January 21, 2005 - Back to Auckland

One more for the road. We arrived back in Auckland at about 1pm and returned the car. Then went back to our favorite "Loaded Hog" restaurant on the Harbour for dinner. And guess what - tomorrow we're coming home! Game over.

Today we headed back to Auckland. These are shots of the Firth of the Thames, the bay between Auckland and Coromandel. Again, we were on those scary vertical winding roads all day. Amazing. 

January 20, 2005 - Coromandel, New Zealand

Sunset on Coromandel - looking back towards Auckland, where we're headed tomorrow.

All day today we were winding up and down these mountains. The roads were almost ridiculously spiraled and it seemed we were always on the edge of a cliff looking down at the ocean. But it was worth it - the Coromandel Peninsula was in its own way as beautiful as Lake Taupo and the mountains. 

On Thursday we drove from Rotorua up to the Bay of Plenty, which is the Pacific Coast on the north end of the island. It was the surfer capital of New Zealand. It's the first night of the trip in which we didn't have a place to stay that night, but we found a nice motel with 8 rooms run by a husband and wife in Coromandel, up at the top of the Coramandel peninsula. 

January 19, 2005 - Lake Taupo, New Zealand

Scaling the mountain on our way back around the lake. We were singing "Standin' on top of the world... for a little while!"

This is as close as we got to the mountains. Not quite close enough to throw the rings in the lava. We u-turned right here, and it was sorta sad... like Frodo and Sam, it felt like the end of our journey. 

The Birk checkin in on Lake Taupo, with the mountains across the way. We had lunch at Taupo on the north end of the lake, then eventually drove around to the south end to the foot of the mountains.  

Today we just hopped in the car and drove down to - and all the way around - Lake Taupo. Taupo is the "great lake" in the center of the North Island. The scenery was out of this world. The two mountains on the other side of the lake are famous actors from Lord of the Rings. The one without snow played Mordor and the snowcapped one played Mount Doom.

BTW - We counted exactly 1 trillion sheep today. If you ever have insomnia, New Zealand is the place for you.

January 18, 2005 - Rotorua, New Zealand

This is how the Maori greet you when you come over for dinner. They threaten you with a spear and then stick their tongue out at you for 5 minutes. Then if you're cool enough, they let you inside their house. (We were.) Food was great. They also gave demonstrations of their language, weapons and musical instruments. Really well done.

Lake Rotorua is surrounded by a bay of sulfur, and of course our hotel was downwind. We hear on the news that it's probably worse on Saturn's moon Titan though, which has huge lakes of methane. In New Zealand, there are geysers, hot springs, boiling mud pools and steam leaking out all over the place. I think people around here are in a state of denial that the whole North Island is going to blow.

January 17, 2005 - Rotorua, New Zealand

Kia Ora Rotorua! This Maori idol is on the grounds of the cultural museum. The Maori people are super friendly, and love when you greet them with "kia ora." Probably because they're making millions and millions off of the tourists. Safe to say the Maori culture will be preserved for a long time.

This is pretty much what our scenery looked like today. Reminded us a lot of Pennsylvania, between Philly and Lancaster. Lots of horses being bred for racing. 

We set out to see "the Top Half" of New Zealand today in our spankin' new Ford Explorer. I was pretty stressed about driving on the right side - and in the left lane - for the 1st time. Someone say a Maori prayer for me... Luckily, my navigator kept reminding me about the left lane thing. We arrived at Rotorua unscathed after only about 3 hours on the road, mostly on Motorway #1.