So, after Australia it was New Zealand. I arrived in Auckland in the evening and then headed north to the Bay of Islands the next day. I have to admit that I was a touch disappointed in the Bay of Islands, as it was, oddly enough, very much like the Genkai area I spent two years living in in Nagasaki Prefecture, except there were a lot more tourists. (In general, New Zealand is the opposite- looks like Japan, just without all the people.) I took a boat out to one of the little islands on the first day. This island, Urupukapuka, was also quite touristy where the ship landed, but there were several trails leading off and away that I had a wonderful time exploring. It was raining, and I got soaking wet. I loved every minute of it. At least until I realized that some combination of moisture and other factors had made my digital camera decide to format its memory card. Ouch. Luckily for me, all my Australia pictures were on TProphet's laptop and all the pictures I'd taken before Australia were on my laptop at home. But all my pictures of Auckland and the trip out to Urupukapuka were lost. There were some really good ones in there, too.
( Anyway... )
( Anyway... )