Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Tim in front of our Beach Bungalow. It is a nice place with a large front porch, living area with kitchenette and a large bedroom and bathroom.

This is "hermie" the hermit crab that hangs around our bungalow.
And what vacation pictures are complete without some sunset photos. I couldn't resist! It is too beautiful.

Final day in NZ

Our last day in New Zealand we went to the Queenstown Park. It was a lovely area with lawn bowling, tennis, lots of trees, a frisbee golf course (with a much better view than the La Mirada course!), and a rose garden. It was a great day to just relax and take in the beauty. The picture below is from Queenstown Park looking across the lake to the golf course Tim played on and the Remarkables mountain range in the background.

Last Days in New Zealand

On Thursday we took a tour bus ride to Milford Sound, a four hour drive one-way from Queenstown. It was raining heavily when we left Queenstown at 7:45 am. Milford Sound is on the west coast of the south island and was formed by glaciers. It rains there 200 days a year, so our chances of having a clear day were looking slim. But as we drove, the weather began to clear, and we stopped along with way to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. By the time we got to the sound at 1:15 pm, it was clearing with just a few clouds clinging around the mountain peaks. It was a breathtaking day. It had rained there in the morning, so there were so many waterfalls coming down all over the shear mountain walls.

We made it out to the Tasmin Sea at the mouth of the sound and then turned around. It was a good thing, because it was quite rough on the sea.
Along the way we saw seals sunning themselves on a rock and a pod of dolphins chasing a school of fish.

On Friday, we took a 30 minute steam ship ride from Queenstown to a sheep ranch called Walter Peak, which was just across the lake from Queenstown. It was a "postcard" day while we were there. It was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed an outdoor BBQ lunch. We ate lunch with a couple from Australia and a lady from the UK.

We saw a sheep dog and sheep shearing demonstration at Walter Peak.

Days 8-10 New Zealand

While in Rotorua we attended a Mauri (pronouced Mowry) cultural experience. The Mauri people were the first to arrive on New Zealand a couple of hundred years ago. No one knows exactly where they came from because they had no written language, but presumably they orginated somewhere in the Polynesian islands. They were (and still are to a certain extent) very tribal, but all speak the same language. The show they did for us showed us their welcoming ceremony, and then some of the games and songs they used to train the younger ones for battle and life in general. It was a good show, and very informative.
One of the women in the show.
The Mauri chief. If you can see it in this small picture, he is actually uncovered (naked) in the back, but has tatoos from just above his knees to his waist. Later he described the history and reasons for the tatoos. It was actually very interesting and tasteful although a little shocking at first.
Some of the young Mauri men in a canoe.
Our view of Lake Wakatipu from our hotel room in Queenstown. This lake is 22 miles long.
Another view from our room of the Remarkables mountain range in the background.
Queenstown with a small beach, trees, and the Remarkables mountain range in the background.

The evening sun on the Remarkables mountains, with the city and lake in the shadows.
We arrived in Queenstown around 4:30 pm local time and it was a gorgeous day, so we walked down to the pier area of the lake and looked into parasailing. I have always wanted to parasail but never had this great of an opportunity on a beautiful day with great scenery. So we got on the last trip of the day. It was spectacular!
Getting the harness on.
Taking off!


Landing back down on the boat. What a great ride!
The next day Tim got to golf. It was cloudy, but no rain. Not as nice of a day as when we arrived and went Parasailing, but he still had fun and was challenged by the course.

This is a par 3 and you have to hit over the tree to get to the green. A little intimadating!

Luge run in Queenstown. We tried the luge again, this time in Queenstown and NOT in the rain.
View of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain range from the top of the Gondola.

Days 4-7 New Zealand

Tim loves these "Caution" signs that we have seen all over New Zealand. The exclamation point, uh, makes a point!

We saw this vendor at a local farmers market in Rotorua. It made us laugh, but we didn't try them to see if they were authentic.

In Auckland, on our way back through from KeriKeri to Rotorua, we went up to the top of the Sky Tower, the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a clear evening and we had a nice 360 degree view of the city and harbor.

We ate dinner at this fish and chips restaurant on the water. Great fish and chips because they go out and catch the fish fresh every day. Yum! And great views too.

We visited a forest of Kauri trees, which used to cover most of the northern part of New Zealand. Now there are a few remaining groupings. In the early 1920s the British came and logged most of them to help build ships. They are huge trees, which is hard to capture in a photo.

We had the best blueberry pancakes at our bed and breakfast in Keri Keri. The picture of Wendy, our hostess, is not very flattering of her, but her pancakes were the best.

This is the view of Lake Rotorua from our hotel. There is a race horse track right next to the hotel, that is in the foreground. There aren't any horse races until Friday, so I guess we won't get to see that.