New Zealand

New Zealand - 1999

Page 1

One these pages are a few of the many shots I took whilst visiting in New Zealand in January of 1999.

I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying my wonderful 'net' friend, Lisa, from New Zealand during my visit. I am happy to include her image here, having received her permission to do so. After reviewing my website, she suggested there may be an alternate story to be told. Well, I am sure there are many stories to be told, and I am happy to share a part of mine with you here.
	A view of Auckland, taken from Mt. Victoria across from downtown Auckland. This was our first stop on an eight day visit to the North Island.
Second stop during the whirlwind visit was at Rotorua. This town is one of the more popular places in the North Island for vacationing. Locals often refer to it as 'Roto-Vegas', due to it's slightly commercial outward appearance. Personally, other than the pervasive smell of sulphur, I found it to be quite a nice little place with lovely people, even at the local hospital. Once again, the details of how I got to know the people in the hospital is an entirely separate story, but it should suffice to say that it was not I that required their services. Then there was the matter of a couple of rather cheerful young ladies at the local chemist. Despite the dire sounding descriptions of hospitals and chemists, there was an exceptionally intriguing visit to a thermal area called "Hell's Gate". Below are a series of shots taken in this most unique piece of geology.
	A small geyser at Hell's Gate....a near constant flow of hot sulphur laden water.
The effects of scale drew me to this and a few other images. Without knowing precisely how large this is, one might presume it to be quite a large rocky face. In truth, it is a mere 20 or 30 cm high.	The bookend photo to the one on the left.
	The degree of danger in the thermal pools of Rotorua is not (terribly) exaggerated by this sign. Likewise, the humour of the local inhabitants is equally well represented.
This is an (almost) nice example of the reason why I prefer a manual SLR over the point-and-shoot variety. .
	One of the nicest things I discovered in New Zealand was the wonderful food. Luckily, this is not how it is prepared. This boiling mud pit was 'plopping' along merrily as we strolled past.
The severe heat of the water in the area is indicated by the mistily steam wafting across the surface. The outside air temperature that day was around 28慢, but the steam stilled formed everywhere.
	This pit boiled ferociously. The steam obscured the water surface most of the time. I waited a while for a brief moment of clarity to capture just this.
The main 'pit' of Hell's Gate. Evidence of the strong Mauri influence is centrally noticed here.
After a narrow escape from sure death, or at least severe embarrassment, we proceeded to drive to the town of Napier on the east coast of the North Island. Napier falls within the Hawkes Bay area, renown for it's fine wine. I am happy to report that the quality of the wine from this region is something to which I can attest most wholeheartedly.

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