I know-it has been a long time since we posted last. Let me say that "Twlfth Night" at the Sydney Opera House was great. We did not get to see the actual opera house but we did get up to the lobby area and enjoyed the views of the harbor. Our play was on a smaller stage which we very much prefered. There were only eight actors who switched roles on occasion. That made the play confusing at times but overall we did follow it along enjoying many of the takeoffs they did off the Shakespearan play.
Thursday was our first bad day of the trip. We had to wake up early to catch our shuttle to the airport (6:00 AM) The driver was at the wrong hotel so we got a late start. He proceeded to pick up more folks-one who was not present, but upon calling in, he turned back to get-resulting in our being late to the airport. Then we mistakenly put the wine that Russ bought us at the wine tour in our carry on, so security took it. Our flight was fine but once in Auckland, we stood in line to go through customs for an hour and a half. Then we grabbed a cab which is what our travel agent told us to do, and proceeded to get totally ripped off by an India taxidriver. Once at the camper place, we found out they had a shuttle!!! Needless to say, by then we were ready to give up. After that, though, things got better. The gal at the camper place was extremely nice and even gave us an awesome map of New Zealand for free ($25 value). We left there with a spanking new, huge traveling trailer equipped with fridge, TV, microwave, king size bed, etc. We have yet to figure some of the things out. After stopping at a grocery store, we finally figured out how to get on the motorway and headed down about a half hour to a RV park (Holiday Park here in NZ) We bought ourselves an extra bottle of wine because we definitely needed it and felt so bad because we were definitely looking forward to the one Russ bought (we had tasted it at the winery-Sorry, Russ :().
This morning greeted us with rain but we felt much better after a decent night's rest. We headed down the coast and stopped at a little town that was full of murals on their buidlings. The "i" center (visitor's center) told us about a Haiku walk that was delightful. Onward we stopped at Kiwi360, where the world's largest supply of kiwis are grown. We went on a grand tour of the orchards and now we will never look at a kiwi the same again! Now we are in Rotorua where we will spend two nights and go to a "hangi" (a Maori dinner and concert) tomorrow night. The scenery and roads are unbelievable-very curvy but lush with all kinds of greenery. Sheep and cows are all grazing on the hillside.
Till later. Now it is time for dinner.
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