And so it starts...

Instead of trying to get everything perfect, it's better to just dive right in, right? Well, here we go.

The title picture was taken at the top of Mt. Maunganui on the east coast of New Zealand. It was the last time for the next twelve months that we could point across the ocean and say "Look! Victoria is right over there!"

We got into Auckland at 5:30 in the morning, picked up the rental car and drove south out of Auckland after deciding not to test Rob’s newfound driving-on-the-wrong-side skills in the downtown core. Instead, we headed straight to the Waitomo glow worm caves. Our cameras aren't good enough to give you any idea of how spectacular the glowworms are but here are some pics of the astounding stalactites:

Stalactites reflected in the water as we were being paddled around in a tin boat by a Maori girl who demanded absolute silence while we viewed the glowworms. Interesting fact: the glow is caused by a chemical reaction between what the worm has digested and oxygen. Voila - bioluminescent poo.

This is for you, Jane. With your fabric draping superpower, you would really appreciate the beauty of these shawl formations. They're over 6 feet long and as thin as a piece of velvet.

After the caves, we headed to Cambridge. Our motel room was right over a major highway (no wonder he was so willing to give us two rooms for the price of one!) but we hadn't been to bed in two days and slept like logs.

I'm going to skip over Hobbiton because guest blogger Sophie will be covering that soon...

On towards the coast. We visited the Hanurama Redwood Forest only to discover that the trees there had been imported and are native to the Pacific West Coast. No wonder it smelled like home. There were two springs, one of which was called “Dancing sands” because the sand bubbles up as the gushing water pushes it. 

We also went to Okere falls where there used to be a hydro energy plant and now is just a rusted couple of turbines and a raging river.

The entire time we were in New Zealand, we didn't eat a single kiwi. But we did visit a kiwi farm:

And that's it for now. We'll try and post something every day or two - let us know what you think!