This itinerary was the first part of our month-long end-of-the-year (and end-of-the-decade for that matter) trip to both New Zealand and the Cook Islands. This first part focuses only on the New Zealand leg of the trip…

I guess our sentiment that this place was rather “Dead As” was challenged when we happened to witness some hideous shouting of two Maori gangs hurling insults and even bottles at each other…

As you can see by the title of this page, this itinerary was our honeymoon with a destination wedding in the Land of the Long White Cloud. For Julie and I, this was the trip that opened up our eyes to what was out there in the world…

The weather report had predicted bad weather until Friday. Unfortunately, it was Tuesday and I was worried our hoped-for Tongariro Crossing hike was in jeopardy…