I fell in love with the Fuchsia flower on my first day in New Zealand. We were visiting the Parnell Rose Garden when I noticed a sign for another garden across the road, the Nancy Steen Garden. The small, lovely garden has a variety of flowers, but the ones that caught my attention were the [...]
The Kaimanawa Forest is a little known nature park full of surprising sights. I’m amazed this forest is just minutes away from the famous Tongoriro National Park yet very few people have heard of it. The park has amazing walks, multi-day hikes, small waterfalls and fantastic gorges.
We went to see the Pillars of Hercules and [...]
There are a few different walks in the Kaimanawa Forest. I mentioned the Urchin Track and Summit in yesterday’s blog post and there are two other neat sites to see in the park, Tree Trunk Gorge and the Pillars of Hercules.
Tree Trunk Gorge
Heading south on Desert Road the Kaimanawa Forest is on the left and [...]
The Urchin Track and Summit is located in the Kaimanawa Forest and leads to the Waipakihi Valley, where you can continue your hike for a loop around the small mountain range staying at the 4 huts in the area.
When we started the Urchin Track we were just looking for a fun day hike. We had [...]
No trip to Taupo can be complete without stopping by The Honey Hive. This sweet spot is conveniently located just north of the town near Huka Falls. We’ve been to the hive twice – we went the second time to show my visiting brother-in-law and try the honey ice cream.
After being greeted by the friendly [...]
This geothermal park has a long story behind it. It reminds me a little of the line ‘if you build it, they will come’. Obviously the geothermal aspect of the park was already there, but a nice boardwalk and a huge parking lot were constructed to attract tourist. Tourist came, and tourist were robbed. The [...]
It is a cold day in Motuoapa, so I’m staying indoors and looking at pictures of our trip. I came across the pictures from our time in Auckland and I fell in love with the gardens again.
We visited the Auckland Botanical Gardens in January, so the air was warm and the flowers were in full [...]
The change of season has turned my familiar walks into a whole new experience. The rich reds and golds make me feel as though I’ve been transplanted to the magical world of Harry Potter. I know many people are accustom to Autumn’s beauty, but where I come from we don’t have trees that turn from [...]
I’ve been living by Lake Taupo since January and I can’t imagine a better place to spend a relaxing 6 month honeymoon. My husband and I have really enjoyed touring the country, hiking, kayaking and just relaxing in our home while we stared at the lovely lake. Here are 10 of my favorite things about [...]
We went to the Rotorura Zoo yesterday and had a fantastic time. Going to zoos in different countries is always exciting because you never know what to expect. In the US zoos have common themes and rules, but in other countries you might get closer to a wild animal or be able to feed some [...]
I’ve been living in New Zealand since mid January and I left home on December 24th, so I’m getting a little homesick. In addition to missing irreplaceable things – like my family, friends and mother-in-law’s cat, I’m also missing some random things that just made Florida nice. Please enjoy my humorous post about things I [...]
How much do you spend on a weeks worth of groceries?
I’ve always hated that question. In the U.S. groceries prices went up in 2008 and 2009 so a frequent water-cooler discussion was the cost of food. I remember a co-working asking how much Paul and I spent in groceries a week and I had no [...]
Now that summer is over and the weather is cooler, I am watching a lot more New Zealand TV. We only have 3 channels, so it isn’t as if there is much to watch, but I turn it on anyway, as a sort of companion while I do other things.
Unfortunately, a little relaxing TV time [...]
We went to The 2010 Great New Zealand Muster in Te Kuiti on Saturday. There was an entire festival and a sheep shearing competition surrounding the ‘Running of the Sheep’, but that was the only part we were interested in seeing. We arrived about an hour before the sheep parade, walked around the festival, bought [...]
Last weekend my husband and I went to Hamilton for the annual Balloons Over Waikato event. We only caught 2 days of the festival, but it was amazing!
NightGlow at Balloons Over Waikato
We arrived the day of the NightGlow and we went early, since the website said the event started at 4:30. The NightGlow isn’t just [...]