Trip to New Zealand

Trip from Melbourne to our lodge in New Zealand on New Year's Day was a stressful one. Air New Zealand's MS-DOS-based interface was uncooperative and it took over an hour for three employees to reprogram it. We ran as fast as we could through security & border control to our gate which was the furthest one on the airport. The plane was delayed an hour as somebody else didn't make it and they had to remove their luggage. At Auckland airport we didn't get the rental car as Johannes' drivers license had Finnish words in it and we needed to pay and wait another hour to get those translated. The flight was only three hours but the trip took us 12 h. Luckily we were on holiday!

Snacks to cheer us up!

We stayed in a tiny chestnut farm south of Auckland.

Checking out the farm with our host.

The bathroom was cozy.

Tea nook.

Midsummer showers didn't stop us!

Furry friends!

Hello! We come in peace!

A large cone.

Rolling hills.

Llamas/Alpacas!

We slept really well on the peaceful countryside. New day brought new rains.

Bunny checks weather.

Getting to know Finland.

There was a Maori hut on the hill.

The British and the Maoris fought here.

This is better use of land!

An aerial root.

The gravel was inspected and deemed appropriate.

On our way to Rotorua we stopped at Hamilton Gardens which was really gorgeous!

Japanese Garden.

A nest!

The Persian garden was symmetrical.

A beautiful roof.

Pergola to Italy.

Romulus and Remus.

The Italian garden.

An aligned tree.

The atmosphere in New Zealand was very different from Australia right from the start. More gentle, less loud and more moist. Felt surprisingly lot like Finland.

To be continued...