http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TonyTorrieTraveling/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from TonyTorrieTraveling en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:50:16 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:50:16 +0000 Last Day in NZ and of course the sun is shinning Auckland Hotels were booked solid last night because of a sporting event and two events at local Vector Arena. Went out for Thai dinner last night with all of Whit's roommates. Going to tour campus while Whit registers then we're off to spend some time in the sun. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/North-Shore/blog-252767.html Spending two days around Coromandel. Here's some shots of the girls at New Chumms Beach and of the 3 of us at Cathedral Cove. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/Hahei/blog-252488.html After a quick day in Christchurch we flew back to Auckland the BIG city. I think the girls were anxious to get back to some civilization and real stores Saturday night after we watched LOST the girls got dolled up to go out and I went the local actually attached to Unilodge elcheapo motel. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-251736.html We arrived in Christchurch on Friday in time to ride the Gondola and then drove back into town in time to have dinner and ride the Tram tour of the city. Saturday 30108 we fly back to Auckland. Can't load pictures from this airport kiosk more later. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-251409.html Our helicopter took us up for a view of Mt Cook NZ's highest peak at 3000 meters. Torrie arranged for the clouds to part just as we flew by. We landed on a snowfield on another mountain top just across from Mt Cook for these pictures. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Mount-Cook-National-Park/blog-251113.html Long bus ride from Queenstown NZ to Milford Sound but the scenery along the way is amazing. Having a great time though it rained while we were on the boat. But the Captain explained that we got to see some waterfalls that don't ordinarily exist http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Milford-Sound/blog-250776.html Had a long bus ride but glorious scenery Got a lot of rain when we arrive and boated on Milford Sound but still spectacular stuff. Lots of pix but this internet cafe in QT doesn't seem to handle the upload of photo's directly from digital camera's.More later. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Milford-Sound/blog-250222.html Whit playing our travel agent has come up with a great set of plans for our trip. Monday morning Feb 25 we plan to fly from Auckland to Queenstown probably staying at the Pinewood Lodge 90NZ on Mon Tue and Wed night. Tuesday is our Milford Sound all day sidetrip. Wednesday is our 12 day LordoftheRings tour Go Frodo Merry and Pippin Thursday we rent a car and start drivi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Ann-Arbor/blog-242884.html Torrie and I just booked our flights for Auckland New Zealand Thanks Werner Marianne and Marc for making this trip possibleWhitney doing a study abroad there for 6 months is our ontheground travel agent for our upcoming NZ adventures.She's come up with some great suggestions so far including a hike to a South Island mountain top for an overnightI'm interested in some South Island train http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Ann-Arbor/blog-239788.html