February 18, 2015
Awesome day today! Took the gondola up Mt Ngongotaha which gave me a spectacular view of Lake Rotorua, breath taking! Then I rode the Luge halfway down the mountain, rode the gondola back up when to my surprise, a winery jumped out in front of me, shocker!! Couldn't get around it, couldn't go over it, had to go through it and, oh yeah, stop and sample. Another crappy day in New Zealand, darn it.

Can't take these guys anywhere.....

February 17, 2015
Hobbiton today!! Fun seeing the movie set.

 

As I cruise around New Zealand I realize I'm putting all my faith in The Father, Son, Holy Ghost and the GPS....mainly the GPS. I don't have a clue where I am or how to get to where I want to go without that little Kiwi lady on my dash. And, for the first time in my life, I have no issues with someone telling me where to go, when to go and how to do it. Interesting personal growth here, hahaha.

February 16, 2015, 3:45p.m. near Mercer, New Zealand

My friends back home, especially the LEOs, my favorite LEO Dan Sul and highway worker Shane Hurricaneshmc Venable, I keep hearing about this massive storm heading your way, please stay safe and warm if you have to be out in it! Thinking about you guys, missing you and praying for your safety if you're working it! Love you guys  

February 15, 2015

Well, scheduled to leave Paihia this morning, woke up to no water. The water line broke out in the street last night. They're extending my checkout time, hopefully it will be fixed soon, I can shower/wash hair and be on my way . Horrible place to be stuck.....NOT!

This was my view on my drive back to Auckland, the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

Some thoughts about this new style of driving......its not as challenging as I thought it would be.  I think it might be due to the body's natural self-defense instinct; it does not want to die.  I've logged over 1000 km so far and only hit one orange construction cone.  I still have a little problem with where the left front fender/bumper is, exactly.  I keep running into the rumble strips along the shoulder of the land.  I guess better those than the center line separating me from the on coming traffic!  I've driven rush hour twice in Auckland and survived.  I haven't terrified an oncoming Kiwi by driving in their lane yet and so far have remembered which way to travel through the round abouts.  Transitioning from driving on the left from the right has been much easier than I thought it would be.  I was so nervous about it but turns out, it's not as difficult as I thought it would be.  So far, so good.  The GPS has been awesome company, guiding me through towns to my goal.  It is equipped with something that tells you when you are exceeding the speed limit and that gets a little annoying.  Every time I run 6 km over the speed limit, she comes on and yells at me right away to slow down.  That's starting to get on my nerves a little but otherwise, we're getting along fine.

I'm spending the night with another IPA member from the Auckland police, Jim Wilson, and his family.  I love staying with the LEOs here, so interesting to talk about our respective departments, the things we have in common and our differences.   They don't seem to face the same threats and dangers that we do on a regular basis.  It reminds me of my earlier days of policing when there weren't so many mean people trying to kill the police.  New Zealand truly appears to be a kinder environment than what I see back home.  I am enjoying the NZ hospitality so much!

Today was an interesting day on many levels.  I took a tour bus up to the most northern tip of the North Island, a place called Cape Reinga.  It was an all day trip with pick up at 7 am and return at 6 pm.  It was a fantastic trip and we saw so many beautiful things.

About an hour into the trip, we stopped for coffee and muffins at a little shop.  I found out the lids on the coffee cups here do not fit tightly and I very promptly spilled hot coffee all over my right hand.  I spent the next few hours with my hand wrapped up in ice.  Geez, it hurt but thankfully, the ice kept my hand from blistering.

The tour included driving 60 Kilometers on the beach headed to Cape Reinga.  We left the main road and headed down to the beach and got stuck.  I kid you not, sunk in the sand up to the wheel wells.  Oh what an adventure!  We all got off the bus and the driver, who is native Mori, starts digging us out of the sand.  This is not a dinky little bus, this is the full size tour bus!  A rescue vehicle shows up, hooks up a tow rope and to the cheers of bus load of tourists, he pulls us out of the sand and onto the hard packed sand.  Yippee, on the road again!

Took a walk through the Puketi Kauri Forest, a protected area for the native Kauri tree. This is a massive ramrod straight tree, thousands of years old, originally ravaged for ship masts due to their massive straight trunks. The Kauri remind me of our Redwoods.

After about an hour of beach driving, we arrive at the Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes and go sand boarding.  It's like surfing only you're on the sand instead of the water. 

The Te Paki trail goes the entire length of the North and South Island and is very similar to our Appalachian Trail.  It takes 5 months to travel the entire length of the trail. 

The water is spectacular, the shades of blue and green glisten in the morning sun.  It's beautiful.  We are running along the Tasman Sea.

Beautiful day of stunning views, local food and the good humor of our Mori guide. I'm loving the gentle souls of the New Zealanders. I haven't heard a cross word from anyone since I've been here; we Americans could learn something here.

Anti-Bella and Pedro soaking up the rays at the beach — at Paihia Bay of Islands, Notthland Region, New Zealand.