Again we hear that this weather is not the norm, that el nina and global warming is to blame.

Tāmaki Makaurau is the Māori name for Auckland, means Tāmaki desired by many. It is at the narrowest part of the island…. So accessible by both oceans. Auckland also place of sails with over 500,000 watercraft

1840 treaty signed … constitution between all people under one king.

The capital first was Okiato then to Auckland and then to Wellington. It changed to Wellington because it was located in the middle of the two islands.

Mount Telemaki is the name of the volcano north of Auckland. The black sand in the area is from the lava from that volcano. Because of the high iron content the sand is very hot on feet when it is sunny.

1000 years ago…. People came from Couiki(French Polynesia) but the great migration came about 1300 ad. From those there were 8 major tribes of Māori. The Maoris are the best combat warriors in world in hand to hand combat.

1648… Abel Tesman was the first “white” explorer the come.

In 1776…. Captain Cook arrived. He called Christchurch…. Banks Isl. cause he thought it was an island.

NZ Flax (Harakeke) is used to in the making of clothing, fishing nets & lines & many other uses.

Lamb raised is mainly for Merino wool. It is the be all, end all. It breathes, is warm, doesn’t get smelly & dries fast. It also doesn’t itch.

Lots of Fresian cows-highest producers of dairy. Our guide told us that they are white but after being in the field a while they turn black, they then bring them in to milk then when they send them back out they are white again…. Lol!!!

Honey that is made by bees that feed on the melaleuca (called something else here… manukau ) bushes, is big business here.

Firth of Thames… furthest Cook got….. 1769. In late 1800s the area hoping was like wild west because gold was discovered

Driving into an area of beautiful hills with native trees and ferns and introduced trees (that because of the ideal growing conditions, matures in 15-20 years. In other countries takes hundreds of years). Now they are trying to get the native to be reintroduced to the areas that has had the non-native trees.

Kauri trees….. huge and straight. The ones that were over 2000 years old were all cut down. These 2 are over 700years. They are sub-tropical. The trail has been closed for their protection. The soul brought in on people boots were being absorbed by the trees and killing them.

We cannot see a thing because of the fog/low cloud …. Can’t see the terrific view 😂 of dolphins jumping in the sea. We were just remarking that we can’t believe this weather. It just doesn’t want to quit!

We are going down to the beach at Hot Water Beach to make “hot tubs” in the sand with shovels we got from our accommodations…. Accommodations that are one room huts cute and better than sleeping a tent but do not include bathrooms. You have to walk to a community washroom like when camping). We had so much fun. You have to search for spots that have hot water under the sand (geothermal). If we knew at the start how to recognize the spots (they had bubbles coming to the surface like when you are searching for clams in the sand). Some spots were so hot it seriously was scalding my feet. Everyone including others not from our group would sit in these nice warm pools only to have a big wave come crashing in and taking out the walls.

Mokos is the name of Māori tattoos on the face. It tells a story of each persons life.

Hahei (translation is Ha’s nose) is name of the town after the Island in the bay that someone thought looked like a nose.

Mercury Bay named because Cook used Mercury to navigate.

We went to where Narnia was filmed. Most of the group went to Cathedral Cave, I went partway veering off down to Stingray Bay. You cannot see any stingrays today cuz the waves were pounding in. It was a really good hike down and back up with so many giant ferns on the way….. amazing!

Pohutukawa…. New Zealand Christmas Tree. They already are decorated with red bobbles on them…in the form of dark red fluffy/spikey flowers.

All endemic trees are evergreen.

10,248 steps (13 stories)

Guess what we did today….. nothing except slept in …..not surprising, eh? The gals got their room changed so we are no longer 4 in a room.

And so it’s another day …..the 3rd in a row, of not really seeing and doing anything. We met up with our new CEO Brett (or Taxi) at 6pm and the new group of 6 (added to our 10)….2 couples, one from Calgary and the other from UK plus 2 single gals.

Just a few pictures of the downtown buildings

7880 steps

Up at 5 am, to the lobby by 6 for transfer to the airport. We arrive before 7 only to find out the flight that was supposed to leave at 10, has been cancelled. As someone said….. “it just keeps getting better”. Apparently they have us booked on for a flight at 7:15pm…fffffff!!! And so we all went by train back to the hotel we had just left, to leave our bags and for some, went and saw some other stuff. Now after getting through “checkpoint Charlie” at the airport and sitting at the gate…. On our second trip to the airport, we find that the damned flight been delayed…..AGAIN! This time it’s 8:55pm. Will we ever get to Auckland & our hotel? I am NOT get up early tomorrow.

We finally flew off into the “great blue yonder” arriving at Auckland airport 2 am local time on the next day. First we were not greeted by anyone with a sign saying they were picking our tour up…. That was supposed to happen, so someone thought that maybe….one of the vans across from us was our transfer. It was. Well when we arrived at our hotel…a homeless guy was on the outside so out of it he didn’t notice us. The front door was locked. One gal in our group kept phoning someone to open the doors…. Finally someone showed up…. After at least a half hour. Before we head to our room another questionable character came in, wanders & then goes up in the elevator…. To our floor. We go to our room, put the key in only to have the door having a chain across it. It was Grace and Chantelle from our group on the other side. Because there was a queen and 2 single beds, and it was so late, we decided to all crash together. It was 4:15 am when I sat down on the bed. Can you believe this.? And so it keeps on getting better.

8200 steps….

This will be most just picture of Sydney and surround area

George St. has more high rises than any other street in the city.

Chinatown

Hyde Park and Anzac memorial to all war dead. And Australian Museum …. Where are to change to city(red)tour…. Later. Next William Street

1974 Coca Cola sign

Kings Cross St. To Victoria St. Then Jewish Museum. Oxford st where gay and lesbian Mardi Gras is held with 200,000 attending. Paddington town hall Centennial park…. Lots of older 3 story buildings

We met Lori and Randy from Orange County CA on the hop on bus and kept running into them. Bondi beach fir lunch and look around

Bondi …means “place of breaking water” in the Aboriginal language . Did you also know that when the white nan came they asked what the name of the kangaroos was. The aborigines replied “I’m don’t understand what your saying” and so the name stuck…. Lol!

Back in bus for rest of tour through area of pretty nice homes. …most exclusives

Hyde park barracks for info obtrusive res sent to Ai.

The Sydney Bridge was also called the Iron Lung bridge because it brought life back to Sydney. It employed 3000 people from 1922-32 and so saved it from a crippling depression.

Rose Bay first international air port in 1932 but today only seaplanes rein out of there.

Double Bay -luxury cars

KingsCross area is the red light district for anything you want to see plus regular nightclubs.

Largest Vertical garden in world

Heritage building residences cannot be torn down

April 25 … Anzac Day… holiday

Maritime museum followed by area of decline then redevelopment huge convention centre

Crown Casino and 5 star hotel… most expensive suite is 25,000/ night

Barangaroo

The Rocks …cruise ship centre.. pubs and shops

Anzac bridge with flag on top

April 25 … Anzac Day… holiday

11 ships brought convicts here in 1788. Men, women and children were brought from Britain for very minor offences…. 20% of the population can trace their origins from those convict.

6000 steps….. mostly on a bus. Sorry this is so discombobulated. Not feeling myself.

I noticed that some pictures seem to be cut off. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and show the whole thing.

I am just a little annoyed when I have to replace pictures cuz this platform won’t handle too many and then I neglect to also replace the descriptions. Sorry !!!

A beautiful day as was yesterday… should mention that cuz it’s been so infrequently.

Off to the big city of Sydney at 10 am but first to Jelly Bean Pools for a swim…. a 40 minute drive.

After lunch it was into Sydney and a drive through the downtown area ending up at Mrs. Macquarrie’s Chair. It has a terrific view of th Sydney bridge and Opera House & downtown. Fort Dennison in harbour is former penal colony and military site.

Woolloomooloo is the area that Sam hung out in as a teen. Can you believe there is a name such as that???

After checking into our hotel we went for a walk around the city. First we went to the Memorial to the ANZACs (Australians and New Zealand Army Coros) that went to Turkey in 1915 …..5000 were slaughtered It’s called the Pools of Reflections. It is In Hyde Park…a 16 hectare park in the middle of the city. The walk included the Botanical Gardens. The park extends to Sydney Harbour. The area has quite a number of heritage buildings abutting it.

Hyde Park barracks in since1917 … was originally to house prisoners. L. Macquarie—- governor 1917

More pictures to follow…. The platform keeps crashing with too many pictures

When the Sydney Opera House was built it was to cost 7 million but eventually ended up costing 108 M

We walked around it and the waterfront…. We were faced with a spectacular sight. Right up there with Dubai and Shanghai with their awe-inspiring designs.

Thunder and lightning struck at the same time so you know how close it was, while we were eating dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant. The workers ducked for cover like it was a bomb going off. It was quite the thrilling experience. And then the downpour!!! And I thought the suggestion that we bring a rain jacket on our walk had been foolish.

13,871 steps today

Leura is the area where our accommodation is. Katoomba is the town where we go to “ScenicWorld” and where we went for lunch. Scenic World has the steepest railway in the world (a 52 degree incline… check the pictures. I would say it was a funicular instead of a railway but that’s what they are calling it. Getting in and sitting down was interesting. The seat was in the form of an open “V”.

Walking through the rainforest we heard a Lyrebird… a cool chirping sound but we didn’t could not see one. There are vines that are so strong they can hold up the family car.

The cableway is 240 meters … breathtaking!

Another cable car skyway 270 meters is the highest in Australia ……where we see the 3 Sisters …spectacular scenery. The view reminds me of God’s Window in South Africa only better. There was really tall waterfall called Katoomba Falls that we could see on the way across the open span

On walk to a lookout to be closer to the 3 Sisters there were plants that resembled Protea but were called Bancksia.

Now off to a hike to a waterfall and another lookout. My right leg is not liking this climbing up and down stairs/inclines.

After we had lunch in town in Katoomba, we wandered through an alley with some pretty awesome street art. I would prefer it if instead of the tagging that is done at home, they did stuff like this. While on the main street I noticed a “strange looking dude” with blond dreadlocks, explanation-mark like face paint, a knitted torque with earflaps, wearing a ruffled black skirt over jogging pants. I’m now wondering if he was one of the artists!

One thing we have found was that many of the hotels have no one on their front desk beyond say 4pm. They leave a key in a lock box or leave the keys in the open room.

10,712 steps.

If there are no pictures someone let me know and I will send them separately. I seem to have them up and then I don’t.

We left for town to grab breakfast just after 8 and were to leave by 9 with our next stop to be the koala hospital/sanctuary for the victims of the fires a couple of years ago. We all piled back into the bus only to have it not start. Our bus driver/ CEO Sam hunted down the battery (not easily found) but didn’t have hardly any tools. First he went to a mechanic’s shop for ideas on how to fix it cuz we didn’t have trouble starting it in the morning. He came back and tried to fix it but was lacking a proper sized wrench so then had to go and purchase one. 2 hours later he turned the key, it started, everyone cheered and we were off to see the koalas.there is a wealth of information that might find interesting if you read the info boards…

I was mistaken that these koalas are there only because of the fires. Mostly they are there because they’ve been hit by vehicles. Of course drivers don’t stop for pedestrians so why would they stop for koalas. Also they are losing their natural habitat and will not hesitate to cross a road in order to find another tree. We saw a momma and a baby Joey (just like a baby kangaroo… because they are both marsupials…. they both keep their baby in a pouch). The Joey was under a year, had been born in the sanctuary. There was another a bit older. The momma had been found wandering in the middle of town so they don’t know where her area was to release her back to. Other koalas have eye injuries, another has no pads on its feet and hands because of fires so can never climb again. Damn they are so cute and cuddly looking. Did you know they sleep 20 hours a day….. it’s kinda hard to get a. Picture if one awake and moving. I have a video but unable to send.

We all go back to the bus only to find we have the problem again. It wasn’t long before Sam got it going again but then he decided it would be good to get a new battery so back to Port Macquarrie we went to spend several more hours hanging around the beautiful waterfront. I watched a group of young teens jump into the water from posts on the wharf. We left just after 3pm.

Blue mountains get the name from the blue haze that the eucalyptus trees give off.

Stopped at Lake Macquarrie on the north side of Sydney…just for a break. Saw some birds in the trees…. Looked like parrots.

Arrived at our destination at 11pm….knackered!

Only 6526…. Not surprising!!!

I awoke to pouring torrential rains….again! It’s relentless!!!

After getting breaky at bakery (they make fabulous pies in Oz) we went from jungle and relentless rain to rolling hills and sun (and cloud) in under 10 minutes…… amazing!

Passed through an area just around Ballinas, that obviously have had fires in the eucalyptus trees. They seem to have regrown the leaves on most. I missed it but there was a ladder that crossed over the highway so that the koalas can safely cross the highway.

Stopped at Coffs Harbour at the”Big Banana”, an amusement /theme park, etc.

From there to Port Macquarrie, and Wauchole where we are spending the night.

January 25, Australia Day the day the British came ashore and massacred the aboriginals. For the natives it’s a day of mourning. Also called the “Hottest Day when they hear the hottest music, bbq and drink too much beer.

8512 steps