New Zealand 
Rotorua: The compleat hot springs experience(4)
My forrays to the New Zealand hot springs were by far the most fun of my around-the-world trip so far. I admit to being a spa-water-mud addict and will gladly spring into any naturally hot thermal waters anywhere. But four hot springs/spas in four days – I really felt like having a gourmet feast! And [...]
Full Story»
Rotorua: learn to love that smell of sulphur!
Did you know New Zealand has more than 100 natural hot springs? I didn’t. So I was thrilled to find out that most of them are located in the North Island especially in the area around Lake Rotorua, an easy under-three-hour drive from Auckland. If you arrive in the evening, as I did, you [...]
Auckland: City of Views
While not the capital of New Zealand, it is the country’s largest city with 1.4 million inhabitants (roughly 31% of the entire country’s population). The central city area is located on an isthmus between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, boasting two harbours on two separate major bodies of water.
I had been told [...]
Auckland: Elephants in the skies – the Civic Theatre
Picture this: Auckland, New Zealand, prior to 1929. Stores only open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Monday to Friday, few restaurants not open late. Although the first commercial film was shown at the Opera House in Auckland in 1896 and there were over 600 cinemas in New Zealand by the 1920s (a statistic [...]