And another adventure begins

I’m off! Not in a literal sense, but on my next adventure. First across the ditch for a North Island road trip (with plenty of car lollies) then onto South America, where I will be checking out Chile, Peru and Ecuador (including the Galápagos Islands) and finishing up with a trip down the Amazon River. I hope to survive the criminal gangs, crocodiles, piranhas, huge anacondas and other lethal predators. But first New Zealand.

We arrived in New Zealand and ran into a short 2 hour traffic jam from the airport to the city due to some concert being held by some no name artist. The next day we headed north - destination Karikari and the Bay of Islands. A short detour to see some Kauri trees and a waterfall, and after a 4 1/2 hour drive, we arrived at our home for the next few nights. Then onto Cape Reinga which is the northern most (road accessible) tip of New Zealand. In Māori, it is the leaping-off place of spirits of the dead as they enter the underworld. But it was pretty interesting to see where the Pacific Ocean collides with the Tasman Sea. This is also the location of the massive Te Paki sand dunes. Some of the beaches in this part of the country are sensational and well worth exploring.

Today we drove to Hamilton (and copped a speeding fine!) via the Hobbiton movie set, featured in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. This is the most visited tourism site in New Zealand, so it was a pretty interesting place to see - I guess I will now have to watch the films!