New Zealand, November 24-27, 2007

In Canterbury, the region surrounding Christchurch, we spent three nights in the Sherwood Lodge, a small inn nestled in the foothills among sheep stations. We passed many flocks in the course of a long walk in the hills but were mortified when the sheep fled as we approached. At the lodge the hospitality was warm and the food delicious, but the changeable spring weather included a cold snap that left snow in the mountains behind the lodge.


Three of many, many, many . . . (although the sheep-to-person ratio in New Zealand has now dropped below 10:1)


Dining at Sherwood Lodge


View from our balcony at Sherwood Lodge with new snow on the mountains


We spent one day in Christchurch, billed as New Zealand’s most English city, with the Avon River running through its center and an extraordinarily beautiful botanic garden. However, Christchurch also serves as the jumping-off point for U.S., New Zealand, and Italian operations in Antarctica, and we were intrigued by a visit to the Antarctic Center, built to explain the Far South to interested visitors. One of the center’s star attractions is a colony of rare Blue Penguins.


Bridge of Remembrance over Avon River, Christchurch


Water Garden in Christchurch Botanic Gardens


Christchurch in bloom


Blue Penguins (the world's smallest) at Antarctic Center, Christchurch


Dunedin, supposedly New Zealand’s most Scottish city, lay between Sherwood Lodge and Te Anau, our next destination, so we decided to make a quick stop there. Our tour included the extraordinarily Victorian railway station and the Octagon, the city’s central park, which (needless to say) features a statue of Robert Burns. The whole town reminded Georgia very much of Aberdeen.


Railway Station, Dunedin


Robert Burns statue before Municipal Building, Dunedin

New Zealand, November 21-24, 2007

Moving southeast from Taupo, we traveled through the Hawke’s Bay wine district and stopped for tastings and a lunch at the Te Awa winery—drink and food both excellent. We then crossed the mountains to arrive at Wellington, where the breeze, clouds and hills suggested a small scale San Francisco.


Lunch at Te Awa Winery


Wellington from Botanic Garden


“Beehive” building in parliamentary complex, Wellington


After two nights in the capital, we dropped off our rental car, took a ferry to the South Island, picked up another car, drove to the edge of Abel Tasman National Park, and boarded a water taxi for the park’s Awaroa Lodge, which is not accessible by road. Here we enjoyed weather so warm that we could swim in the bay as well as walk the coastal track.



Onetahuti Bay, Abel Tasman Coastal Track


Tree fern with frond replicated in Maori art


Departure by water taxi from Awaroa Bay

New Zealand, North Island, November 18-20, 2007

We drove south from Auckland to Lake Taupo, part of New Zealand’s volcanic region, to do some hiking and experience local Maori culture. One day Georgia did the Aratiatia Rapids Walk from Taupo via the Huka Falls, and Todd took a bus to Tangariro National Park to hike the Tongariro Crossing.


Waiketo River before Huka Falls en route to Aratiatia Rapids


Mt. Ngauruhoe (“Mt. Doom” in “Lord of the Rings”) with Mt. Ruapehu in background from summit of Mt. Tongariro


Emerald Lakes on Tongariro Crossing

Moving north to Rotorua, advertised in the late 19th Century as the place to take the waters in the South Pacific, we visited a thermal park with Maori cultural exhibitions and a long abandoned bath house.


The Pohutu Geyser area


Maori warrior “greeting” tourists at Te Puia, Rotorua


Former bath house and spa in geothermal area, now Museum of Art and History, Rotorua (Spa opened in 1908 by U.S. Admiral Sperry, commander of the Great White Fleet)

New Zealand, November 13-17, 2007

We started our vacation in New Zealand’s Northland, the upper part of the North Island, where we stayed in Kerikeri. Our first day was windy and rainy, but the weather then cleared for our drive took us to Whangaroa, the site of St. Paul’s Rock, which we decided to challenge.


Georgia preparing for the ascent


Next time we’ll bring a rope instead of these heavy chains


View from the summit


Another highlight of the Northland was a walk through the Puketi Forest, one of New Zealand’s innumerable national parks and preserves.


Puketi Forest

After Kerikeri we moved on to Auckland with a hotel in Parnell, the city’s answer to Washington’s Georgetown. Blessed with wonderful weather, we took the ferry to Devonport for some views of the city.


Atop Devonport’s Mt. Victoria, fortified to counter the threat supposedly posed by the Russian Pacific Fleet in the late 19th Century, looking toward Auckland’s city center


Auckland skyline topped by the Sky Tower, where we passed up the opportunity to bungy jump