16 days vacation in new zealand. yeah me ...

never been, but shannon has. in fact, she's got family down there. so, we will be taken care of.

we got a cottage on the beach just north of auckland.

got a rental car too. i have been busy trying to visualize driving on the wrong side of the road. that's going to be an adventure all in itself!
i've done it in england once and it was, uhm, ehr, scary ...

anyways, do we have any members down there? if so, anyone up for brunch/lunch/dinner/beers?

about time too, last real vacation was in '99 ...
Andy

Have fun...if you get to Napier , pick me up a t-shirt

awesome andy, enjoy it you've earned it!

We're going to New Zealand for the first time in a year. We already have reservations for next Feb. My wife knows if she doesn't plan ahead I'll come up with an excuse why I can't go. Post pics!

Andy,
I spent two winters in Antarctica..I used to spend my vacation time in a place up by Hamilton, a place called Tamuatu..its awesome....

The beer is the best in the world!!!
The people are incredible..just don't insult the Maori, their women are tougher than a lot of guys!!

have fun!!

michael

Have a GREAT time.

There is a guy on here from Australia...maybe he knows a few peeps to hang with.

Have fun, its a great and very pretty country.
Rent an automatic car...less to deal with...

Rich

I think there are two guys down in the land of Oz. Maybe they could meet you

for drinks. What an adventure...have a great time.

I have a good friend and his dad that are from there. They live in the states now. I hope to visit NZ with them some day. Try the Vegimite and tell us what you think.

Have fun! and get a 5 speed car as its about time you learned how to drive on the other side
Its easy and exciting too.

My in-laws are there now vacationing. If you see them...... RUN!!

there are 914s there well at least three. one is a rh drive that i had make some custom parts for. consoles and carpets look kinda funny backwards and on the wrong side
james
btw have fun there.sounds like a great vacation andy

I haven't been to the north island, but I spent 2 weeks driving around the south island. The people were really friendly and laid back. The driving on south island was a blast, great roads, great scenery, no traffic. We drove 2-5hrs everyday and loved every minute. You'll have a great time.

If you can, go to the Abel Tasman national park and go sea kayaking: http://www.abeltasman.co.nz/

-Justin

that's absolutely no problem - when I was in Ireland for about 2 weeks that was easy going (in general)
my only problem was that when I wanted to open the door, I had the parking break in my hand



same for me ... that was Ireland


have a good time!

Gustl

Andy you will have a blast. The roads are super and the place is beautiful everywhere. I did it in a motorhome so we could cover a lot of ground. I did not get to the south Island though. It is a great country and if I were to choose another place to live it would be New Zealand.

Bernie

Andy, remember: pictures of the hobbit village! With you peeking out the window.

And lots of sunblock.

Have fun!

Jen

the mohawk has landed!

no kidding on the sunblock! got 50+ ...

just got here a while ago, nice little house right at the beach in davenport, just north of auckland.
the left-hand driving will take some getting used too ...

went for a swim in the ocean, got some good local food and now i'm going to take a nap ...

more later ...
Andy

Vegamite!

That is a good sandwhich!

drink some Lion Brown for me.....


Michael

Auckland is about a 3 hour flight from here across the ditch. A must do if you can - the Super 14 rugby series started last weekend. Don't know how long you are going to be there but there are two possibilities:
Saturday 17 February Wellington Hurricanes v Auckland Blues Wellington 19:35
Saturday 24 February Auckland Blues v Queensland Reds Auckland 19:35

Ask any of the locals they will set you straight and prob find you some tickets.

Say hello to Shania Twain for me. And keep a look out for the Giant Moas. They will make a real mess of your rental car.

no pics yet, the camera memory stick is not compatible with the new laptop ...

so, i either have to find a place to burn them on CD and then post here, or wait until i get back home ...

anyways, we have kind of settled in a bit, the beach is great, the backyard of the house ends right at the sand, makes for a nice early morning swim ...

went hiking in a forest of giant fern, some as high as 40 feet and more. very jurassic park feeling to it.

went fishing, the water is full of all kinds of fish. i caught 3 snappers in about 30 minutes. yum!

tomorrow we're off to the south island, we're flying into christchurch and then on to the milford sound (fjordland).
5 days driving around the south island, then back to devonport ...


it's been a lot of fun so far. *no* 914s ( ) but i did see a nice, yellow, RHD 356 !
quite a few newer porsches too, lot's of Boxsters and a GT2 ...

ok, it's 10pm here and i gotta run to have some beers with the locals ...
Andy

You're gone?

:sunandfunonthebeachsmilie:

back in auckland from our trip to the south island. what a blast ...

driving has been very easy, i even start to enjoy the round-abouts. the rental car is a slug, Hyundai 4WD SUV, no umpfh at all, but it got tiptronic ...

the milford sound is simply stunning. words can't describe.
3000+ feet cliffs straight into the ocean with waterfalls coming off them. we went on a big sailboat, all the way out into the tasman sea.


we came back two hours ago just in time to watch the queen mary 2 leaving the auckland harbour. big fireworks and stuff, it went right past the beach in our backyard on the way out.
that ship is *huge* !!!

anyways, off to some rum & coke and then some sleep.

6 more days ...
Andy

Cool to see the Queen Mary - that was in SF like a week or two ago

Susan has tons of family around Auckland - shame we're not down there - we could hang out!

alright, here's a teaser ... still no pics from my camera, i got this from their website ...

that's the boat we took the ride on, in front of one of the waterfalls in milford sound ...

Andy

Click to view attachment

well,

can you guys see the pictue i attached? all i see is a red "X" ...
Andy

doh!

the pic was CMYK instead of RGB ... fixed it ...
Andy

Still nothing there OpaAndy. Glad your having a good time.

i'm back ... 30+ hours of travel ... exhausted ...

me likes new zealand!
Andy

PS: here are a few pictures, we took hundreds more. can't post 'em all, so here are just a few to tease you ...


1. our friends house in devonport, just north of auckland

Click to view attachment


2. the kiwi's threw a welcome party for us

Click to view attachment


3. the backyard ( ) of the place in Devonport

Click to view attachment


4. shannon posing at the beach behind the house

Click to view attachment

ok, one more ... milford sound on the south island ... we took a boat all the way out to the tasman sea ... 2.5 hours boat ride. what a great trip ...

1. milford sound

Click to view attachment


2. the tasman sea

Click to view attachment


3. dinner!

Click to view attachment

Show us more! I know it is a beautiful place. Welcome back.

Andy, thanks for posting the shots... make me long for NZ even more! Depending on how the next 20-25yrs shapes up here in the States, I am planning on retiring and emmigrating there. The landscape is absolutely stunning, beautiful weather, etc.

If you have more photos, please post! I would love to see more of the people and landscape if you have them.

looks like a real good trip....