Lakes

> After the Toyota dealer we drove into some lovely lake country. In the back is the Terawera volcano that blew in the late 1800s.

Rotorua

This is the biggest tourist attraction on the North Island – a big crater lake surrounded by steaming hotsprings, geysers and theme park activities. We are in a cheap ($55 for two) backpackers’ hostel, which is borderline even by my minimal standards. Since we are also too cheap to pay $30 to see a geyser…

>Today’s hostel in Waitomo

> Here is the view from our window. I think the bus is from the company that does hop-on hop-off tours of the major attractions in the country. Backpackers get passes and stay as long as they want at each place on the route. I have to get used to taking a few representative and…

>Finally – Report from New Zealand

>We have left my brother's place just north of Auckland after 4 days visiting around there. New Zealand is a very civilized country – people speak English, the weather is pleasant, no volcanoes are expected to erupt in the next few weeks, and I am told there are no poisonous critters to be found. So,…

Gold medal hockey game

[This is a post I wrote on my i-pod on the last day of the Olympics. Now the excitement is all over and people don’t know what to talk about. The Paralympic Games start this weekend, so we are being let down somewhat gradually…] We decided to go downtown for the last day and forego…