8/6/2019 Arrival in Auckland New Zealand and First Adventures

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/arrival-in-auckland-new-zealand-and-first-adventures 1/5

-1News from New ZealandTue, 8 Feb 2005 15:12:09 -0500

"It has been argued that endeavour and adventure are of no practical value.But is it more useful to devote one's life to amassing money and status, only to end it by a

coronary thrombosis brought on by the effort and worry?"David Lewis

 Connie and I reunited in Los Angeles then embarked on a 16 hour flight on a wide-bodyAirbus A300, operated by the Tahitian airline, Tahiti Nui. I placed two bids for flights lastNovember, and we will round-trip for one-third normal fare.

Tahiti is like Hawaii, tropical. We visit briefly before changing aircraft.

We landed in Auckland around noon, thenshuttled to the nearest Best Western for jet lag recovery and familiarization with the New Zealandmap and plan our tour.

8/6/2019 Arrival in Auckland New Zealand and First Adventures

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/arrival-in-auckland-new-zealand-and-first-adventures 2/5

 The next day I rented a four-door Hundai Elantra for $14 USD a day for 81 days.We drove north to Goat Island to snorkle and camp.The water was murky, we didn’t snorkle..

We explored farther north and arranged for a half day horse ride on the beach. 

My horse cantered nicely, Connie's was pokey. Both of us were sore for the next three days.Great fun!!

Drove across to the west side of island, then back to Auckland to a Backpackers overnight.

Connie prepared food for a picnic on a high knoll (North Head) a former gunnery site defending

Auckland from invasion, now a recreational park.

There we watched a 400 sailboat regatta that was commemorating the New Zealand ConstitutionDay. (Waikati Day)

8/6/2019 Arrival in Auckland New Zealand and First Adventures

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/arrival-in-auckland-new-zealand-and-first-adventures 3/5

A local Paraglider launched from the knoll, then exhibited excellent wing control, kicking Connie'sshoes off a rock,then picking them up, and putting them back on the rock, whilehovering in the wind.

In the morning we drove east of Auckland to the Coromanda penninsula.

We dug a pit on Hot Water beach when the tide was low, soaking in the heat from geyser heatedwater until the cold water high tide washed over the sides of the pit. Then we found a campsite.We hiked to Cathedral Cove the next day.

8/6/2019 Arrival in Auckland New Zealand and First Adventures

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/arrival-in-auckland-new-zealand-and-first-adventures 4/5

 

A few miles south, in the town of Rotorura we toured a Maori village and attended a presentationon their culture which includes warriors making scary faces to threaten invaders. The prototypescary face is: eyes wide open, tongue sticking out.I forgot to open my eyes!

8/6/2019 Arrival in Auckland New Zealand and First Adventures

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/arrival-in-auckland-new-zealand-and-first-adventures 5/5

At a local internet cafe I downloaded 100 photos, then burned 2 CDs to sharewhen we return home. Neither Connie nor I brought a laptop, so we rent access to the internet toemail. Most shops can also download photos from cameras. But the photo files, (on hi resolution),are too slow to send as email attachments.

 We sleep in our hennesy hammocks about every 3rd nite, but Backpacker/Hostels are plentiful,well equipped with kitchens, clean, comfortable, and very reasonable, so those are goodalternatives to the great campsites.

We're headed south now, we may swing east over to Gisborne on our way toWellington. There we'll take the ferry across over to the South Island where we plan to spendabout two weeks.