|
But the dominant
feature of the skyline is the Skytower ... |
|
Taken from the harbour front ... |
... from a nearby street at night
... |
... with great views from the top
... |
|
... there's that Harbour Bridge again
... |
... looking east, out to sea ... |
... the National War Memorial ... |
|
Auckland has a skyline ... |
... with many high rise buildings
... |
... unlike Wellington, which is
smaller ... |
|
Auckland also has "real" expressways
[Wellington's are much smaller] |
Neil liked the glass floor -- to
see the street below |
or hotel guests in the swimming
pool |
| Family photos.
For some reason we have a lot of family photos taken in these
few days away. There are so many good ones that we posted more
family photos of this trip than we normally would. Bear with
us for the many photos that follow ... |
|
Taken at the harbour side ... |
... Roger normally looks unhappy in
photos
... |
... but when he's playing around he
forgets
... |
|
... and can sometimes even smile on
request [in Rotorua] ... |
... especially when Usa fools
around [also in Rotorua] |
... Neil & Rex in Rotorua ... |
|
Now back in Auckland. Spongebob
lives in a pineapple house in Bikini Bottom |
Sometimes Roger & Rex cooperate
... |
... is this brotherly love -- or playtime? |
|
Roger & Rex in the Skytower ... |
... Rex with the Auckland skyline
as background ... |
... together in Rotorua
... |
|
Neil gets a chuckle from the view ... |
... maybe seeing Usa in a hole-y
spot
... |
... Usa enjoys the thermal pools in
Rotorua ... |
| Thermal areas in
Rotorua & surrounding areas.
Something we all wanted to see were the thermal pools and
boiling mud pits in & around Rotorua. The photos look good, but
the sulphur made it an experience for the nose ... |
|
Thermal pool in Rotorua ... |
... this was the only coloured pond
we saw
... |
... just outside of Rotorua
... |
|
Boiling mud at Wai-o-tapu thermal
area near Taupo |
Mist shrouds the Gambles... |
... we resisted the temptation to
jump in |
|
The mud is smooth & fine grained, as
shown here |
There are tours for those with
bigger budgets ... |
Intentionally blank |
| Near Rotorua we
found a fun thing to do -- Zorbing.
Take a big, rubber inflatable ball with room for up to 3 people.
Get them inside, add a bucket of water and then roll down a hill.
Now that sounds like fun! Believe it or not, they teach about Zorbing in NZ schools -- we have seen it as an answer to questions
in Rex's school homework ... |
|
Hhhmmm, should we try? |
Dunno, this looks a bit dodgy ... |
... but, hey, let's give it a go ... |
|
... putting on a brave face
beforehand |
Man, that was FUN!! |
Wet, but FUN ... |
|
... did we mention WET? |
And everyone was smiling afterwards |
This photo shows that
Neil is getting old. Look at that white hair! |
| Taupo.
The city of Taupo & Lake Taupo provide scenery on the way back from Rotorua to Wellington.
Because it's not far from Wellington it's a
popular holiday destination from the capital. |
|
Lake Taupo |
Mt Taupo dominates the scenery |
This is NZ's Great Desert Road,
which forms some of the drive between Taupo & Wellington |
| Rugby.
When we came back to Wellington and after the school holidays it was
time for the rugby season to start. This year Rex was drafted
into the Johnsonville Mighty Harriers -- the name is no joke, this
team has been together for 4 seasons before this one and is
undefeated in that time! This year the competition expanded
the teams from 10 a side to 15 a side because now they are playing
on the full field. Here are pictures from the
first game, where the Mighty Harriers just squeaked by their
opponents 62-0. There are no pictures from the second game
which they won 83-0. |
|
The team lines up before going on
the field. It was a wet & windy morning. |
Rex shows he's wearing that mouth
guard |
Rex is a prop forward, you can just
see his head on the far end of the scrum |
|
Rex goes in to support the team |
A lineout -- Rex is obliterated |
Another lineout & Rex is ready to
push away the opposition |
|
End of the game -- Hands in -- 1, 2, 3, TEAM! |
Each team member congratulates
their opponents at the end of the game |
Intentionally blank |
