Come Fly With Me - To New Zealand

**Mad Aussie** · 04-12-2012, 05:10 AM

My wife and I just returned from a couple of weeks on the North Island of New Zealand.
It was a budget holiday, we needed to get away and de-stress a bit, so the rainforests, rivers, and lakes of beautiful New Zealand were the destination this time.

We flew into the town of Hamilton for a night before hiring a car and driving south to the volcanic plateau region of Taupo where we stayed in a small unit in the town of Turangi.

What follows (as I add photos over the next few days, week or so) is the things we found of interest as we made our hiking boots earn their keep.

So ... after getting up at 2am this morning to catch the plane home, here's a small start to our holiday before I hit the sack and am rendered unconscious.

Our holiday began with a night in the home of a school friend of my wife's. Julie, her husband Wayne, and their two young kids Rose and Anthony were wonderful hosts and after our time in Turangi we would return here for a few days before heading home.

A quick walk took us through some bush until we found a lovely garden ... complete with big Bumble Bee's.

I'd never seen this type of pine cone before ...

The next morning we awoke to noises from the nearby school. Slowly but surely Skippy was taking shape. Rose and Anthony wanted to remember the occasion.

**Mad Aussie** · 04-12-2012, 05:15 AM

With some excitement we arrived in the Taupo region that evening ... world famous for it's Trout fishing and beautiful rivers.

First order of business was unpack and see if there was a sunset over the huge lake. Lake Taupo is the crater of the largest volcanic eruption in the world in the past 5000 years.

That's all I have for tonight, but coming up are stunning rivers, geothermal scenes, geographic formations, volcanoes, alpine environments, native birds, amazing river views, and more.

**celksy** · 04-12-2012, 06:33 AM

Gorgeous shots and I love the surreal quality of the balloon over the houses. That # 3 flower shot is a beauty.

**Lungelarry** · 04-12-2012, 03:31 PM

Evening on the Lake...super shot

**Mad Aussie** · 04-12-2012, 05:19 PM

Thanks Celsky and Larry

One last one of the first evening at the lake ...

Our first morning in the Turangi/Taupo region and we put on our boots and went for an early walk around the Tongariro River. This is a famous river for the Trout fishing. We saw many trout ourselves.

One of several walk bridges across the river ...

I liked the lichen colours on the timber ...

View from the bridge ...

Starling

Finch

**Runmonty** · 04-12-2012, 07:21 PM

Great set MA - Love the colours in the first few. Those pine cones are pretty cool.

Lake Taupo is beautiful and you have captured in nicely. I was there a few years ago for work, and enjoyed walking around it (part of the way at least).

The shots of the balloon are fun, but I cant help but feel the location of the basket is unfortunate, hanging where it does under the tail

As for that flag, I wont even start to think about smart comments about a kangaroo with a Brazilian.

Looking forward to seeing more of your trip

**Mad Aussie** · 04-12-2012, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by Runmonty

The shots of the balloon are fun, but I cant help but feel the location of the basket is unfortunate, hanging where it does under the tail

As for that flag, I wont even start to think about smart comments about a kangaroo with a Brazilian.

Hilarious! You know Iggy found the photo on Flickr and made a comment about the basket but he wasn't nearly as eloquent as you were

'Brazilian' ... I missed that thought at the time ... very clever

**Runmonty** · 04-12-2012, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by Mad Aussie

Hilarious! You know Iggy found the photo on Flickr and made a comment about the basket but he wasn't nearly as eloquent as you were

'Brazilian' ... I missed that thought at the time ... very clever

Just read it - Very funny

**Mad Aussie** · 04-12-2012, 09:42 PM

I found this web hanging off the bridge as we crossed.
New Zealand has 2500 species of spider, only 3 are considered dangerous to humans. 1 is the White Tailed Spider but recent Australian research has shown these spiders to not be responsible for the necrosis it was being blamed for. The native spider of concern is the Katapo which is very closely related to the American Black Widow. The last one is the Australian Redback which is found only in two small areas in NZ. The Redback is also closely related to the Black Widow but a bit more robust.
NZ also has a few larger spiders in remote areas that can cause a lot of pain if bitten.

A cool tree by the river

My wife Leanne walking through a section of trail guarded by 'Toi Toi' .... a plant with sharp grass that can easily cut you open. As a kid we used to through the Toi Toi stalks around as spears, rockets or whatever our imaginations came up with. We'd even jam them on the back of our bikes so the small bits of Toi Toi would float away as we rode along.

We saw loads of trout in the river and there was no shortage of men chasing them with their fly rods.