Category: New Zealand
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Auckland
Auckland is an ugly city! The parts I’ve seen, at least, are strikingly unattractive – especially the CBD (downtown) area. I guess no one in Auckland bothered to hire a good architect. I am just chilling out, and mostly planning and making arrangements for Japan. I have booked my lodging in Tokyo. I will get…
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Sailing
In the Bay of Islands, I went sailing on the R. Tucker Thompson. It is a two-masted tall ship. Here it is arriving to pick up the passengers: The crew up in the rigging, getting some sails ready: My turn to climb the rigging: And yes, I did actually climb up to that point in…
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Northern Peninsulas: More Bad Weather
I’ve been touring around the Coromandel Peninsula and Northlands, but it has been very windy and rainy for the last few days. The forecast is for it to continue. It only rains in brief showers, but the winds have been quite high, with even higher gusts. A tourist was injured in Auckland, yesterday, when a…
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Bad Weather: No White Island Trip
My boat trip to White Island (a very active volcano) was cancelled, due to bad weather. It looks like the weather will not improve for a few days, so my chance of getting to the island is slim. Too bad. I was looking forward to it. This device is used by the Kiwis for crossing…
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More Thermals, Geysers, and Rainforest
I’ve seen plenty of thermal pools and geysers, now. I also visited yet another rainforest area. There are so many hot springs around Rotorua that the town park even has a bunch of hot pools, which you can see for free. To the southeast, there is another rainforest area, which has a good collection of…
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Thermal Country
Heading north from the Tongariro volcano area, I passed into “Thermal Country”. New Zealand has a number of thermal areas with geysers, hot springs, and fumeroles. It is similar to Yellowstone Nat’l Park. However, in NZ, the areas are spaced apart, and each one costs around $25 to visit! The Wai-O-Rapu area has a geyser which…
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Volcano Country
Yesterday, I hiked the Tongariro Crossing. This is one of the famous “tramps” of the North Island – and it is fantastic! It is 17km, with 800m of climbing, and 1100m of descending. For $25 dollars, various transport companies will bus you to the trailhead, and pick you up at the end. Unfortunately, when the…
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Wellington
I spent three days in Wellington. It is a pleasant city, but, beyond that, not much different from any other city. The Lonely Planet book states that the population is merely 200,000 people. However, like San Francisco, the “core” city is small, but it has many suburbs around it that expand the population. I saw…
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South Island Finished
I spent the last few days of my South Island time puttering around Nelson, the Marlborough Sounds, and Picton. Then I took the ferry from Picton to Wellington. Interestingly, the ferry from South Island to North Island travels mostly east, and a little south! Wellington is slightly south of Picton. The ferry is large, and…
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West Coast
I am finished with the West Coast of the South Island. I have a few more days to explore the North Coast, and then I take a ferry to the North Island. I have been in New Zealand for one month, and I have another month left. On the same day the idiots were injured…
Michael Chmilar's Travels 