More on NZ

Many of you have asked to see more photos from my adventure down under, I think I finally have all of the technical bugs worked out and will attempt to share some of my adventures. This post will be photo - intense, but I have downsized all of the pictures greatly so hopefully they will not take too long to download.

One thing that amazed DH and I was the incredible foliage and fauna in New Zealand. This is the view from the loft at Majacraft:

It's a kiwi farm! Who knew that kiwis grow in trees? We took this photo for DD, who absolutely loves kiwis.

And this is a photo of the tangelos growing in trees along the drive leading to Majacraft:


Who wouldn't want to go to work in such a beautiful area? Remember, these photos were taken in Winter/early Spring.

Did you know that ferns can grow in trees? Evidently, in NZ they do:


After the awesome visit at Majacraft, we stopped by an historic village where the local spinning and weaving guild had a store. I purchased some merino from local sheep, but have not photogrphed it yet. There was a cute sign that I momentoed (is that a word?):

Kiwis are the national bird in NZ. I don't think we saw any.

Next we drove a little further south to the town of Rotorua. This town/region is famous for its geothermal properties. Evidently even the smallest motels have private, naturally heated mineral baths, in the rooms. We walked through the Kuirau Park, which is a public park that was created after a 15 minute volcanic eruption on Jan 26, 2001. Amazingly, there were no injuries as mud, steam and debris was thrown 200m into the air. DH had fun with is fancy camera trying to get a shot of the bubbles:


This was my reaction to the smell:

I bet every rental car that gets returned in NZ has an interesting odor. I wonder how they get rid of it?

A few days later, I ventured to the dead volcano called Rangitoto. This is the view of Auckland from the ferry:

The volcano:

And proof that I did climb to the top:

My personal trainer, Robert, would have been so proud of me. It was painful. It was steep. It was so totally worth it.
The ferry ride home included a stop at the lovely town of Deavenport, which has a wool shop. How do I know this? Proof is in the pictures. Unfortunately, I am all out of pictures, and if DH is reading, I can't get to the server again! HELP!