Mt. Ruapehu

Just last week Roger was finally able to get out to do some skiing. Mt. Ruapehu is about 3 hours from our house.

Whakapapa Ski field

If you think "Whakapapa" sounds funny try the real pronunciation. In the Maori language they do not have the letter "F." "Wh" is prounced like an "f." NOW try saying Whakapapa. (They're a bit sensitive about us pakeha folks making fun of some of their words.)

NZ landscape

We took another road trip in early August around the East Cape. It is a fairly remote area and sparsely populated. The weather was semi-cooperative, but even the gray days and rain provided some good photos. We had some sun for this panoramic view. The next several photos are of the East Cape region.

Mahia Peninsula

We were in Mahia several months ago, but came back again. It's so different than most of NZ. We spent a night here in a very nice B&B that sits almost right on the beach.

Mahia Peninsula

Lamb jam

The following few photos show some of the entertainment available on the NZ roads.

Right, like we COULD pass.

Yep, still having fun.

We've had more flats in the past 6 months than in the past 15 years! We have driven kilometres and kilometres here in NZ; the two flat tires (oh, excuse me, tyres) we've had have been 300 kilometres from home but only about 50 kilometeres from each other. How strange is that?