Trip Across the Ditch to the "East Australian Islands" ;-P

Finally crossed the Tasman Sea (the 'ditch') for a trip to New Zealand (hee hee the 'East Australian Islands' - in response to what the staff at the car rental said about Australia being the West Island as opposed to their North Island and South Island).

The trip was for two weeks and only on the North Island but only in and around these regions:

• Coromandel - Thames, Coromandel, Te Mata and driving through interesting place names like 'Kereta' which means 'car' in Malay :-)
• Rotorua - driving through Ngongotaha and staying in Rotorua
• Taupo
• Waikato - in particular Waitomo, also driving through Matamata - in Malay this is the word for police/detective - correct me if I am wrong :-) 
• Bay of Islands - at Kerikeri

The weather was mostly rainy :-( and strangely it seems warm at night - pix to follow.