[N8 v2.0]

Just a tiny fraction of the photos I snapped while we were in NZ for 2wks during Christmas. My kiwi buddy gave us his swank Mt Maunganui condo (a block from the beach and a block from the bay) for the time we were there. I'll add more pix as I sort thru em.

We left ABQ the morning after a snow storm..

...spent 14 hrs crossing the South Pacific

.. and arrived in semi tropical Mt Maunganui 18 hrs later.

MTB'ing... ah, memories of Whakarewarewa single track is still fresh in my mind... here is one of my kiwi buds showing me the goods before we headed out:

I managed to tag the shuttle van 505 style with a Zia siticker just over the left taillight.. heh.

Stayed mostly at my mate's swank place in Mt Maunganui, and my beautiful bride and I were married on the beach of Leisure Island there in the background.

Drank a sh!tload of crap beer (for the most part, but it was beer at least)

Visited the volcano at White Island (we were on the island when the earth quake hit Christchurch)

Hiked to the top of Mt Maunganui and had croissants, jams and champagne for a Christmas Day breakfast.

 

[N8 v2.0]

I got totally hooked on "flat whites"

And Pavlova

And the best fish & chips

We ate paua fritters and washed them down with a L&P (Lemon & Paeroa) from a roadside stand

 

[N8 v2.0]

The South Pacific is stunningly beautiful

 

[N8 v2.0]

We hiked Karangahake.. wow! What a great hike.

We loved all the HUGE fern trees

 

[N8 v2.0]

We had a great afternoon in Rotorua with the luges and lifts

 

[stevew]

safe sex please!

 

[sstalder5]

Ahh the painfully slow moving dot on the map. At least the tablet things were cool! Air NZ is the best airline I've ever flown on.

I was at this exact sign (#8) yesterday afternoon! Weird!! Those maps were so effing confusing.. My favorites were Hot X Buns, A Trail, and The Dipper.

 

[Damo]

Nice!

 

[N8 v2.0]

Kiwi's are the friendliest and most polite people I've ever met (maybe having to deal with those damn traffic circles makes em like that, I don't know). Even their traffic signs are polite; no forceful YIELD like in the US, but rather a gentle reminder to....

But yeah, NZ Airlines will spoil you for flying on a US carrier ever again. Since my wife brought her wedding dress as a carry-on, we were treated to champagne and notice canceling headphones and endless attention from the flight crew making sure we had everything we needed.

Get over to Mt Maunganui if you can, it's awesome.

Bottom line for the rest of you Monkeys; add a trip to New Zealand to your Bucket List.

 

[N8 v2.0]

This common sign in NZ amused me. In the US it's, "No shirt, no shoes, no service" - in Kiwiland it's:

 

[Toshi]

We had a great afternoon in Rotorua with the luges and lifts

That's Queenstown, not Rotorua.

 

[N8 v2.0]

It's Rotorua.

That's Lake Rotorua in the back ground.

 

[JohnE]

...jealous...

 

[N8 v2.0]

NZ and Booze

NZ has beer, a lot of beer. Just that it isn't good beer. At least at the pubs/bottle shops we visited (quite a few).

Mac's Sassy Red was probably the best we had while there (they also had a ok black too)

The Celtic Red my buddies here are sampling wasn't very good.

Of course what NZ is noted for is wine, and yes, it's even better than the stuff you get in the US generally. We hit up a winery on our why to vist Karangahake.

I did bring back a bottle of Fiejoa infused vodka. The fiejoa fruit tastes like nothing else I've ever had and is quite delishious.

Of course all of this led to some long siesta's:

 

[N8 v2.0]

Random Trip Pix

Our host's '72 IH Travelall which delivered my bride to the ceremony and then drove us thru downtown afer the wedding

 

[DaveW]

That's Queenstown, not Rotorua.

No that is very definitely Rotorua. If it was queenstown the mountains on the other side of the lake would dwarf those puny lil rolling hills.

N8, the reason your beer sucked so much is that you were drinking mainstream beer from a big multinational owned by Heineckin. Just down the road from you in Rotorua is Croucher brewery, excellent pale ale and Pilsner and their "Patriot" black IPA is seriously amazing.

 

[N8 v2.0]

N8, the reason your beer sucked so much is that you were drinking mainstream beer from a big multinational owned by Heineckin. Just down the road from you in Rotorua is Croucher brewery, excellent pale ale and Pilsner and their "Patriot" black IPA is seriously amazing.

Great, now i find this out. We tried just about every NZ beer we could find, but didn't get to any breweries. NZ's mico brew scene reminded me of the US mb scene back in the 1990's before it started to blow up. As much as kiwi's like their beer, I figure it's only a matter of time before micobreweries start exploding all over the islands.

After I got back to the US, I found out my local bottle shop is now carrying beer from NZ's 8 Wired Brewing Co. Not bad at all. When I asked my buddy in at the Mount if he's heard of it, or can get it, he said "No."

 

[DaveW]

Yeah Soren at 8wired does some nice brews.

 

[?????]

I do believe all international flights include free/unlimited alcohol. You just have to ask.

 

[Full Trucker]

Looks like an awesome trip! My favorite road signs from when we visited were the "Merge Like a Zip" ones, so rad.

I was at this exact sign (#8) yesterday afternoon! Weird!! Those maps were so effing confusing.. My favorites were Hot X Buns, A Trail, and The Dipper.

Hmmm... did you not ride Be Rude Not To? Or the National Downhill, or whatever it's called? Daaannnnng.

And yeah, Kiwi beer. It is what it is, I suppose. My gal and I stumbled in to a really nice little basement pub that had great beer in Rotorua, can't remember the name of it though. We also had a really good IPA from this brewery here when I was in Aukland...

 

[N8 v2.0]

Shoulda added this earlier in the thead, sry, my bad

 

[Wingnut]

How's the swimming?

 

[Toshi]

It's Rotorua.

That's Lake Rotorua in the back ground.

No that is very definitely Rotorua. If it was queenstown the mountains on the other side of the lake would dwarf those puny lil rolling hills.

N8, the reason your beer sucked so much is that you were drinking mainstream beer from a big multinational owned by Heineckin. Just down the road from you in Rotorua is Croucher brewery, excellent pale ale and Pilsner and their "Patriot" black IPA is seriously amazing.

I stand corrected. I didn't look at the hills and thought that one land couldn't possibly have two gondolas and two luge tracks. Qtown:

 

[sstalder5]

Looks like an awesome trip! My favorite road signs from when we visited were the "Merge Like a Zip" ones, so rad.


Hmmm... did you not ride Be Rude Not To? Or the National Downhill, or whatever it's called? Daaannnnng.

And yeah, Kiwi beer. It is what it is, I suppose. My gal and I stumbled in to a really nice little basement pub that had great beer in Rotorua, can't remember the name of it though. We also had a really good IPA from this brewery here when I was in Aukland...

Ahh I forgot about that one. I rode that on the first day. I didn't make it to the national track though. It would've destroyed either bike I rode though. Oh and I second that Epic IPA. I think it was called Armageddon. Very tasty, but at $9.50 each at the bar I only had two.




And Toshi, that gondola is shorter than most chairlifts I've seen. It didn't make much sense to me.