today with some extremely wicket curves. It tests Bills driving skills. We meet a Tracks Caravan going the opposite direction. They have 24 rigs also. We stop at a very good pioneer museum. It was a huge place with many rooms. Their gum room was particular interesting, clumps of gum hardened. It looked like pieces of amber, some had insects inbeded in them. www.kauri-museum.com We go through Dargaville the sweet potato capital of NZ. We stay at the Bay of Islands holiday park . We are here for 2 days.
Nov 3 Saturday Waitom0 to Waiwera 142 miles 4.5hr Overcast today as we travel on the Awkland freeway. The traffic is not too bad as it is Saturday. We pass Aukland ( we will return in 3 days). We can see the skytower . We arrive at Waiwera thermal holiday park. We wakl to their thermal pools . www.waiwera.co.nz It is a vast complex of water slides and over 20 indoor outdoor naturally heated poolsof different temperatures. We have an ocean view right in front of the water

glow worm caves rabbit shearing

Nov2 Friday Rotorua to Waitomo 98 miles 3.5 hrs. After an 8:30 am road briefing we travel through Keneith forest then rolling hills with more sheep and cattle. We arrive at Waitomo top 10 Holiday park around 10:30 . After lunch we walk up to an Angora rabbit shearing shed. At 1:45 we car pool to the Waitomo glow worm caves. We enter limestone caves with stalacites and stalagmites and as our eyes grow accustomed to the dark we see a milky way of little lights surrounding us. These are glow worms. Glow worms are match stick sized in larva stage of the fungus gnat ( a relative to the mosquito) Which attach itself to the cave and produces around 20-30 mucus and silk threads or “fishing lines” which hang down a few centimeters. Drawn by the highly effective chemical light , midges and flying insects get ensnarled in the thread and the glow worm draws on the line to eat the insect. Ruakuri cave is the cave we go to. We have dinner at the park café.

Nov 1 Thursday Rotorua Our bus arrives at 7:40 and we go to Rainbow Springs nature Park. Here we see very large trout in crystal clear spring water. They also had a nocturnal kiwi room. We see 2 kiwi’s . Avories in a rainforest setting and some wallabies were on display . http://www.rainbowsprings.co.nz/ Next the Agrodome where 19 different breeds of sheep are shown off. The show includes shearing and dog demonstrations. http://www.agrodome.co.nz/ We go to another thermal village where we see geysers blowing and mud boiling. We get to sit on a natural hot seat. http://www.tepuia.com/. We get back to the park at 12:30 and rest before the evening at Tamaki Maori Village were we get a Hangi- a Maori feast accompanied by cultural performances . It reminded us of a Hawaiian luau. While the food cooks a show with haunting harmonies, singing, foot stamping, and poi twirling (rhythmic swinging of balls on a string ) butterfly dance- balls move with rhythmic music with impressive speed and agility. http://www.maoriculture.co.nz/

Oct 31 Wednesday-Lake Taupou to Rotorua -A short drive today in the sunshine, only 49 miles. We get a 8am start for a boat tour to Huka Falls . We are back in time to see the Araticata Dam release water on the Waikato river. Next we go to NZ’s Geothermal Volcanic Valley. Wai-O-Topu thermal wonderland . We watch geothermal activity, gushing gysers, plopping mud, thundering craters, and sizzling earth. We find innumerable colours of every tint and hue displayed in pools, lakes ,craters, stream vents mineral terraces and even the trackc we walk on. The artist palette was a panorama of hot and cold pools and steaming hissing fumweoles. An amazing variety of ever changing colours .It took over one hour to walk the trails. I found it very interesting. www.geyserland.co.nz We arrive at Rotorua thermal Holiday park. No WIFI. And we are here for 2 days. Oh NO. I am really behind in posting the blog. There is a café on site . We have a very good dinner here.

Oct 30 Tuesday Napier to Lake Taupo 85 miles 2 hrs. We have an 9am appointment at the Sheepskin tanning factory. It was very interesting, as we got to see the big washing machines, combing and streatching of hides. We also got into the sewing room. Today they were sewing car buffers. I bought a sheepskin pillow for the RV. We travel more mountains and rolling hills, with lots of wineries and fruit orchards. In Rangitaiki forest we see different stages of reforestation. We pass a few logging trucks full of logs. We get to Lake Taupo early so get the gate code, have lunch and a quick shower before going to The Craters of the moon. What stunning landscape. We walk on boardwalks while steam escapes from holes and cracks in the ground. In one area the mud bubbled and boiled. Even the vegetation is strange. From here we go to see Huka Falls NZ’s best known and photographed falls. A river of white and blue water gushes through a narrow gap in the wall of rock. We drive to a prawn farm next hoping we would stay for dinner. $90 for a kilo , unpealed and with heads. No thanks I quess we are just spoiled. We decide to back to town. We finally find a restaurant across from the lake. I have the NZ green mussels yum yum .

Oct 29 Monday Upper Hutt to Napier ( a modern seaside village) . 179 miles 7 hrs. It is sunny today as we start snaking up Rumutaka summit(555m) and immediately snaking down . All eyes are on the road and the edges. Wow. We have a tour planned for 9am at the Paua factory. ( shell) . http://www.pauaworld.com/ Our next exciting stop is the nocturnal Kiwi house in Mt Bruce National wildlife park. http://www.mtbruce.org.nz/ We see an eel ( one yard long) and a wild Kaka (bird) We walk through rainforest trails. We drive pass award winning wineries, sheep farms along with fruit and market gardening. We fuel up 82.52 . We are staying at Kennedy Complex. They have a beautiful rose garden here.

Oct 28 Sunday Willington ferry terminal to Upper Hutt. Picton is a small town sandwitched between the hills and the deep placed waters of Queen Charlotte sound. The ferry ride is 3.5 hrs . across the Cook Strait past the spectacular Marbough Fjord . 1.5 hrs is spent in open waters. Our crossing was uneventful. We spent most of the time in the bow. http://www.interislander.co.nz/ On arrival to Wellington we go to Te Papa museum on the waterfront. Entrance is free. http://www.tepapagovt.nz/ We hire a guide ($8 each) and he shows us an overview of the 5 story building. Here is all things Kivi. My favorite was level 4 Maui meeting house painted in rainbow pastel colours . We stay at the Harcourt Holiday park. Some of us go to the RSA ( like an Leigon) I have my lamb yum.

Oct 27 Saturday It must of rained itself out last night Halleluiah. We see fresh snow on the mountains. Hammer Springs to Pecton 174 miles 5.5 hrs. We have another 8am briefing. Today we think we are in the Cash Creek BC area for awhile. We pass a thrill seeking spot offering jet boat rides ,ATVs bungee jumping, quads and rafting for starters. We have to take extreme caution today as a lot of hairpin curves even sharper then before. It reminded us of how the Fraser Canyon was before they widened it. We fuel up 36.72. Things flatten out as we do some of our driving along the ocean. We see a lot of crayfish for sale signs. We stop at The Store Café for lunch. A great setting, an ocean view with a beautiful garden. We arrive at Picton top ten holiday park . I take a short nap before our 5:30 social hour and briefing.

Oct 26 Friday West port to Hammer Springs 132 miles 4 hrs. 8am briefing. Westport is an old coal town with NZ ‘s oldest port sits on the Buller river. We go into town and stock up on more groceries and buy a new heater as ours caught fire last night. Today we do more twist and turns going through the Buller gorge. We pass through Reefton the first town to get electric lights in the Southern Hemisphere. We fuel up 64.74. We take the Lewis Pass hwy and reach the summit only 924 m. We go through more beautiful rainforest . Bill is enjoying the driving especially having to use the jake brakes. We arrive in Hammer Springs a ski area and spa resort. Fantasy has paid entrance for everyone to the pools including a towel ($4+$12). Bill and I soak in the pool for about 1 hour then I paid for an one hour massage $80. It was my first but not my last. It was heavenly. A group of us go for dinner at a pub $13 included a chicken dinner with wine or beer. The price was right and the meal also. Tonight we fall asleep listening to the rain playing a tune on the roof.

Oct 25 Thursday Franz Josef to Westport 169 miles 6.5 hrs. We wake up to sunshine . Today is another scenic drive with lots of twist and turns and undulating hwy. We occasionally get to see the Tasmen sea as we drive parallel to it. Hokitika the jade capital of NZ is our next stop. A lot of interesting shops. I bought a vase made from the silver fern, a silk top, earrings and a scarf clip. They got a good share of our money. We got to see them carving jade. They were even working on BC jade. We watch people blow glass and paint on rocks. My kind of place. Next with more hairpin turns we stop at Pancake Rock – magnificent limestone formations carved over a million years, very different. Then we stop at the seal colony where we walk on a board walk to the view points. We finally find the Seal Colony Top Ten park after driving

Haas pass one way bridge

Oct24 Wednesday Wanaka to Franz Josef 173 miles 6.5 hr. Lake wanaka is NZ’s 4th latgest lakes 180 sq. km . We wake up to sunshine but doesn’t take long and it is raining. We travel through the rainforest of the Southern Alps and Haas Pass. Many twist and turns, ups and downs ,plus 29 one way bridges. The rain and the wind are not compatible with hiking so I missed 5 good hikes at about 30 min. each . I Sure was disappointed. It was even too cloudy to take pictures. There were many fast flowing rivers and streams and waterfalls. It would have been beautiful in the sunshine. One good thing there was hardly any traffic. We get a quick view of the Tasmen sea and the waves are crashing onto the beach. We stop for lunch at the Salmon Creek Café. They raise salmon in pens. It poured rain. We try to stop at the Fox glacier but it is raining so hard and the wind is pushing the rain sideways. We were told to watch for the mischievous Keas (birds) but they were smart enough to hide in the trees. One of our people got his side door removed by the wind as it pushed him against a rock. They taped it up with black garbage bags and are delivering them a new one tomorrow. That sure would have been scary. We stay at the Rainforest Park. Beautiful setting but very cramped.

on way to Wanaka

We just had a ice cream social combined with a briefing. http://www.arrowtown.com.nz/ http://www.lakewanaka.com.nz/

Our fearless leader Gisela

Oct 23 Tuesday- Queenstown to Wanaka 69 miles 4.5 hr. Today we visit an old Chinese settlement in Arrowtown. They were brought her for the gold rush. We walk the town of Arrowtown and have a coffee and sweet. We take a wrong turn and take the scenic route to Wanaka. Wow! Heart in mouth views and hair raising switchbacks turns. We stop in Cardona and see the 1865 hotel. This is alpine country. More spots to trip the shutter. Going this way we miss the 5 people who bungy jumped.( 2 women and 3 men) .We also missed Puzzel World and the Maze. We arrive in Wanaka at Aspiring Campground park early so I have a shower and just stand under the hot water for a long time as no one is waiting to get in.

Bill at Cadberries chocolate University Dunedin Botanical gardens Christ Church

I have time so I will post more pictures ( mixed ) milford sound as it rained then sun came out. Queenstown from gondola

Oct 22 Monday Queensland. A briefing first before we walk to TSS Earnslaw Steamship wharf where we cruise across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak High Country farm to watch sheep sheering and sheep dog demonstrations . The TSS Earnslaw is an iron screw steamer with a steel hull and 3 decks. We get to view the engine room and visit the bridge. It is a wonderful sunny but cold day. We walk around town when we come back. I work on my pictures the rest of the day .