new zealand day 1 and 2: auckland and the bay of islands

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... )

new zealand day 3: roberton island and 90-mile beach

The original plan for this day was to hang around the Bay of Islands until the afternoon, and then drive down to Hamilton to see my friend. For the first part of the day, I was torn between taking a water taxi out to one of the more remote islands and going out on a swim-with-dolphins trip. I flipped a mental coin and went with the water taxi. By the time we got out there I regretted it, as this island (Roberton) was actually quite busy with pleasure-boaters and was difficult to explore since most of it is private property. I got some nice pictures, though...

( See the islands in the sun. )

new zealand day 4: more bay of islands

So I got up bright and early for my swimming-with-dolphins thing. ... And spent four hours putting around the bay without seeing anything. I got a coupon for a freebie, though, which I promptly used on the 12:30 trip. ... And spent four hours putting around the bay without seeing anything. 96%, huh? It was nice to spend the day out cruising the bay, of course, though it would have been nicer if I hadn't spent the two days before that doing pretty much the same thing.

( Anyway... )

new zealand day 5: hamilton and waitomo caves

I decided to spend the bulk of my last full day in New Zealand in the Waitomo Caves area, about an hour south of Hamilton.

( Descent into the underworld )