From Cairns it was a quick flight back to Sydney and then onto Auckland. We spent 2 nights in Auckland and then picked up our camper van and first drove north towards The Bay of Islands, then back south past Auckland again then onto to Rotorua "thermal land" and Lake Taupo.
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| Linzi getting religious outside the Cathedral Church of St Mary's, Auckland built 1886. | View from top
of Skytower, Auckland. New Zealand's tallest structure at 328 metres. |
Linzi testing the glass. |
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| A bit of dancing .... | ... and The Haka. Scary stuff. | Maori storehouse used to store food and treasured items. Linzi wants one. |
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| It's the VAN! What a
machine! Sheer luxury for 23 nights. |
An American tourist
gets his arm into my shot. Dolphins in The Bay of Islands. |
"The Hole in the
Rock" Bay of Islands. Yes, we do go through there. |
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| Rotorua (in the
middle of the North Island) is all geysers, mud pools and funny coloured water. The green is arsenic! |
The Pohutu
Geyser at Whakarewarewa can sustain a height of 25 metres when in full eruption. |
Bubbling mud at Whakarewarewa . |
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| Artist's Palette at Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, south of Rotorua. The colours are constantly changing and are influenced by water levels, wind direction and overflows from The Champagne Pool. | Champagne Pool at Wai-o-Tapu. 60 metres in diameter and 60 metres deep. The temperature is 74 degrees | The bubbles in the Champagne Pool are due to carbon dioxide and the minerals contained in the water are gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, thallium and antimony and are depositing in the surrounding sinter ledge. Wow! Cool eh? |
We toured the North Island for a
week, driving 820 miles and
then moved to the South Island.......
