28 - New Zealand

We had a great flight to New Zealand -  starting with another few hours spent relaxing in the Qantas Lounge at the airport.  I am so spoiled now....

Lovely lounge and all you care to eat/drink.  It's so quiet and comfortable vs. the normal airport gate environment.

The flight from Sydney to New Zealand was not that long, but for some reason we were on a Airbus 330.  That means we got the lay-flat seating "pods" in business class.  Always good fun and so very comfortable!  As usual, they fed us from start to finish.  I got the veggie special meals again - forgot to take a photo.

We got a very late start today - driving from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula.  All I can say is - it's green - very, very green!!  (and lovely!)

We drove on a gravel road for about 20 miles to see a Kauri tree out in the middle of nowhere.   Yep, we went to see a tree.   Here is the view overlooking the mountains.

We went up 200 stairs.  Yep, I counted them on the way back down!

And here is the tree.  It really is big - it's a Kauri tree - an evergreen that is likely about 1000 years old.  There are older ones - this one is the 15th oldest in the forest.  Amazing that something could be that old!

We stayed the night in Whitianga.  Beautiful little harbor town.  And yeah, all the town's names are really hard to pronounce!

We took a stroll around town.  Pretty marina.  That's all for today, folks!