Come Fly With Me - To New Zealand

[Bambi]

I'm really enjoying this vacation! thanks for taking me along.

[Mad Aussie]

I'm really enjoying this vacation! thanks for taking me along.

Cool. I haven't had time to add any in the past day or so but I figured people needed time to browse through the ones I've done so far. LOADS more to come of some very different stuff too.

[Barefoot]

Nature is the best craftsman alright!

Ha! Don't sell yourself short there, bro. These are some of your best yet. Got any Kiwi(what's the plural)yet?

[Mad Aussie]

Ha! Don't sell yourself short there, bro. These are some of your best yet. Got any Kiwi(what's the plural)yet?

Noooo .... interesting yes ... best ... nah. No Kiwi's ... most people will never see a Kiwi in the wild. Way too elusive.

[Mad Aussie]

Finally had time to put up a few more shots.

On this day we got up early and travelled out to the coastal city of New Plymouth. The online mapping told us about 2hr 17 mins drive ... yeh right. With 37 km of gravel, loads of hills and valleys ... it was nearer 4 hrs drive.
We were meeting someone I knew for a climb up a rock ... sounded easy enough seeing as he was bringing his 5 young girls with him.

Here's New Plymouth ... in a pano. You can see the extinct volcano Mt Taranaki (Mt Egmont) in the background.

Full size here

This is Paritutu Rock ...


It's a steep climb! Matt's girls ranged from the age of 5 yrs to 11 yrs old ... and they climbed this without issue or complaint!



Looking down from the top of the rock ...

[Mad Aussie]

This is Back Beach which is below the Paritutu Rock. We walked down there and let the girls play for awhile. Seals are often seen here as they live out on the islands in these photos. We didn't see any though.





This view from the top of Paritutu Rock shows a view down the coastline to Mt Taranaki. We've walked up this mountain on a visit here many years ago but we wouldn't have the opportunity this time.


This mountain was used in the movie 'The Lost Samurai' (and others) as Mt Fuji in Japan due to the similar shape and look when snow covered.

This view from Lake Mangamahoe which lies a few km's out of New Plymouth of Mt Taranaki.


Pano from the lake

Full Size Version here

[Mad Aussie]

Before we left the region for our 4 hr drive home, we visited Dawson Falls on the side of Mt Taranaki

Here's Leanne on the trail into the falls ... this walk reminded me of some of the Tasmanian trails with all the moss and lichen around.







A typical tree environment on this walk ...


And the falls themselves ...



Coming up next time .... twilight shots from this day ... a walk around Lake Taupo where you'll see some cool birds ... and even me ... close enough to see how ugly I really am!!

[Yisehaq]

Wow! Very interesting MA! couldn't wait..

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks Yisehaq


As the day ended we were 90% of the way back to Turangi and our holiday home as the sun started going down. I couldn't help jumping out of the car with the camera a few times.

[Mad Aussie]

A new day dawned and yet again it was a beautiful day. Great day for a walk ... so out we went.
We drove around to Pukawa Bay where we did the lakeside walk around to Omori Bay.

So peaceful by this lake on a still day


I liked this tree with the lichen on it


After several years here at Ph.ca ... here's a shot of me! Look beside me ... a Rufous Fantail had decided to follow us on our walk. He stayed with us for about 45 mins!


Here's the little guy flying around Leanne as well



And here's the star up close and personal ...