Goodbye Deb...last dinner and dishes.

our new flat

after sleeping at camps, this is a palace

nice walk up to the village

Mt. Eden

progressive area

cool old buildings

last supper

dynamic duo

reminds us of deb

great day

sweet as

great mural

02/20

     Debs last day with us...got into Mt. Eden about 5pm, checked into our most cool newest flat and then headed into Mt Eden for dinner...settled on The Molten Restaurant...food not so good, wine excellent. An early night for us so Deb is well 
rested for her long, long flight tomorrow.

 02/21
     Today we took Deb to catch her plane home...we will miss her very much, we have been together now for about 6 weeks and nanc and I have never found someone so easy to travel with...we laughed, bitched and did a ton of dishes together...goodbye Deb!! This afternoon we did a little recon on Mt Eden, what a cool little town. Martin Engler sent us an email and we are joining him for lunch on Thursday...these are a few pics from our day.

Tauranga...David's brother Tim.

boardwalk

Our last day in Gisborne. We thanked the Langford's for their generosity and hospitality, gave hugs all around and then set off for our 6 hour drive to Auckland. David's brother Tim had spoken with him the night before and invited us to stop at Tauranga and have lunch with him. Tim had visited with debbie and her family in 1973 (in Boulder)...we accepted the invitation and headed north. Tauranga is another one of those places that's way off the tourist track for some odd reason. I think next time I come to NZ I'm only visiting off the tourist track area's...this place is awesome. Beautiful beaches, great little downtown, and what looks like tons of things to do.

great grass gardens

lots of events held here

a day late for a festival

Tim and Deb 40 years later

Left Gisborne this morning at 7am headed for Auckland...had a memorable time with Kath, Sophie and the Langford's, such generous and wonderful people...we stopped in Tauranga to have a quick visit with David's brother Tim...Tim visited Deb's family in Boulder in 1973...ya 39 years ago...we had a fun lunch with he and his daughter Victoria...when he started talking and telling stories the resemblance with David was amazing...born storytellers these boys, wish we'd of meant there father, he must have been something.

The White Picnic in the Pasture

02/20      

James, erin, Micah and Jess

kids having fun

kath giving direction

a real picnic...sort of

real sandwiches

sophie and nanc

beautiful day for a shoot

     Kathleen is a very avante-garde filmmaker...she has had an idea in her head for years and has now started filming. We were lucky to be present for what is called, "The White Picnic in the Pasture",...interesting idea and the shots she got were really good...these photos I got during the shooting. Kath has so many talents...she is a child wisperer who is amazing with kids and animals take to her like DoctorDolittle. I get the idea she doesn't recognize these talents in herself...I may have to tell her. 

WakaAma...paddling on the river.

     The Langford's are tremendous paddler's. Suze and Rachel are world class and rank very high on team and individual paddling...they have both been in world events and placed at the top. David is also a strong paddler, on a strong team. They own, and partially own, a couple different Waka's...canoe's basically, add the word Ama and you have an Outrigger or "Canoe with an Arm". Deb and I had really wanted to do a paddle so David and Suze set it up for the  afternoon of the 19th...it was a nice overcast day, warm but not hot. We took out the 6 passenger Waka, David in back steering and from the front to back it was Suze, Debbie, Kath, Rachel, me and then David...I was between the power. If you saw Rachel you could never understand how she has the force with a paddle she does...she is very petite, lots of muscle but very small...anyway she is a force with a paddle in her hands. Suze and Rach gave us a quick lesson in team paddling and safety, we boarded the Waka, and away we went. At first the going was slow because our timing was off and we were all out of sync as a team, but in a very short time with Rach, David and Suze guiding us, we started getting it and got faster and faster...We paddled up the river about 1/2 hour and then back...great workout and very cool way to spend the afternoon.

Kingwood Arboretum Feb. 18

one of my all time favorite benches

beautiful

the mushrooms were giant

a good day for plant watching

Deb and nanc swapping tales

Kath loved this fence

these meadows were so nice

the hat was made for this place

many little areas for sitting and taking a break

great blue colors behind the green

lots of work fencing things in and out

Nanc and her walking sticks

ahhhhhh

Cathedral - Mountain Ash

Kath getting the rocks out of her shoes...

wonderful fountain

A beautiful natural setting...lots of track's you can take, an English Garden and hours of wandering around...nice walk, interesting plants and great views. In a lot of ways I preferred this to the Botanical Gardens we'd visited.

Rere Falls and Rockslide

Some of our days have been absolutely jam packed with stuff to do, today was one. Gisborne is way off the tourist track and I have no idea why...today we ventured up to the Kingwood Arboretum and then drove a couple Km over to Rere Falls for lunch and Rere Rockslide for fun...a perfect touristy day.

Rere Falls

Just off the rode...no charge to get in.

lots of warnings

this fence line is so cool

a single lamb was up there making so much noise

Sophie waits her turn

Kath making her way to the track

Soph is off and away...brrr

mother and daughter were so pleased with themselves...

Soph giving me instructions

very fast slide

didn't even crash at the bottom...just rode until I sank

Where is my towel!

another free event...in the states this would cost plenty.

we celebrated a great day with dinner at Cantina Caliente, Kath bought!

owned by Californians this was very good food.

The falls were awesome...very wide and high with great volumns of water coming down. Suze and Kath told us on some days you can actually get in behind the waterfalls and get some terrific pictures, not today, to much water. Nice area for swimming if you can take the cold water or you can just sit and enjoy the falls. We had lunch to the sound of water...very cool. After a few pictures and a sandwich we headed over to the Rere Rockslide...this is a natural rock slide that's about 45 meters long and empties into a nice little area...again the water was very cold...the only 2 of us thinking about doing the slide were Sophie and I, it didn't look any worse than the sand boarding we'd done but man the water was freezing...I am such a baby about cold water I decided to not do it. Sophie was now on her own...she did seem a bit reluctant, but when her mom Kath decided to join her, she was all in...now you have to understand Kath, this woman would be cold in an oven, in the summer. She actually walks around on warm days with a wool cap and jacket on (sometimes a down jacket)...of all the people willing to go down this cold slide, she would have been the last one I would have picked...obviously I couldn't let her one up me. So, brrrring all the way I made my way out to the slide, got a few instructions from Sophie and one of the guys in a wet suit, jumped on the boggy board and had a great ride down the slide...very cool to do but very cold also. Once was enough, time to dry off and watch all the kids in their wetsuits . A fun fun day.