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| Touring and Sailing in New Zealand 2011 - Introduction |
Introduction
We came out to New Zealand on the Cunard Liner the Queen Elizabeth and we had seen so many new places and had spent so long writing it all up that we did little more than take pictures and make some brief notes during our time in New Zealand.
The writing-up of the 2011 NZ holiday was only put together after our return.
This is a complete contrast to most of our earlier write-ups where we have tried to make the 'travelogues' completely self contained to the extent of duplicating material from previous years. So this - and last year (2010) where the write-up was minimal - is not the best series of pages for a newcomer to the site looking for ideas on a holiday in New Zealand but more for our own continuity.
We had 47 days in New Zealand which broke down into two main parts. Time in the Auckland area with Ralph and Chris then on Waiheke Island with Jenny, Kev, Kerri and Jaz before sailing Kev's beautiful Trimaran Shanti which we took out to Great Barrier Island with Kev.
These travelogues are usually written as we go. They started as a regular series of lighthearted Emails sent out as "News from The Antipodes" where the text was written on a palmtop and copied into emails with little polishing and only a superficial spell check. Now we have two MSI Wind U100 Netbooks running Linux for security on the move. One of the reasons we were late starting our write-up in New Zealand was that Pauline is still continuing with her Open University teaching and had been asked to take a double size load as another tutor had been forced to drop out at the last minute. This gave her a lot to do as she had a double batch of Tutor Marked Assignments due as we landed from the Queen Mary in New Zealand.
We keep taking pictures as we go and select the best at the time into 'print' and 'web' folders - they are mainly from our Canon A720 IS cameras - we now have two. We also try to reuse the best previous pictures from film and stills from Peter's Sony digital video camera (MiniDV Tape). This year we also took a simple Vivitar waterproof video using an SD card, bought with snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef in mind.
All the pictures on this page provide details of where they were taken if you hover the cursor over them and they can all be clicked to open a larger version in an Overlay (Lightbox style) or Popup Window. The image display options can be changed using the settings links at the bottom right corner of every page which includes pictures.
Index to following Parts
- Introduction and Summary
- Napier Art Deco Festival, Wellington, Rotorua, Coromandel, Sailing from Waiheke Island round the Haraki Gulf and to Great Barrier Island. The Kauri Coast and Bay of Islands, Waihi and Athenree, Thames and back to Waiheke and Auckland
Background Material
After each visit we also try to extract more from the chronological organisation and consolidate the content into specific pages. Some background pages which may be of interest are:
- New Zealand Wines, Wineries and Vineyard Restaurants - brings together our favourite vineyards to visit. Selection is not solely the on the quality of the wine but is biased towards those with good vineyard restaurants, magnificent scenery and a friendly and helpful approach.
- New Zealand Goldmining - Introduction to Goldmining Techniques and Travels in various Goldfields.
- Kauri, both logging and the gathering and use of it's gum forms another unique part of New Zealand history worthy of investigation.
- Active Thermal Areas - New Zealand is also an area which is very active geologically and has a number of fascinating thermal areas, predominantly North Island.
- Maori Culture and Heritage - One can not fully understand and appreciate New Zealand without gaining some understanding of the Maori Culture and Heritage and the interactions with the first settlers and their way of life.
- Sailing in New Zealand - An Introduction to Sailing in New Zealand with an index to our own sailing in the Hauraki Gulf, The Bay of Islands and the Coastal Passage between them and on up to Whangaroa Harbour. Also covers our single experience of sailing in the Marlborough Sounds.
- The Whanganui River Story The story of the River and the river boats that served it.
- Taranaki and the Forgotten World - Mountain House, walks round Mount Egmont and the Forgotten World Highway (SH43) featuring the Republic of Whangamomona
- Other pages of interest include:
- New Zealand Books - We have built up a library of books on New Zealand during our visits and have initiated a catalogue. Our books cover many topics from Sailing and Fishing through the Goldfields and Art Deco to Maori Culture.
- Interesting Web Sites: We have found a number of useful Web sites on New Zealand that you may want to have a look at.
