Dun Dun Dun (edin) Dunedin New Zealand and 300 days on the road!

We went about the town in the freezing cold weather.

We walked around the city center which is an OCTAGON and called exactly that.

We say the train station which is an impressive Gothic style building and just massive.

We saw the Law Courts and old historic buildings and churches often in Victorian style architecture. Hard not to stare. The buildings are incredible with notable architecture.

Next, we enjoyed a free visit to the local art museum. They have one Monet painting and enjoyable, talented local artist's work. The installations were a little out of this world with no description. I particularly liked the work of maybe half of the artist Séraphine Pick.

We finished the day with a wonderful tour at the Speight's Brewery.
A very information and entertaining tour taught us that Dunedin has the last standing copper brewery style in the WORLD!

We sampled 6 types of beer and a delicious beer ice cream.

We finished our day realized we left the fuel cap on the car when we left the gas station. We went back with no luck of finding it.

Lake Taupo, HUka Falls and Honey Hive

Thanks to some recommendation from our couchsurfing host in Auckland we went to the Honey Hive.

First: Huka Falls

as a 3 year old next to me said it "This isn't a water fall" They are called falls and are more like cascading falls. A wonderful aqua and eventually a heavier fall, you can take a speed jet boat up to it or for FREE, walk to the viewpoint. It was a nice day and the rain let up enough to visit and take photos.

Second: Honey Hive. Free samples GALORE! We tried mead wine, Feijoa wine (look up feijoa) and another honey whiskey liquor of some sort. All tasty with a 3 liquor max. We then moved on to the unlimited honey samples. Apparently, bees pollinate from different bunches of flowers and it produces vastly different tasting honey. Wonderful! I tried maybe 11 different types and appreciated the Manuka honey, we got from a farmers market days before, even more.

WE COULDN'T RESIST. Manuka Honey and Chestnut ice cream. Kevin enjoyed his Pohutukawa ice cream (I had to look up the name). That was a simple but nice sweet honey flavored touch to it. Yum Yum. I tried all the natural face creams and hand creams I could and we had a picnic in the cold green open space behind the shop.

Third: Lake Taupo. A nice entertaining surprise to find "Lake Taupo, Hole in One tour" There was a square of green in the LARGEST CRATER LAKE IN THE WORLD . People were driving golf balls to get a hole in one for a 10,000$ prize. They were close, but no cigar. Thankfully, we made it to the lake by sunset and it was beautiful. Not raining at this time and we were able to spend more than a few minutes outside and watch people golf into the lake.

Goodbye, Taupo. 2 hours later Hello, Napier.

New Zealand, Day Seven it is all Heavenly

Lord of the Rings is popular and the trilogy was filmed in New Zealand.

But this is more than a 3 hour movie.

We rented a CHEAP car from JUCY rental cars and are taking a 2 week trip in the North Island of New Zealand and 19 days in the south island, rental car status.

We started in Auckland. It was a busier city, but not too big. It is winter here in May (other hemisphere here) and it reminds me of SEATTLE. When I told this to the couchsurfing host, I sadly realized I wasn't the first to notice. I'm quick to pick up similarities but not as original. haha

AUCKLAND Sky Tower

So a few nights with a host in Auckland, adjusting to passing maybe 5 time zones from Indonesia and we slept a lot! I had some sinus issues with weather and country changes. But I a LOVING it here. Auckland has a posh area called Ponsonby area with a burger chain called burger fuel. I had a vegan burger, yum! Something like every 20 burgers fuels one gallon of fuel foor the delivery car. What a green idea!

After Auckland we headed to Coromandel.

Hot Water Beach!

We dug holes in the sand to reveal hot hot steamy water just under the surface. mixed with holes of cold water or finding the perfect spot and you have tons of people making mini spas and just laying there. We were SO lucky for it to be a perfect sunny day. While it was still a bit chilly, it was possible to walk in a bathing suit with shorts, so we considered ourselves VERY lucky.

After one overnight stop in Coromandel, a very small town, we headed down the east coast.

Next stop, Tauranga. We arrived at a nice hostel with the chain of YHA. We were able to use our Hostelling International cards from Uruguay and got a nice discount. We were also able to stay here for only 1 night so it was only a quick pause to check out the mountain which was a volcano once. We did some thrift store shopping where I picked up a winter coat for super cheap.

cows on a hill in the sunset

After Tauranga was another few hours drive south to Rotorua.