Destination: New Zealand

The Banks Peninsula

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [335]

AKAROA ON THE BANKS PENINSULA IS FULL OF SURPRISES.  There seems to be a new cove or bay with spectacular views around every hill, not surprising since the peninsula was formed by not one, but two volcanoes.  Akaroa means “long harbor”... Read more >

Mission (Almost) Impossible

Sun, 8 Mar 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [334]

CHRISTCHURCH WAS ONE OF OUR FAVORITE places when we visited New Zealand fifteen years ago.  I’m reluctant, however, to return since the earthquake that devastated the city in 2011.  We’ll get there — but not today. ... Read more >

Photos: South Island

Fri, 6 Mar 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Photo Gallery

A Murmuration of Wrybills

Thu, 5 Mar 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [336]

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THOSE VIDEOS OF FLOCKS of birds — starlings, mostly — swooping and soaring in unison like a school of tightly packed sardines?  Birders call these maneuvers “murmurations.”  Well, we learned today ... Read more >

On the bike, on the bike, on the bike

Mon, 2 Mar 2020 | By nomad_kiwis | Views [450]

I have had a most awesome summer this year, the weather has been the best (Invercargill excluded) and I've been on my motorbike lots and lots and lots lol.  After christmas a friend visited from USA and a group of women riders joined together to ... Read more >

Tauranga and the Maketu Estuary

Sun, 1 Mar 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [300]

TAURANGA MAY BE NEW ZEALAND’S ANSWER to Newcastle with it’s busy port but one would be hard-pressed to find lodging as wonderful as City Suites in a less urban setting.                South ... Read more >

Lake Taupo

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [299]

IF I HAD DONE DUE DILIGENCE I WOULD have realized that Turangi is the trout fishing capital of New Zealand.  You would think our lodging, Angler’s Rest Motel, would have been a clue..  Instead I learned that it isn’t possible to ... Read more >

Napier's Art Deco Week

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [319]

SOMETIMES WE GET LUCKY IN OUR TRAVELS.  Fortune smiled on us twice this weekend.  Kiwis Ron and Rita — more about them later — had invited us to stay in their lovely Napier home.  Napier, you may remember, was razed by a devastating ... Read more >

Rotorua — What's That Smell?

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [367]

ROTORUA STINKS.  ‘NUFF SAID?  Geysers, mud pots and hot springs perfume Rotorua with Eau de Chemistry Lab and thousands of tourists pay handsomely for the experience.  But if you’ve visited before like we have — twice ... Read more >

Endangered Birds of Tiritiri Matangi

Sun, 16 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [334]

FULLERS 360 FERRY LEFT THE DOCK AT 9:00 “en punto” for the 75-minute trip out to Tiritiri Matangi Island.  An hour and a quarter doesn’t seem long on dry land but when the ferry starts pitching and rolling, time seems to slow ... Read more >

Muriwai Gannet Colony

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [264]

WE WERE IMPRESSED WITH THE MURIWAI GANNET COLONY in 2005 when we were fledgling birders and we were just as impressed on Saturday.  Hundreds of gannets who call Muriwai home covered the cliffs and the tops of two sea stacks just offshore while ... Read more >

Photos: North Island

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Photo Gallery

Auckland Forecast: Hardly Sunny

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [270]

BARELY A DAY HAS PASSED AND THE CRUISE seems a distant memory.  We hopped on the airport bus, picked up our shiny black Suzuki Swift and went in search of Sunny Holiday House, only about 10K from the harbor.  We waited out the three hours ... Read more >

Cruise Recap: Don't Mess With Mother Nature!

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [308]

NEW ZEALAND IS SURELY ONE OF GOD’S BETTER EFFORTS.  While the country is always beautiful, if the sun is shining New Zealand can be freakin’ spectacular.  When a 20 th Century edition of Lonely Planet from our first visit ... Read more >

A Rare Visit to Stewart Island on Waitangi Day

Fri, 7 Feb 2020 | By graynomadsusa | Views [287]

A FRIEND COMPLAINED AFTER TAKING THE SAME NOORDAM CRUISE (in reverse) that he didn’t get to see enough of New Zealand.  Lack of time is my major gripe with cruises in general — that and the fact that ports, like railroad stations, seldom ... Read more >