From North Island to South Island...

Fountain which pumps drinkable water from the ground, a great way of been Green and get free water.

 View from the top. Here is one side of Wellington city, the small and cozy capital of New Zealand.

 Preparing luch with the girls who hosted us in their lovely house in Welly.

The beach, situated just at the center of town!. What a wonderful city to live in!... (Though this beach is man made, as the white sand was specificaly brought here)

 Plane crash , no! actually the airport is located just behind this mountain... but still is quite impressive to see the planes getting so very close to the houses...

~Zeen~sellers, alana and Edu! This Wellington`s creation is a fantastic idea. Basically you can create your own Zeen just by getting together some ideas (from poems, to personal viws on a topic, to anything you want to share with the public!). Once you have them togheter (thoughts, pictures, drawings...), make as many copies as you want, and volia!, you can sell them, give them, exchange them or whatever you feel likedoing with them!. A very creative way of sharing thoughts and feelings without the need of a publisher...

Bye bye Wellington, here in the Ferry, crossing to the South Island, on our way to Nelson.

Rotorua,

Thermal activity is at the heart of much of Rotorua's tourist appeal. Geysers and bubbling mud-pools, hot thermal springs and the Buried Village so named after it was buried by the 1886. 

Rotorua has a nickname Sulphur City, because of the hydrogen sulphide emissions, which gives the city a “rotten eggs” smell, as well as rotten-rua combining its legitimate name and the rotten smell the city gives.

 Here we are with our ouch surfer hosts, from Left, Eileen a German girl who will now reside at Rotorua, me, Gabriel Morales, in such a small world, from the same city in Brazil than Eduardo and Edu. We had the most amazing jam sessions, tours and conversations with them!! We miss you guys!! :)

Here we are in the thermal pools with another 2 couch surfers from Canada, great girls!!

 Te Mata (or it kills you translated to Spanish!) is a region in Hawke's Bay, near Napier, our next stop in the North Island. Although the name is quite drastic on Spanish, their cheese is amazingly delicious!.

In the honey farm, in Napier with our next Couch Surfing host, Paul and Jo!. 

 Tasting some delicious honey, over and over... yummy!

 Role playing, with Jo as the beekeeper, me as the bee and Paul as the baby bees??

 And Eddie as the master beekeeper!

 Having a surprise pick nick prepared by our hosts in the peak of a hill, eating the cheese and the honey!  Thanks for a cold but unforgettable time!

New Zealand, November 2010

 Hello New Zealand, first stop, Auckland, nice port, busy people, business capital... a Big little city... nothing else and nothing more :)

 Day trip to Rangitoto island, Auckland,
Rangitoto was formed through violent eruptions about 600 years ago.

National bird, proud of his volcanic island :)

Seagulls looking for the daily donations!

 Rangitoto's volcanic ground, nice and smooth...

 Auckland's tower and an atypical Christmas 'Mercedes-Benz' promotion??















Welcome to Thames, a small town situated on the South West coast of the Coromandel Peninsula (North Island). The first contact with New Zealand's architecture, and the super modern buildings and roads...

 With our lovely Coach Surfing host, Mel, who took us on a day trip through the beautiful Coromandel lands. As we got a bit lost on the way we found this great road bar and we tried a nice Kiwi ale as we enjoyed the views and the sun, while deciding where to go next. 

 One very common scene in the Kiwi slopes!

 Cascade, fern flower and Twin Kauri trees.  

The kauri tree is a variety of pine, found in the northern parts of North Island in New Zealand. It is a wide, fat tree that nevertheless grows up to 50 meters!

 

Different views of Cathedral Cove, a beautiful place with very cold waters! :)

Many of the scenes of the film Narnia were shot here!. The scene where the Pevensies return to the ruined Cair Paravel was shot at Cathedral Cove. The filmmakers chose the location because it had a tunnel-like arch, which echoed the train tunnel the children go into before being summoned back into Narnia.

 A very odd case!. In return for their super welcome we wanted to cook a famous tortilla de patatas to Mel and Dave. (ok, not as good as your just yet mum!) and anyway!, egg after egg we got to discover the full 6 pack box full of twins....What are they feeding those chicken with?? :O

 Enjoying a wonderful night, with lovely Mel and Dave, Thanks again for a great time guys! :)

Mel holding the big Jinx! Poor thing is on a diet and is been told to catch his food if he wants an extra portion! (but we think he can't be bothered... )

La Nouvelle Caledonie avec ma chere Rama et Emmanuel!

Welcome to the beautiful island of New Caledonia, situated in the Pacific Ocean, neighbouring New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Tahiti and other small islands ...

One of the many amazing meals with the Micolou-Kane family :)  Great conversations, delicious food (and Stanley's!) and unforgettable moments for all of us... Thanks guys for making us feel home after all these months been 'homeless' :D

 Voila, 'LE FROMAGE', apparently Rama and Emmanuel read our minds before we arrived, as the only thing we had craved in this trip has been Real Cheese... well, even before we had this conversation, these huge blocks of cheese were served on the table... no words to describe the feelings!!

 While Emmanuel rehearsed for his drumming function, we had a great catch up. For the good old times :)











Emmanuel playing the drum in the centre, wearing a green T-shirt.

Sitting down a Flame or Flamboyant tree

                               

 Here we are posing at the Kanak museum in Noumea. The Kanaks are the local inhabitants of New Caledonia who now live together with the French. They use wood craving to reproduce human or animal figures to protect their lands. It is a costume when visiting a Kanak tribe, to bring a piece of fabric or cloth and give it to the tribe Chief in order to ask for permission to visit his land.

Night life in NC. The crazy girls are in town... you better shut down any Karaoke!! (This should have been the advice... but unfortunately they were not aware of us just yet....) Here we are singing Ali's choice of "I've got you babe" by Sonny and Cher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzYBuKaQ83s Nice picture, awful sound! ... LOL

Exploring the island with Rama's Kanak friend, shinny happy people!!




 












Little hoola dancers in a South Pacific festival in Noumea, where Emmanuel played later.





 Once the kava (a grayish cold drink, bade from a root) is the right strength (as deduced from the colour), the ceremony master will call out the nickname of the first recipient using an old archaic formula ("kava kuo heka"). The touʻa will fill the cup and the cup is then brought, often by a young lady, to the intended chief, and brought back afterwards. Then the next name is called, and so forth.

But if you don't like Kava (which is very probable as it taste somehow Bitterly  Weird and it numbs your mouth too!) you can always have a super calorific Hawaiian cake... and do not attempt to weight yourself in a few weeks...  

A day in Noumea's aquarium... beautiful corals, and exotic fishes...











 Where's Wally ... I mean the fish??

Scuba diving ... sureee!! :P

Emmanuel playing with his drumming band, beautiful African music.

 Getting ready for a boat trip!.













 Our Kava tasting wasn't that pleasant (for me and Emmanuel at least!)... I tell you I rather stick to the chocolate cakes :D

 Bye bye Noumea, it has been a magical and super enjoyable week! Thanks to Rama, Emmanuel and Solana for treating us so well, we wish you many happy times together!

 

It has become famous for the aerial photography known as The Heart of Voh, a large formation of vegetation that resembles a heart seen from above.