KillerBeeandLilC

We officially made it to the most Northern part of New Zealand when we reached the lighthouse at Cape Reinga. This is the point where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean and the waves form a cross pattern upon the beach. Here would be a storm-watcher's delight as waves can reach over 8 meters in height. Heading South was bittersweet as it meant we were on the last legs of our journey. We traveled down the West side of the Northland from Cape Reinga to Kaitaia, down to Rangiora where we caught a ferry to Rowene, and further to Omapere where we spent the night. Over the water were huge sand dunes where you can rent a surf board or toboggan to sand surf down the large hills into the water. We opted out of ... read more

Just in time to be behind again, we are catching up on our blog! With about two weeks remaining until we depart New Zealand, we embarked on a journey North of Auckland to the farthest North tip. Our travels took us through one of the larger Northern cities of Whangarei, where you can see some photos of below. We stopped at "the most photographed waterfalls in New Zealand" just minutes from town and had a picnic lunch before continuing north to Whale's Bay and Matapouri Beach. Here we stopped for a sunny break and met some locals, a five year-old boy and his father splashing in the waves. The locals were friendly and one bloke even brought by some fresh Snapper he had just caught and cooked on the beach. Eating a fish with eyes watching ... read more

Well, it is time to catch you up to date on our travels! We have been having a lot of fun and covering much ground but getting to writing and finding internet less. Our last blog brought us to the North Island, and this one covers April 23 to 28th up the East Coast from Wellington. Our first stop along the way was a quick one to take a picture of the Tui brewery, Tui was happy to see a flag bearing his name! We passed some wind farms along our way to historic Taumatashakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukopokaiwhenuakitanatahu, the longest place name in the world. To make a long name and story shorter, it was named after a great chief who was a warrior and explorer, Tuamata, who fought a battle in which his brother was killed; the hill ... read more

Making our way across the Cook Strait, Wellington welcomed us with a nice beach at Titahi Bay to stay at and surfers to watch. The 'windy' city, as it is known, did not let us down, but winded us with warmer air than the South. Wellington is an older city with beautiful buildings climbing up its many hillsides. The beach paths were always full of active kiwis with their dogs, kids, bikes, skateboards or friends. There are many museums, art galleries, film archives showcasing Wellington's art community and filming hub. We enjoyed a day at the Te Papa Museum learning some of the history of the land and its earthquakes and volcanoes that have carved out what we see today, among many other interesting features such as the iron car, old instruments, earthquake simulators, and more ... read more

Throughly enjoying Christchurch, we decided to get some fresh mountain air and headed out. Although to our prairie eyes mountains are everywhere, locally they are merely hills and the mountains are . . the really big hills. On the map Kirby spotted an "x" named Mt. Armstrong, so with no particular place to go . . . we went toward Arthur's Pass to see if we could take a peek at the peak. Upon entering the pass, we came across fog and decided to spend the night in a rest stop taking pictures and listening to "Solid Rock", a classic rock station, which was heaps of fun as the commercials split our sides. The next morning the fog still lingered as we ventured further into the mountain range and once again found remarkable eye candy. Instead ... read more