3rd Post from New Zealand

Remember the logging trucks I was telling you about, well I found a photo.
It's obvious who has the right of way here.

Napier–beach front area.

Well.....we are in Maui now, but I hope to catch you up on our travels in NZ. Then I will fill in the blanks on Australia. We had poor Internet connections for the rest of our time in NZ, so please forgive the delay in posting. A hotel owner explained the poor internet connection to me, he said "the kids are home on the weekend taking up all the band width." Damn kids!

This is –– A.) where Superman works or B.) typical Napier architecture?

Art Deco...I love it.

We visited the NZ aquarium while in Napier, it was kind of fun. The had on of those clear tubes that allow you to walk under fish swimming above you. We stayed in the tube for a least 20 minutes. They had several sharks, rays, and a great assortment of other sea life. Quite fun!

Can you imagine the scene if the other sisters were here?
They would have kicked us out of the place.

Yes, a homemade diving helmet--"I'm fairly sure it won't leak...give it a try?"

Dave and (miniature) Fishermen--public art.

Have I ever told you what I think about public art? Long story short, I think public art should be monumental...big! If you are going to do it, do it right. But then again, I'm not paying for it, my opinion is free.

Monkey Business.

See the gorilla in the center...that's monumental. It is made out of corrugated metal, very clever. This is the roof of the museum in Napier, it's dedicated mostly to the earthquake that wiped out the town in the 20's. You have to remember how these islands were made. I'm told (by more than one local) that the earth shakes here quite often. While we were here, an underwater volcano near Tonga erupted.

Mission Estate Winery.

There are many wineries in the Napier region, we visited two. I wish there was an easy way to get wine from here to home. And, if I wasn't driving on the right side of the car (and road), I would have sampled more wine.

The Mission Estate winery–the oldest winery in NZ.

The driveway leading to the Mission Estate winery...impressive.

From Napier we drove to Taupo, which is near a huge lake. We did a Jet boat ride to Hulka Falls, and I got to golf at Wairekie Golf Club–beautiful (the PGA seniors have an event there).

Hulka Falls from the road (pronounced hooker). Twenty some rivers dump into Lake Taupo, Hulka Falls is the only outlet. Lots of loud rushing water, the equivalent of an Olympic-size swimming pool rushes by every 8 seconds. There is a geothermal electricity plant about 2 miles down river–lots of hot, bubbling stuff under the ground in this region.

Front row seats, what a deal.

The happy (and a little wet) couple.

View of falls at river level.

From Taupo we made our way to Rotorua. By this time we were on the road a week, tired of eating out, packing and unpacking, yada yada, so we stayed the night, had a look at the town the next day, and returned to Auckland.

Can you believe these rest stops (two photos above)? I know what you are thinking, Dave is photographing rest stops, it's getting a little weird...but really, the rest stops are amazing.

In closing, I just wanna say that NZ is absolutely beautiful...really. If you get the chance, you should go. Most places outside the big cities are like America in the 60's. The people are friendly, the food isn't poisoned with preservatives, and nobody seems to be in a hurry. For the most part, it hasn't been ruined (yet) by America's influence.

Australia is next, stay tuned.