Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Day 20

These are the scooters we rented in Port Douglas.



This made us laugh, somethings just don't translate even in English...



These signs were at the edge of all the ponds and even on the beach.
We even saw a croc waiting at the edge of one of the ponds in one of the housing developments!

Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns


Jen on the second level sun-deck of the Ocean Quest

Dive staging area on the lower level of the Ocean Quest

Stearn view of the Ocean Quest



Port Douglas over looking 4 mile beach.


This is the view of Auckland from the ferry going to Waiheke Island


Waiheke Island view



Mike and Jen on Waiheke Island



Hi there,


We made it back "home" to New Zealand, at least that's what it felt like as we rode in the shuttle back to the familiar hostel in Auckland last night.

I promised to post more photos once we found an Internet cafe so those are at the top.

Today we went to Waiheke Island, kind of a Madeline Island on New Zealand a 30 min ferry ride off the coast of Auckland. We rented a 150cc motorcycle and rode around the island for a couple of hours until we got rained out. We were able to get some great photos, some are mixed in with the Cairns photos above so you'll have to read the captions.

The Island was very nice, we met a fellow American who had also rented a motorcycle, we had a beer with him in the local pub while waiting for the return ferry. Turns out he works for the Secret Service based in LA and is in NZ with his wife who works for the New Zealand Consulate in LA. He was from St Cloud, MN so we had lots to talk about. We gave him some ideas for enjoying the South Island as he and his wife were heading down there this weekend. Very nice guy.

So now were in Auckland, Crosby Stills and Nash are playing in concert tonight so Jen wants to see if we can score any last minute tickets to the show. Maybe we can get a couple of the reserve tickets they usually hold up to the hour before the show. We'll see...

Other than that we finally found where to shop, the Auckland area downtown has lots of good stores with reasonable prices so we're feeling optimistic we can find some good stuff.

We fly out to LA tomorrow at 7:15PM and arrive the same day at 10:15AM so tomorrow is our Ground Hog's Day... ;)

Hope everyone is doing well, we'll see you soon.

Love, Mike and Jen.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Have a safe trip back!! Can't wait to see you. There should be snow on the ground when you return!! Love Craig, Amy, Kota, Stout, Mom and Dad

Rita said...

I hope you get into the concert. You have had such an awesome trip!Say HI to Shelley for us! Call us on a cell when you get home.
Love, Mama

Anonymous said...

We've been following you in your journey. Sounds like you guys have had an amazing trip, we're so jealous!! Hope to see you soon so we can see all your pictures and hear your stories.

Bill and Becki