Astor Motor Inn Auckland

... me. The exponential economical growth and the increase in living quality in China are out of my imagination. My expectations and feelings for this trip back to China is somewhat mixed with 'going back home where I was born' and 'visiting the home that I don't have much memories about'. The mixture of excitement and nervousness runs through my mind.

Auckland, North Island, New Zealand nancyinbeijing

... museum, and from there then board a 'snowcat' which travels through a penguin enclosure kept at freezing temperatures and with real snow. Oh and lots of penguins. I mean who doesn't like penguins? That was the cold bit done, next up was the wet bit. First they have this big tank of stingrays, (plus some fish and and turtles), which a keeper gets in to feed by hand and talk about. Finally, you know those vast aquariums which you travel through underneath in a ...

Met the german guy I talked to yesterday, Clemens. He is super chill and looking to do the same things I am. We talked for a couple hours and decided to rent a campervan together.
Cant get the van till weds morning so im gonna check out the aquarium and Rangitoto in the next couple days. Super cheap for the van $26NZ per day!! Cheeper than a hostel and we are mobile! Wandered around the city for a couple hours then chilled at the hostel. Excited to go to the aquarium tomorrow.

... top of the tower.

The lift has a glass panel in it's floor so you could see the ground rushing further and further away from you. The views from the top were spectacular. After spending quite some time wandering around ad looking out of the windows I stopped and had one of the best hot chocolates I've ever had and pored over my info.

Once back down on the ground I parted with quite a considerable sum of money but left with all my train and ferry journeys reserved, a bus ...

... the first cruise around the islands that we had indended to go on, and so we went on a 5k walk to see the local Huraru Falls.
Not quite Iguassu but very nice all the same, and that night we camped in a site right opposite the Falls so we got beautful views to wake up to which was nice.

Then we went on the Bay of Islands cruise - a 3 hour cruise around some of the 150 islands in the bay, and ...

... the city in the rain. I was treated to a nice roast dinner (common in NZ), Mac's beer, and a couple glasses of wine. It was a nice welcoming.

The next day I took a bus to Cambridge. I used the Naked Bus line; and no, there were no naked people on the bus. My cousin Matt, his wife Kelley, and their new baby Isla live in Cambridge, so I decided to drop in for a couple days. It was wonderful to see our beautiful new addition to the family and ...

... pool of dodgy looking water! Speaking of dodgy water; our next stop was Rotorua. This place had lots of thermal activity and boasts many spas and thermal pools. However we found the only memorable thing was the smell...of rotten eggs! We were much more impressed with the next stop - Taupo! We stayed in the town one night and then moved onto the Carey/Walker holiday house on the other side of the lake which they kindly let us stay in. It was a great pad and a good ...

... of 60 km p/h, it was an amzing feeling. After the north we headed back to auckland and on to Mercury bay and cathedral cove where more beautiful beaches awaited us. Our next stop was Rotorua or Rotten -rua due to the sulphur dioxide smell of eggs. We went luging down a mountain here which was great fun and we both managed to stay on, unlike some other people who had nasty cuts on them. After the luging we went to a Mauri experience in a ...

Hi arrived here yesterday about 6pm from Sydney. It only took 2 hrs 20 min, but we lost 2 hrs with the time zone. Here, we are 12 hrs infront of GMT. Our flight was with Qantas, which meant we got the full service. So it was good to get the inflight meal, and relax to a movie. We're staying at another good Base hostel. Well run and good facilities. They had an all you can eat pizza night last night, for $10 + a drink ...

... the world - though not Australia. There were two round robin heats and then went into quarter, semi and finals. The funny thing was that regardless of placing in the heats the NZ team went directly to the final. I guess it is their event in their country, and I don't know the stats but maybe they are the team to beat!! From here went back uptown to Albert Park where the Chinese New Year Lantern Festival was having its opening night. I had been to the park in the afternoon and ...