We're in Auckland now. The New Zealand OAT group forms up. 
Good view of Auckland from the Devonport side. Tom and Nan took this before the trip started with their early arrival. 
The Ferry Building in downtown Auckland. 
" I liked this fence on the waterfront -- very British. 
See the jumper coming down from the tower. Some of our group (June and Ken) went up to have a bird's eye view from the top. 
David, our OAT Tour Director, calling our group together on a volcano summit near Auckland in the background. 
Our first lesson from David Hill.Video of the Volcano and narrative by David Hill. Our first lesson from David.
This material turned out to be testable. 
Yes, it did blow its top sometime back. 
It Was cold, but Tom & Chuck are ready. 
Heading towards the Auckland Museum. 
Auckland Museum. 
Video inside Museum Inside the Auckland Museum.
Maori carvings. 
Maori Meeting House shown in the museum. 
Sanctuary for war dead visited by Tom and Nancy at Auckland Museum. 
Part of the Sanctuary. 
Chuck going out on our sailing trip in Auckland harbor. 
Our sailing trip. 
Kate, Muriel, Hetty, Cathy, Carolyn, Marilyn and Chuck. 
Carolyn's turn at the helm. 
Mary has some right rudder on. 
Captain Tom is content. 
Nancy is having a ball. 
Dottie, Mary and the sailboat captain, with Nancy at the helm. 
Nice view of Auckland. 
Kate at the helm of the Pride of Auckland. 
Claire has the helm with Cathy, Carolyn, Chuck and the captain looking on. The following videos on the Harbor Crusie were taken as well (click on the arrow to play):
Maori queen's house south of Auckland. 
At the Hamilton Gardens between Auckland and Rotorua. 
Chuck and Tom at the Hamilton Gardens. 
Weird, but interesting. Gardens had sections from all over the world. 
This wood carving mural was wonderful. "The more you look the more you see." And more on the following video on the Hamilton Gardens:
Beautiful! 
David is explaining things to the OAT group. 
Our driver, Logan, our OAT Tour Director, David, and our host at our home-hosted lunch. 
Mary with the host's beautiful gardens in the foreground.Video on Kiwi Weed Control
Looks pretty steep doesn't it? You sure we are going down? 
This thing blew its top in 1886 and we still went down into it. Dumb! 
Our guide with Chuck and Marilyn on their way down. 
Hatty, Kate and Carolyn are finding it easy. 
Not Nancy and Mary. David is giving Nan personal TLC to get her down the slope.
" Now I have the hang of it"! Videos and panorama.
Here we are - Tom, Nan, Carolyn, Marilyn, Chuck, Hetty,Claire, Kate, our guide, Mary and Ken. 
Back at the top. Carolyn, Claire, Marilyn, Ken Chuck and Mary. 
Happy climbers - Tom, Marilyn, Ken, Chuck, Dottie, and June. 
Nancy and Tom made it out alive. 
This is in Rotorua. Wonderful etched glass picture inside with Jesus seeming to be walking on the lake's water in the background. 
Nice shot of Lake Rotorua. Chuck did some good fishing here just before the tour started. 
The greeting committee at the Te Puia Natural Thermal Valley Mauri meeting house. 
Here comes the big guy. Tom stands tall to meet him. 
Our Rangtera (leader) Tom leads the way into the meeting house.
We saw an interesting Maori dance presentation. 
Our cook at Te Puia cooks in the hot (very) thermal springs. Umm, good! 
Lots if thermal activity in the area. 
Hot mud pots. Our hotel is in upper left of picture. 
Interesting colors coming from deep down
Gyser right outside our hotel room window.
OAT Learning and Discovery - Rotorua Maori Middle School videos:
Kaital Middle School. The student Rangtera and the principal greet us. Tom looks on. 
Student body. Note the bare feet even in winter time. 
Rangtera Tom tells them "who we are." We "sang" some patriotic songs, too. 
Pretty modern looking school. 
The principal, Rory O'Rourke, gave us a briefing. 
Our OAT group looks around. 
David and Carolyn walk towards the Rotorua Museum, which had once been a Thermal water bathing spa. 
On the south island now. Heading towards Arrowtown. 
Don't you love the mountain area? 
A mountain stream. 
Wonderous peaks. 
Flora in the south.
But where's da rabbits?
Cathy, Tom, Kate, Hetty, Mary and David on a walk in the park. 
Mary is enjoying her day. 
Mary, Tom, Claire, Dottie and Chuck. 
Hetty, Kate and Cathy on walk with the rest in the background. 
Dottie and Marilyn leading the way over the bridge. 
Chuck and Nancy aren't in a hurry. 
Muriel, Cathy, Kate and Hetty hamming it up. 
Nan and Muriel up in the bushes. 
Tom taking it easy on the bus. 
This was our Red Boat cruise on Milford Sound. 
Hard to beat this. Short of going to Norway, that is. 
Hetty loving the boat ride on the sound. 
Looking west towards the Tasman Sea. 
Mary on boat going out into Milford Sound. 
Great backdrop for Marilyn and Chuck. 
Tom with his Sony. 
Kate and Hetty on the Red Boat cruise on Milford Sound. 
Another neat picture of Chuck and Marilyn. 
Tom and Nancy with a super backdrop. 
Milford Sound is more than wonderful!! 
Neat picture of Nan.
We got real close to the Stirling Falls. Got a little wet even.
Carmenized New Zealand:
And some more music and scenery:
On our way back to Arrowtown and the Millbrook Resort. 
Dottie and Mary with pretty lake in background. 
Cathy and Kate all smiles. 
Chuck and Marilyn. 
Mirror lakes in Dart River valley. Reflection is of mountains across the valley. 
Spectacular! 
Wow, crystal clear. Note the moon in the dip between the peaks.
Lake Wakatipu:
Film New Zealand:
There it is -- moon in the dip between the peaks. 
The OAT boat two team getting ready to go. Chuck, Marilyn, Carolyn, Ken, David (in rear), Claire, June, Muriel and Nancy. 
Off on our Dart River jet boat ride. Neat!! 
Our kamakazi boat driver. 
Chuck and Tom having a ball. 
David has done this before, but he still loves it. 
Carolyn wasn't feeling all that well, but she still is smiling. 
That's right, a big smile. 
Views from the Dart River. 
David, Carolyn, Nancy, Marilyn and Muriel having fun. 
Nancy really loved it! 
Not so sure about Ken and June. Ha! 
Nancy, Marilyn, Muriel, Claire, Ken and June. 
Chuck and our pilot. Gooooo faster!! 
Big smile from Claire. 
Views from the Dart River. 
Lots of teeth. 
Is Muriel happy? Ha! Wasn't fast enough for her. 
Still wants a faster (and dryer) ride. 
Ken and June cruising down the river. 
Nancy couldn't get enough.
Video -Begin jet boat ride up river:
Coming back on jet boat (seems like Chuck and Tom were the lucky, happy ones sitting behind the boat's front wind shield):
The end of a fun ride:
Wow, another great view from the river!! 
First bungie jumping ever from this bridge near Queenstown. 
The Southern Alps. We saw a lot of all of this. 
Don't bounce the bridge!! We're off on one of our many nature walks through wonderful areas. 
David, Tom and Chuck on suspension bridge. 
Muriel is coming over. 
Next comes Dottie. 
Hetty is stroking out. 
Kate looks like the bridge is not a problem. 
Mary with David bringing up the rear. 
Good picture of David and Chuck coming back across the bridge. 
Water is clear and spectacular. 
Marilyn looking down at the clear water. 
Nice location for Marilyn and Chuck. 
Tom likes it too. 
Nancy at the bridge at Gates of Haast.
Tom and Nancy. 
Cathy and Kate seeing the sights. 
How do I get back up from here? Ken went over the side. 
OAT New Zealand group taken on the west coast beach of the NZ south island. 
Drift wood on west coast of the south island. 
A hike in the rain forest on the west coast of the south island. 
Lots of rain over here in the west. 
Franz Joseph glacier. One of the most active glaciers in the world. 
Ready for our hike to the glacer. 
Our guide (on left) leading us towards the glacier. 
Tom, Nancy, Marilyn and Chuck with glacier right behind them. 
Goat or something at roadside stop for tea and coffee. There was a little zoo there. 
Another angle -- This is a ???? 
One big guy here. 
No wonder he is big -- they are feeding him. 
At the zoo. It's a ???? 
The little town of Reefton before we went to the gold mine. 
We had tea, coffee and sweets here before we went to the mine. 
Carolyn and Nancy ready to go mining. 
The old way to crush up the ore.
The modern gold mine. This will be a lake when the mining is done. 
The new way to crush the ore. This drum turns with the ore and steel balls inside to break things up. 
Here is the result after processing. There is gold in them there hills. 
The restaurant owner where we had lunch telling the girls how it is done. 
A bird. Might just be a Kiwi! Nope, it's a Weka!! 
The Tasman Sea off the west coast of the south NZ island. 
A seal colony at Tauranga Bay -- they are all over the rocks. 
Pancake rocks on the west coast in the Paparoa National Park. Neat.
Videos of coastline, baby seals and blow hole:
Wild coastline. The Punakaiki Blowholes are here. 
Oh, did Nancy mention it was raining? 
This is Chuck - wet. Tom is taking the picture and he is wet too. 
Sunset over the Tasman Sea. 
Carolyn and Chuck having some fun. 
Look Jane, me Tarzan! 
The original road was covered by a rock slide. We are heading towards Arthur Pass. 
Not pony express, but not the biggest post office in the world either. Still, they have it better than the Donner's. 
The Flock Hill sheep station where we had lunch and learned about the sheep and wool business. 
The three workers -- Mel, Claud, and Minnie. 
Nancy and the family's pet sheep. These are Merino sheep and the best wool in the world comes from them.
Video and commentary on the operation of a Sheep Ranch:
Our rancher, Richard, is closest. The OAT group looks on. 
The rancher, Richard, telling Hetty, Dottie, June, Ken, Kate, Muriel, Cathy (hidden) and Carolyn how to shear the beasts. 
Ken, Kate, Muriel, Cathy, Marilyn (hidden) Claire, Carolyn and Mary look on too. 
Hector dolphins on boat trip out of Akaroa. 
Nancy took this picture -- good shot!
More video on lake and history of Christchurch:
A seal colony -- one of many we saw on the South Island. 
This is a fairy penguin. Now called a blue penguin to be PC. The smallest penguin in the world (and a small picture, too). 
Wonderful views from the boat. 
Marilyn likes the boat ride. 
Tom is trying to stay warm.
Looking down on the Akaroa area. 
Maori's made their last stand in the south on this point of land in bay. 
Akaroa. 
View of Christchurch from lookout point. 
Here is our OAT team at the lookout. Off on another "learning and discovery" trip. 
Dotty, Claire and Nancy looking at Christchurch. 
Christchurch is a great city. This is the centre square area with Saint Mary's in the background. 
The Saint Mary's Cathedral in the city center of Christchurch. 
In Victoria Square in Christchurch. Sir Robert Scott - one of the first to the South Pole, but his expedition didn't make it home safely. 
The Christchurch tram. 
The art museum in Christchurch. 
This was a college and is now an art and craft center. 
At a bridge going to the botanical garden during our walk around Christchurch. 
9/11 material put up as a memorial by the firemen in Christchurch. Note the fern near bottom. Sign of renewed life. 
The boys' school near the college and museum. 
The boys' school. 
This guy came out to greet us at the Anartic center in Christchurch. Remember how cold that room was? -- this little guy likes it. 
This is how they move around Antarctic and the South Pole now. 
Who is that little guy in front? We held our farewell dinner here at the Antartic Center in Christchurch.
Final Bus Ride to Airport:
