Some of Kim's fav. pics

Here are some of my fav. pics. Tera Del Mar in Leigh. Cape Reigna. Hone's waka tour, Bay of Islands. Stony Batter, Waiheke. Piha beach and waterfall. Quading Cape Reigna. And a few of Judith's that I love - kayaking, vineyards and wine on Waiheke.

Tera del Mar

There's no traffic on I95 at 1AM

It's 2:44am and this day began getting up at 8am in Melbourne, jaunt to the Melbourne Aquarium with largest stingrays I've ever seen, 12:40 flight Mel to Auckland (5 hour layover), 11PM flight to LA (sat with with a cute snowboard shop owner from NZ), then LA to JFK ( Tom Arnold was on that plane). So about 8000 hours later, I'm finally home, downloading some photos in my possum socks,  looking forward to sleep. 

Te Aroha

Te Whakapono 

Te Rangimare 

Tatau Tatau 

Kiwi 1 has landed back in the US

to an email from our NZ tour coordinator, Michael that reads... "You departed as the storm swept in, closing roads and flooding areas around Mangonui, blowing everything helter skelter, and then early this morning, two earthquakes in the central North Island."

Methinks that Aotearoa (NZ) mourns our departure! There are over 10,000 photos to sort through, if my 1000 is anything to go by. Each of us are pulling the best from our cache which will then be stockpiled and sorted through for the best of the best. At which time, you can expect to see a link to a site of amazing photos that best tell the story of our adventure. As the travelers dig out from their piles of mail, laundry, and reality checks, I'm sure you will read some of their stories here. I'll be putting together a summary to go along with the photos, as well.

It was an honor to lead this group of travelers and a delight to share them with family and friends. I appreciate the patience of everyone. 12 days of touring New Zealand, with 10 travelers, is no mean feat. Everyone has stories of very special experiences, and I'm confident that the land and people touched them in ways that they'll remember forever. For me, it was a huge learning experience that has me already finessing the itinerary for next year's trip, and busy planning one of the South Island (an itinerary for which will be available in March). Kim

Photos soon

It's me again (Judith) - in the airport in Melbourne waiting for my friends flight to arrive from Sydney. Yesterday's Lantern Festival, wild wind and rain and party at Michael's office with Tim there too was a bittersweet way to end the trip. Larisa and the Chrises headed off back to east coast, Kim and Mark + Nancy for one more day in Auckland. What a great city Auckland is! Nancy and I had a couple of beers at a bar with lamps hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Hopefully Kim + Mark are having a well deserved relaxing day before their return. I'm missing eveyone already. Whew! What a trip! So many great experiences... looking forward to reliving them over and over again. Special thanks to everyone who made the trip possible Kim, Raywen, Tim, Mark, Michael....lots of details, beautiful sites, experiences, great food etc etc. More later.

Somewhere in Paradise

Wow, not sure what day it is. Last night we saw the sun set and the full moon rise from Stony Batter (a post volcanic mountain area with giant boulders strewn about) . After we had a dip in a hot tub somewhere in Paradise. Can't believe the trip is winding down. Today we're off from Waiheke Island back to Auckland then off to Kerikeri, a beach on the west coast of NZ. . . .1000 photos later. The cicadas are very noisy here and the smell of freshly baked muffins fill the air at Punga Lodge. Yesterday on our kayaking trip our guide Ross cut up a full sized watermellon with a knife and cutting board across the raft of kayaks in the middle of the Tamaki Strait.
Missing Michele, Ray, Mike and Leon (xx) . More later. Aroha.
Judith