montreal

i rarely look forward for a 12 hours flight - but with Japan at the end, i was looking forward to itand i got lucky - not! i spend 12 hours seating behind a screaming / crying kid that i just wanted to kill...LOL i had bad experience in the past but this one was the worst - and no-one of his parents slapped him or gave him a good reason to cry - he may have been sick but he seems to stop straight away when someone was staring at him... little pratt! anyway, made ...

after a drive via lake Taupo, i stopped at what was to be an unexpected highlight of my tour of NZ - as i was driving towards Rotorua, i saw the sign "the crater of the Moon" and decided to investigate. in the late 1950s, a large area of land northof Taupo suddenly began to get hot and emit steam. Craters ofboiling mud emerged, along with other geothermal phenomena. and so the Craters of the Moon was born. this was triggered by the lowering of undergrou...

Wellington is the Capital of New Zealand with a population of over 410000 and was ranked 12th in 2006 for the best quality of living in the world! it has a big cafe culture and nightlife is very vibrant around the Cuba area. it also is home of the Museum of New Zealand called Te Papa.Auckland was the capital since 1841 when in 1865 it was decided to move the capital south to Wellington near the Cook straight as their was fear that the southern�region m...

After Franz Josef, i drove north to Motueka, which is a small town next to the National Park Abel Tasman - named afer the Dutch explorer that was the first european to arrive in NZ in 1642. i would spend 2 days there. it s a well known park for its golden sandy beach / its fascinating rock outcrop and its unmodified estuaries. people come here for long weekend break of walk or sea-kayaking! on the first day, i enjoyed a walk through the park for few hours, sto...