The View from our Lodge in Taranaki
We’re settling into our digs at the lovely Kaitake Lodge. Little did we know that we’d have this whole fantastic mountaintop two-bedroom house to ourselves for our visit here to NZ’s west coast. The views stretch way, way out all the way to the sea, in between are impossibly green […]
Flat Whites, Bare Nipples and a Brain Drain
I often try to think of the best way to summarize a trip. When Kent and I go on travel radio shows, they give us just a few minutes to make points. Likewise, a bunch of people will ask us about our trips but they aren’t really that interested in […]
Blokarts: Sailing Around the Track on Wheels
The Blokart is a uniquely Kiwi invention. It’s like a three-wheeled go kart but instead of a smelly motor, it is propelled around the track by four meters of sail. I tried these out at Blokart heaven, with Garry Ingram piloting his own craft and shouting directions to me as […]
Kayaking in the Dark toward the Glow Worms
We met Blair Anderson from Waimarino Adventure Park and Kayak tours and proceeded in a van pulling four kayaks to Lake McLaren. It was getting dark, and that was good–we were there for a moonlight kayak and a chance to see the glow worms light up the inside of a […]
Mere Shows Us Her Playground, the Mount
In the busiest day of our seven-day trip here to the North Island, we met Mere Mollard-Wharepapa, who guided us up her favorite playground, the legendary Mount Maunganui. This bulb-shaped mountain is located at the end of the sweeping Bay of Plenty, and is green all the way ’round. Sheep […]
The Jetboat Was Fun but the Silence was Best
We joined Geoff Brown, Managing Director of the Longridge Fun Park for a spin on a jetboat up the Kiatuna river this morning. These 385 horsepower machines spin on a dime, and draw only about six inches of water. Both sides of this spring fed river were lined with prolific […]
Taking a Tour of Papamoa Beach with Rebecca
Rebecca Crosby showed us around her family’s business today, and at age 24, she’s got a full plate. Rebecca runs the Papamoa Beach Top 10 Holiday Resort, here on the beach on the east coast of the North Island. We talked with Rebecca and her grandmum Thelma, a charming woman […]
The Conversation Flowed like the Kiwi Wines
Last night in Auckland we joined Gerry and Sally our hosts for a dinner in their home with some of their friends. John, a local painter, was there, along with another couple, Alan and Eileen. Alan works at the big Sky One tower, in finance, and Eileen is a therapist […]
Scenes from NZ40, America’s Cup Racer
Auckland harbor was the perfect place to set sail yesterday, with a stiff wind and sunshine all over. At home it’s about 5 degrees, so we are not missing much. Off to Papamoa today, a three-hour drive to the coast.
OK Guys, Grinding Forward!
On the ferry over to Devonport, a peninsula about 15 minutes from downtown Auckland, the wind was whipping even though the sun was shining brightly. I knew that would bode well on my next excursion….sailing on an America’s Cup boat out in Auckland harbor with Sail New Zealand. I didn’t […]
Sky City, Downtown Auckland
The Sky City tower dominates Auckland’s skyline, and at night during Cup Week the spire is lit up with green and red spotlights. Wherever we are in Auckland we can see this giant tower.
Kiwis Aren’t Keen on Tips–Fine with Us!
We joined Sarah Keenan and Melissa Prentice for dinner at the Jervois Steak House on Ponsonby Road last night. These two women are media reps for NZ Tourism and Auckland Tourism, and they told us about their lives here in Auckland, the battle over Marmite versus Vegemite, and what it […]
No Junk Mail, Please!
With no scheduled meetings or sites we have to see, we were free to explore Ponsonby Road and the California-like neighborhood where we are staying. There are many small bungalows and stately early 1900s era buildings, and cool cafes and shops along this main thoroughfare. Before we set out, Proprietor […]
Air New Zealand: A Luxurious Ride in the Sky
We took the long flight last night from LAX to Auckland. Air New Zealand did not disappoint, business class was just as much fun and as comfy as we had hoped for. My friend Johnny Jet told me on the phone before we left that he had one of the […]
Saturday on Venice Beach
Our day in Marina del Rey began with a walk. A marathon walk all around the marina, we basked in the bright sunlight that has eluded us so long in our New England home. We walked and walked, and talked about our idea to come out here in February and […]
The Crappy Van Should Have Tipped Us Off
We landed last night at LAX about 47 minutes ahead of schedule. That gave us time to call the hotel shuttle and wait about 30 minutes for the decrepid van festooned with signs about the LA Adventurer ‘All Suite’ hotel. Ugh. You can just tell what happened next. The beat-up […]
Even Though People are Talkin’ The Cafe Grows On
Last night as I was playing with little Nathan, I flipped the TV to the Deerfield channel. This is where you see people having televised meetings to govern the town. Imagine my surprise that just as I tuned in, they were talking about the cafe. Board member Steve, a familiar […]
Can Concrete Balls Stop a Volcano’s Mud Flow?
In last night’s Wall St. Journal a story was told about how a geophysicist in Indonesia is trying to stanch the flow of mud from an erupting volcano—by dropping concrete balls down into the crater. It’s a last ditch effort to keep the mud from destroying more houses, and factories […]