22/10/06 Sunday Pukeiti Rhododendron Garden to Mt Taranaki Left the garden traveling south around Mt Taranaki. The countryside around the mountain is emerald green undulating farmland (Similar to the country around Pullman, WA in late spring). The snow capped volcanic peaks of Mt Taranaki on a clear day must stand out in start contrast to the countryside. An otherearthly creation of black rock and claw mark like scars accented with snow. The rain persisted but I was more persistent. I hiked out to a waterfall and river gorge and back. I came back to the car soaked through and thro [View Full Entry]

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22/10/06 Taranaki to Rotorua I ventured out onto the long road from Taranaki to Rotorua. I won’t even attempt to describe what I saw during my drive. You need to experience it yourself. I will leave you with some mouthwatering photos for your enjoyment. Driving long distances leaves too much time for the mind to wander and the voice to go hoarse from singing every song played on the radio. Read about my close encounter on the saddle road. From Taupo to Rotorua I stopped for an hour or so hoping to see the night sky. It was one of the [View Full Entry]

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21.10.06 Saturday. Early start to the day. Up at 4:30 wrote a couple of blogs and then jumped in the car. I told you my bags would be packed again! Not much of a plan other than a few destinations. Waitomo Caves, Mt Taranaki, Pukeiti (internationally recognized Rhododendrons and Azaleas garden, thanks Steph) and then who knew what, the road was mine for the taking. Arrived at Waitomo at 10:15am. Met three Germans and teamed up with them on the Black Abyss, a five hour adventure underground. You start out by stripping down to a bathing suit and then throw on [View Full Entry]

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21.10.06 Waitomo Caves [View Full Entry]

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10/20/06 Friday, Baseball and Me This has got to be very brief. It’s 4:45am Saturday morning and I leave in the next hour or so for my three day road trip to the Waitomo Caves and Mt. Taranaki. I am compelled to write because the Mets, the one sports team that I’ve rooted against longer than any other and will do so till the day I die, went down in defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals. The first professional sporting competition I remember watching was the ’86 World Series, Boston vs. NY Mets. I vividly remember watching at least three of [View Full Entry]

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10/16/06 to 10/19/06 - Donavin, The Fire Juggler I juggled fire torches this week, well kind of anyway. I received a text on Tuesday morning from Jonathan (from Texas) who has been here in Auckland going on two years now inviting me to meet his friends at a weekly gathering of performers that use fire. I had no idea what to expect, I figured that it was just a bunch of pyromaniacs getting together to play with fire. Well it was much better than that. The gathering was in a small grassy park with a Stonehenge like stone ring at the [View Full Entry]

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10/14/06 to 10/15/06 - Deficit Spending is the Best! Friday afternoon Martin Crellin, a British expat in my department at work invited me to come over to his family’s home for lunch on Saturday, and if I felt like it too give him a hand with a few big yard projects. Saturday morning I took the bus to Ponsonby and then walked the mile and a half to Martins and Emma’s place, arriving at 10am. Their newly renovated home is in a perfect location, looking down into a small green valley and within a five minute walk of Cook’s Cove. First [View Full Entry]

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Since writing last I’ve encountered the playing bus driver on my trips around town. No Duke Ellington these times. First day it was “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” duet by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond; and the second day was Shania Twain. Neither song seemed to fit the personality of the driver. I stopped in the Anglican Cathedral that is just up the street. I only mention this because architecturally it is an example of how in modern times money is the key ingredient to completing a project whereas 800 years ago when building a cathedral the most important factor [View Full Entry]

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10/1/06 - 10/4/06 (Sunday thru Wednesday) Three Crazy Nights! Sunday Elysa and Alison (both arrived in NZ around the same time that I did) were back in Auckland for a few days before they went their own ways again. Elysa, back towards the nether regions of the North Island near Wellington and Alison on to Fiji. We did our best to wreak a little havoc around Auckland while they were in town. Started out with breakfast at my place. Burnt the hash browns to a crisp, but I must say the seasoning masked the burnt flavor. Next it was on to [View Full Entry]

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9/28/06 - 9/30/06 (Thursday thru Friday) The end of an era: The last train journey that wasn’t. Warning: The following photos may distract you from work and leave you wishing that you were in NZ. View at your own risk! In New Zealand you travel by train for the journey, not in order to get anywhere. There is very little left of New Zealand’s passenger train service. On Saturday the country’s rail service was scheduled to be cut in half with the termination of the Overlander route service between Auckland and Wellington (the only commuter rail line in the north island) [View Full Entry]

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