The Hell Hole of the Pacific and Lake Taupo

When we walked out of the airport in Auckland Calvin said that it looked like El Cerrito.  I agree.  I thought most of the North Island looked like Northern California in a really good year.  New Zealand is a gorgeous county.  After Auckland we headed north to the Bay of Islands.  

One day we took the car ferry to the town of Russell, otherwise known as the Hell Hole of the Pacific. Calvin loves a good ferry ride.

Calvin looks pretty comfortable by a 170 year old fig tree.

We toured a pretty little church that is the oldest church in New Zealand.

We had lunch at a beach cafe and then enjoyed a relaxing afternoon on the  beach.

Not a bad way to start a vacation.

Later in the week we spent a couple of days at Lake Taupo, a lake that reminded us of Lake Tahoe. Taupo is a resort town and has it's own distinctive McDonalds

Calvin checking out the MD3

After a hearty meal we took an afternoon kayak paddle on the lake.

The center black cinder cone in the distance (without the snow) is Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings.

We paddled to Mine Bay where in 1976 Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell, along with a couple of friends, carved an image of his ancestor Ngatoroirangi in the rock face.

The image is impressive, knowing it was all done with hand tools, but this gives you a little idea of the scale of the carving.

On the paddle back we saw a family of black swans.  They are not native to New Zealand, but I had never seen a black swan before.

Calvin has a few more pictures, but they haven't found their way to my computer, so maybe we'll share them later.