New Zealand

Even on the day of our arrival, we went straight to work. We were very pleased with the Waikato dairy region's scenery. Views from Dr. Jess' backyard - located at the base of Te Aroha mountain.

Pasture based dairying - breathtaking!

Dinner out to celebrate Jan & Dorine's anniversary - we coined ourselves their adopted daughters. Jan kept remarking, that we had such big white toothy smiles - it's true.

Dr. Amy King, Jess & I out in the big city of Hamilton - feasting on some delicious sushi.

This was taken by Jess, after we returned to our hostel early in the evening, following an amazing Thai dinner overlooking Lake Taupo w/a tasty bottle of Gewurztaminer. I adopted Jess' policy of early to bed, early to rise - we didn't even have the endurance to stay out late enough for the clubs to open - SO old! The mountain on the NZ Lonely Planet guide book is featured below.

Mt. Ngauruhoe in Tongariro National Park - Jess & I almost missed seeing this spectacular sight, due to some looming cloud cover - but the mountain showed it's peak, much to our surprise.

When I thought of New Zealand prior to my trip, all I imagined, were lush rolling green hills - it's true and they're amazing. When I think of New Zealand now, I also see lots of dairy cows and sheep!

Seeing the Pacific Ocean from the other side of the international date line.

Standing within Cathedral Cove which is located along the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island. This was our realized destination, on the last full day of our road trip. This site is used in many advertisements for New Zealand, including a recent Air New Zealand magazine add.