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Just came back from New Zealand yesterday. The traveling time from
Philadelphia, Pa. to Christchurch was brutal, but it was worth it! My son
and I rented a car for two weeks, and he had no problem adjusting to
driving on the left hand side. My fondest memories through South Island
and North Island is Christchurch. My second favorite city is Wellington.
We are putting together a New Zealand travelogue and will wait until we
develop some of our photos, before creating our website. We had on and off
clouds and sunshine on South Island, but by far, I found it to be more
beautiful than the North Island. Much to my regret, we should have made
this trip three weeks instead of two, as we would have had more time to
relax and see more. The trip through the Fiordland was picturesque
considering we did not have a sunny day. It is indeed impressive. We took
side trips of the Heron sanctuary by power boat and through the rain
forest. We also took a side trip in Queenstown by steamboat to the farm
for sheep shearing and the beautiful homes on that island. I did not know
New Zealand is such a young country, but that is the best part of the trip,
as the people are so friendly, and life seems so simple. The homes are
majestic in their simplicity, and there is a contentment in the way they
live that we do not enjoy here in the United States. Franz Joseph was also
a sight to behold, and the only bad experience we had was the bus tours
coming into the hotel dominated service at the Franz Joseph hotel over the
individual guests. They were curt and not as friendly. On my
seventy-first birthday, my son treated me to a Maori Show in Rotorua at the
Sheraton which included dinner, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. The Maori
people are fascinating, and we enjoyed our trip to the Maori Village in
Rotorua. We took a morning tour of Auckland as well as Wellington, and
enjoyed them thoroughly. This is just a synopsis of our trip, but we will
be putting together a website for you to read and see the best photos which
we took. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to
ask. Elaine
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