New Year Trip 2006

James and Claire's Visit :)

Pictures from our North Island road trip with James and Claire

Wellington

First some of James' pictures of Wellington:

Welly Harbour:

View towards the harbour front, reverse bungee on Taranaki Street and Te Papa museum
Taranaki Street - Rob works just behind the block of flats towards the right of the image next to the Shell garage. The tower is the war memorial, and the museum behind it
Groovy building on Lambton Quay
The Beehive - houses of parliament
A trolley bus on Lambton Quay
View of the city from the harbour front

Over the Rimutakas

A couple of panoramas from one of James' day trips

Pie shop!

Petone Panorama

Another rather nice panorama taken by James. This is from the lookout on the way to Wainuimata, looking over Petone and Lower Hutt. Wellington city is to the far left at the far side of the harbour. Maungaraki (where we live until next week) is on the hills at the other side of the valley to the right of the image.

Kapiti Coast

Me doing my catalogue pose!! The island in the background is Kapiti Island

Southward Car Museum

A few of the exhibits we liked!

More info here

First Stop - Napier

On the road!

Napier

The beach - and a bridge

Another beach

Some wild animals

As far as we could tell, this was the whole of Tutira!

Second Stop - Taupo

Making friends with the locals
It was clear enough to see Mount Ruapehu from the lookout
More local wildlife

Sailing boat trip on Lake Taupo on the Barbary to see the Maori rock carvings:

Craters of the Moon - thermal area

It's tourist Bob!

Huka Falls

I know we put pictures of the falls on here at Christmas but it's rather impressive so here's some more!

Third stop - Rotorua

The tourist information centre in Rotorua
There were lots of logging trucks going by the hotel

The restaurant at the top of the mountain's great!
We visited the Mitai Maori village
And ate a hangi - mmmm

The Hidden Valley - thermal area

More panoramas:

The lake is as hot as a hot bath! The birds are Pukekos

Last stop - Auckland

The Sky Tower

For $175 you can jump off the tower from a height of 192m - This is someone jumping, and the landing platform from below!

Love the glass floors!

We went exploring North of Auckland city and found ourselves on a beach at sunset!

Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience

Auckland Harbour Boat Trip

Our boat, the posh ferry and a water taxi
Lots more views of that tower
The last picture is Auckland's newest volcano - only about 800 years old
The bridge, and a bungee nutter
Posh flats, and lots of boats!