Heading South
It was time to catch the inter island ferry. Linda dropped us off at the terminal, gave us our tickets, and went to load the bus on the ship. It’s hardly necessary to say we weren’t the only ones waiting; … Continued
The Gallipoli exhibition
The Gallipoli exhibition at Wellington’s Te Papa gallery is hands down the best such presentation I have ever seen. Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops, along with British, Indian, and French soldiers, landed on beaches along the Dardanelles … Continued
Wellington, NZ’s capital
From Napier our Ultimate coach took us south to Wellington, our last stop on the North Island. The city is New Zealand’s capital and has been since 1865, supplanting Auckland in that role. In Australia, Canberra was created halfway between … Continued
The art deco capital of the world
We had breakfast in that award-winning restaurant at the Regent the morning after our long day in Rotorua. Most hotels offered buffet breakfasts but this one was a la carte. Which is fine if management and staff have some plan … Continued
Culture amid geothermal wonders
No trip to Rotorua is complete without a visit to the geysers. After we’d finished our wonderful show at the Agrodome we went to the Māori Cultural Centre at Te Puia where we met a lovely young lady who was … Continued
The luge and sheep
Everybody has heard of Rotorua, land of bubbling mud and steaming geysers. But I didn’t know there was a Lake Rotorua. It formed in the caldera of a volcano that erupted about two hundred thousand years ago. The town of … Continued
The view from up there
Doing a ‘city sights’ tour in a large touring coach is hard work – for the driver, especially as half of Auckland’s city centre roads are disrupted because they’re putting in an underground railway system. But Linda was up to … Continued
The hole in the Rock
After a couple of days of lovely weather the clouds started to roll in, which was a shame because today we would be boarding a catamaran for a trip around the Bay of Islands. Departure was a bit rushed because … Continued
Our day off
Coach tours are not for everybody. Of necessity they run to a fairly tight schedule and it’s important that the tour group adheres to the times for the day. Every evening Linda would tell us what time the wake-up call … Continued