On our way from Brian’s place in Dunedin to his previous home of Kaikoura about 10 hours north, we stopped at the remarkable Mouraki boulders.   On a random stretch of beach, right off the main road, these distinctly round and large boulders are found relatively clustered together.  I did not understand the fuss until we walked onto the beach and saw them in the distance.  They are huge and out of place and very round.  There is apparently nothing like them anywhere else, and believe me when I tell you that being there leaves little doubt that aliens were involved! … Continue reading NZ – Kaikoura to Auckland

I was really excited to visit Queenstown because Raj has told me so much about his 6+ months living there when he was in NZ for about a year in 1999.  He was a bit nervous to return and see how much it has changed because much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in the surrounding area and the tourism rates have skyrocketed in the last decade.    We planned on staying 3 nights there so that we could experience the nightlife and have time to sample some of the adrenalin-junkie activities, as well as take a day … Continue reading NZ – Q’town to The Catlins

It’s been a bit of an adjustment to switch gears from South America to New Zealand.  To begin with there is a 16 hour time difference, but also, the pace is different, the language is different (it’s really nice to speak English again, but for the first few days,  I still answered questions with “Si!”) and we had to remember that most of the world actually eats dinner before midnight! We arrived in Auckland at 4 am on a Tuesday (actually completely lost the Monday following Easter due to time change and travel) and picked up our rental car around … Continue reading Week 1 in NZ!