We found that Auckland reminded us of Vancouver, Canada. Actually, NZ is sort of like a shrunk version of North America; imagine driving from Big Sur to Yellowstone in 2 hours!

Pictured at left is Auckland from Okahu Bay.

At Okahu Bay is Shark at Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. There we experienced 1 - a replica of Antarctica Explorer, Scott's, base camp, 2 - a trip in a Snow Cat through a penguin colony (no we didn't run any of them over), and 3 - an amazing aquarium.

The aquarium was built in retired sewage tanks. A plexiglass tunnel was built in the tanks and cretures from the local ocean were introduced into the tanks. We saw sharks, stingrays, and many other smaller fish. It was quite a feeling walking among sharks and touching a stingray as it gracefully swam by, hoping to cop a human feel.

From Auckland, we travelled to Rotorua, aka Sulfur City, to experience stinky air, gushing geysers, bubbling mudpools and wonderful thermal hotsprings.

Pictured at left are hot pools with near boiling water and steam powered by molten magma from the depths of the Earth. We walked through a park, not unlike High Park in Toronto, Canada, and found many such sites.

We visited the very impressive Rotorua Museum of Art and History and ended the day soaking our bones in the outdoor hotpools at the Polynesian Spa, overlooking Lake Rotorua at sunset - it doesn't get much better than that.

The next day, we visited the NZ Maori Arts & Crafts Institute where we learned more about Maori culture; saw huge carving works in progress; and walked among natural hot pools, sulfur springs, mud pools and geysers. Pictured at right is Pohutu, an active geyser that erupts 10 - 20 times a day for 5 - 10 minutes a day and shoots boiling water 20 - 30 meters in the air.

From Rotorua, we headed to Lake Taupo. Here we hiked both sides of Huka Falls and visited other local areas of interest, i.e. Wishart Wineries for a great wine tasting session (to the sounds of Diana Krall) that ended with the purchase of a wonderful Merlot that didn't last the evening.

Not far from Huka Falls are the Craters of the Moon. We hiked through this vast area of stinkiness and thermal activity that looks like - you guessed it - the craters of the moon!

We couldn't help having our pictures taken as Billy and Betty Bee at Honey Hive New Zealand. There we saw a working hive built of plexiglass instead of wood, and sampled some wonderful honey products.

Before dinner we headed to a park at which we enjoyed sitting in a natural hot pool and cooling off by swiming into a cold river. It was this Sweedish spa technique that authored the end of the Merlot!

We then headed to Paekakariki, a seaside village just north of Wellington. Our room was on a hilltop, facing west and overlooking the black sandy beach and Marlborough Sound. We enjoyed mouthwatering fish and chips (it was so good, we had it 2 nights in a row!) and watched the sun go down, at left.

The next day, we got a ride into Wellington with fellow Canadians Brooke and Scott where we spent the day at NZ's newest museum - Te Papa. Our highlight there was an exhibit called Awesome Forces that shows how plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and erosion have shaped, NZ, one of the most dynamic landscapes in the world.

In this exhibit, we visited a house in which we experienced a simulated earthquake.

That night, back in Paekakariki, after a second night of the most amazing fish and sweet potato chips and squid and scallops (yum!), we slept on the hillside, on the ground, in a tent, drifting off to sleep to the sound of the waves licking the black sand below.

At 0756, the ground shook! It was just like in the simulation at Te Papa, but this was no simulation! We dressed to the sounds of glass crashing inside the house. It was a 5.5 with 2 lighter aftershocks! Our host later told us that he though that this was going to he the big one. Thankfully, it wasn't, and we caught the ferry to the South Island later that afternoon.