We have moved from the east coast toward the central portion of the north island...our road trips have taken us through some beautiful beach towns and into Rotorua, a geothermal area. The towns along the coast are littered with beautiful sands and all types of waves from calm to surfer style beaches. Frank has picked up a boogie board for us and it has come in handy on the hot days as we stop for a break to cool off while we picnic lunch at the beach. Taurang...

Our trip to the far north has few words to describe the beauty of the landscape, the crystal clear blue waters, and the power of Mother Nature. Frank continues to do an awesome job with driving on the left hand side...with winding roads and single lanes bridges (picture pending), rain and wind. We drove through our first rain storm and strong winds as we finished up in Whangarei (Wh is an F sound) and headed further north to Paihia and onward. Paihia is a tour...

We have left Auckland and will be traveling north for a little bit. Traveling on the other side of the road is going well...Frank is doing an awesome job, with minor windshield wiper/turn signal mix ups. I am working on feeling comfortable (not car sick) on the other side of the car...where there “should” be a steering wheel! The drives along the coast are beautiful...green and lush with the turquoise of the ocean! We will post pics for this part of our j...

Our first few days in Auckland have been a treat! Beautiful weather and friendly people with a walking tour to start! We learned about the Maori/European relationship and treaties...we will need to make a stop as we head to northland to continue our learning! In our walk we were introduced to some unique spots, native trees and the extreme adventure attitude of the locals. During our first few days we visited and explored Waiheke Island, a definite retirement...

We have arrived in Auckland. We landed at 5:30am and we were very impressed with Air New Zealand. The 14 hr flight went well with tasty food, New Zealand wine, and a few hours of sleep. After landing and clearing “biosecurity” we made our way to our Airbnb, located the nearest grocery store, and are spending the afternoon planning our time in the city from the back deck...wine is chilling!