Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

A lovely breezy day for the last of Oceania. A slow start, a bit of shopping finding a great NZ -designed shirt and then another from a Korean designer. A nice lunch at Baduzzi , where we tried to eat our first night and was it closed, but now back open.                                            A reservation for dinner at The Grove , the big sister restaurant of Baduzzi , where the manager assured us the Auckland celeb chef would be in residence cooking our five course degustation tonight. An easy, lovely last day where I found Auckland really growing on me as we discovered new places and lanes, architecture and even art at the Gallery. But as we wrap up our big trip and pack for the next week or so in Oahu, here is why travel is wonderful. Last evening, after seeing The Experimenter at the hip art-house movie theater with only 16 seats, we walked to the...

We actually had a quick and easy drive into Auckland with no wrong turns, right to our hotel. We drove in on a four lane each way road, which I believe may be the only one that big in the entire country. The Sky Grand was indeed grand, compared to our digs in Rotorua and especially because this lovely 18th floor room with a modern bath and floor to ceiling windows actually cost a dollar a night LESS than the Rotorua piece of crap.  We are finding this all over Australia and New Zealand...the bigger the town or city, the more luxurious and cheaper the accommodations are. In the small, middle of nowhere places, rates are high and hotels are clean and adequate at best. Guess that goes along with my overall impression that the best of NZ is in the big tourist spots.  Steve dropped the car off to Hertz while I met with the concierge to line up what to do and where to eat. Imagine my surprise to learn that there were not an over abundance of city attractions, there wer...

Before we left on this trip, everyone I knew who had been to Australia only absolutely loved it. Those who had been to both Australia and New Zealand really liked Australia, and raved about New Zealand.  Since we had postponed our trip a year and decided to add a couple of weeks, I was enthusiastic about spending more time in NZ and one of my parts of planning this journey was the 17 nights in NZ.  Steve got the Great Ocean Road part to plan. Both were on the road, in-the-car days between the big cities and sites.  Most people I know who have been here, granted that is probably only about five, had 10 days or so to do the NZ highlights, usually flying from place to place. I had read many guidebooks and websites and found it impossible to pick only one island to visit. Each time I settled on the South Island, with Queenstown, Milford Sound and the Glaciers, I would read great things about Wellington, Napier, Rotorua and Auckland, on the North Island. I sim...