New Zealand Nov/Dec 2008

View from my bedroom window at Ian & Karen's house	View from the lounge	Ian and Karen's House	Vegetable Garden
Hamilton Pistol Club Action Shooting World Champs		Greg on his Guzzi Californian	Karen with Sheep and Chickens
John in his Installation Technology shirt	John with speciality sculptures in Tirau	Club shoot at Whatawhata	Greg Dunn with his father
John Welsford's boat shed	John Welsford's house	View from John Welsford's house	Ian and John Welsford wrestling with broken cylinder head
Sunset from my bedroom	Bay of Plenty	Pistol shooting at Whakatane Pistol Club	Ian Mander on left with our host Mick Buckley
View downrange	It has been over 10 years since I last shot a pistol. Thanks Mick
Lupins grow wild everywhere	But only at night	Ian with his Barnard action rifle at Te Puke	Range Officer Carol (Mick's wife) and Jake
Charmingly rustic	Te Puke Rifle Club gent's toilet (not charmingly rustic!)	Glow Worm caves
The spiral walkway		Glow worm with sticky threads	Each blue spot is a Glow worm trying to attract an insect into its sticky clutches
		The preserved railway at Waikino
New Zealand farmers are busy harvesting grass for feed during the summer	Beach at Wanghamata	In the Dunes	Snowmen eat their young ?!?
6 km hike into the Coromandel National Park		Ian and Rudi built the bridge	Suspension bridge 6 km from the nearest road
	Chopper only way of transporting heavy equipment	The bridge even took my weight	We take time out on the way back to cool off
The water was beautifully pure until I put my feet in it	Ian and Karen at entrance to Wai-o-Tapu		Champagne Lake thermal pool
		And John in his Installation Technology shirt (again)
	Why they call it Champagne Lake	More Bubbles	Giant Fern unfurling
This lake was an even more luminous green than shown	This is what the bush mostly comprises	Ian, Karen, Patsy, Leah and Chris	Leah and Max the puppy
Bridal Veil Falls from the top	Bridal Veil Falls from the bottom	Wellington
	Bottle Bush Tree	Wellington War Memorial
View of Wellington harbour from Te Papa museum	I love these paintings		John Britten's bike by the cafe in Te Papa
Fern sculpture suspended over Wellington Town Square	The view of Wellington from my hotel window	Foxton Dutch Windmill	Bert the engineer
View across the Rangipo desert North of Wellington	Mount Ruapehu		Taupo Lake
Chappie a.k.a. Skippy	Missie	Missie and Chappie	Te Miro
Hobbiton Tour Bus ( Matamata)
		The Party Tree from the Lord of the Rings
The little Hobbit Holes have lost their brickwork	The bricks were in any case made out of foam
Karen and Ian	John by Bilbo's house
	One of the Anderson family who own the old film set	Part of the tour was a sheep shearing demo
		There were also lambs to feed
			Small Beer brewed for the Lord of the Rings set and still made today
Ian making a mess carving wood in Karen's kitchen	Karen in her kitchen	The tasty results	Pudding!
Te Waikato Sanatorium close to Te Miru. Two people would have slept here	The NZ government are trying to wipe out the Possum		Ian made the aluminium stock and the Kauri woodwork for this target rifle. You need to see the quality for yourself
The Kauri Museum at Matakohe	My hat perched on the split in the plank gives an idea of scale
Two Morris Minor based vehicles being restored
	Kauri gum collection
The bed and breakfast that I stayed at in Matakohe - very nice	Matakohe war memorial	Outside the Kauri museum	Matakohe church
	I followed the sign - beautiful, but meanders aimlessly	Fishing off the pier at Tinopai	This beach goes on for 90 km
Waipoua Forest		Tane Mahuto (Lord of the Forest) 2000 year old Kauri tree	View from the lookout above Opononi
Chickens run wild in New Zealand		View from the Waitangi Treaty House	The Treaty House
			View of one of the hundreds of islands in the Bay of Islands from Paihia sea front
	Best fish restaurant in Paihia	Waitangi War Canoe	Original NZ flag
Fast boat out to the Hole in the Rock, Bay of Islands	Twin rooster tails of water from the props driving the boat at 45 knots
		Hole in the Rock
		Snapper
At the Services South of Auckland on Route 1 I spotted this Jowett and Bradford Rally
Then a few km on I found the Dragway turn off and eliminators under way
			Rotorua 300 m rifle shoot
Saracen	Grant Moreland	Buick Straight 8	Andy Moreland
Bell 47 at Andy's Museum	This snack cost £20 in Shanghai Airport	Kauri Bowl	Piece of Swamp Kauri 35,000 years old