Hi All

Yesterday I spent an hour typeing stuff up and got
disconnected when I tried to send it off. As usual
it didn't get automatically saved. So here goes
again.

Some things about New Zealand

- in older buildings and hotels the water taps are
reversed, hot on the right cold on the left
- most bathrooms have a drain built in the floor
- most toilets have two buttons, one for regular
flush, the other for mega flush (stand back from
the unit when using mega flush, especially when
wearing shorts)
- pedestrian cross walk lights are not lite until
you press the button to cross, they light for a
couple of minutes and then turn off
- outside of Auckland most shops close at 5pm, noon
on Saturday, and nothing is usually open Sunday

Needless to say I wasn't able to get internet
access Saturday and Sunday.

Well Monday morning it was time to do some sightseeing.
First off to Waitomo caves, glow worm country. The cave
was about 45 minutes away from Raglan, the place that
took fours hours to drive to on Saturday. Just South of
Hamilton I picked up some hitch hikers (a couple). It
had been raining all morning and was still raining a
bit when I picked them up and whoa, were they a little
ripe. They said they were coming back from a festival
in Raglan. I said "the Reggae Eco Fest". Sure enough.
I guess that was why they had that "earthy" smell.
Anyways we spent time talking about NZ and Canada
before dropping them off. The caves were cool. I also
went further down the road to an earth bridge and a
water fall. The bridge was a piece of an old cave
system that had collapsed, but one part stayed intacked.
I hope the pictures turn out. There was another sight
to see nearby, a 270m tunnel bore out by a small stream
that also had glow worms. Try as I might I couldn't find
it or any signs for it. Eventaully I went down the road
and stopped at this pub in the middle of nowhere. I was
directed to the "old man" in the garage, who happened
to be the owner. Oh, I forgot to mention that there
was a 30 foot rusting hull of a boat out front of the
pub. I asked if the boat was his, and it was, and he
said there was a long story to it. Being pressed for
time I asked about the cave. He proceded to tell me
about how he found it once, years ago, while fishing
with a friend, and that it took so long to walk because
of his gimp leg, which had to do with the boat, etc,
etc. Fearing a longer story about the boat I didn't ask.
In the end it was 1.5 hour walk into the bush and I
would need a torch. Not haveing the time or a torch I
decided it was worth the trip back at a future date,
and maybe some extra time for the boat story.

Anyways it was getting late and I decided it was time
to head for Rotorua. It was too late for the Kiwi house
and too late to drop in and see Crowded House's house.
The drive took 2.5 hours through the centre on the
North Island. This is a highland area where most of
their forestry industry is located. They grow
evergreens and trim the bottom branches every couple of
years. I came across a straight stretch of road about
5km long with rather large trees. I stopped to take a
picture and when I stepped from the car the noise was
deafening. Cicadaes. It was truly unreal. Further down
the road I stopped to take a picture of a lone tree on
a large hill covered in sheep. When I stepped out of
the car I burst out laughing. All I could hear was the
"Bahhing" of sheep in the distance.

Just before nighfall I made it into Rotorua. I really
didn't want to be caught out on the road at night as
the radio kept telling me that the campaign to cut down
on drinking and driving was having no effect.
Apparently it's still quite a national problem.

Anyways, More to come. Vivre Sunday shopping and
extended shop hours.

Martin