One last item -

Almost forgot...we finished the North Island trip with a visit

to "The Shire" ... the wonderful and amazing set for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit.... truly incredible what was done to the farmer's land....

cheers

Catching up - put a wrapper on our New Zealand trip

Ok, boy talk about being behind.... like having blog-lag :)

So I figured the easiest way to finish up telling you about our trip to New Zealand was to provide
you a link to handful of photos that capture all of the fun !!   The hike through the Routeburn track
 was amazing...tough...but amazing!  A day of rest...then onto our cycles through the Otago Wine Region
....hard going as the former train tracks were not really groomed and therefore every pedal only moved you a few wheel turns ....and bumpy...we all had sore )*&)*(& the next morning!
Finally took the train from Middlemarch to Dunedin

 (http://www.taieri.co.nz/trip.htm)....

.a quick night and then a flight up to Auckland...where we rented a car and then spent the last 3
days in a little seaside beach town named Ha Hei.....hot water beach with a natural hot spring was
the highlight, and the Ocean Breeze cafe was tremendous!

Here is the link.... hope you enjoy...https://picasaweb.google.com/107776338326164509916/NewZealand

cheers