well..I exceeded my storage so there are some red boxes in here..lol..took a walk the other morning and I swear I lost my breath from the scenery, not exertion... have tried to capture the beauty but can't quite get it right..but these are nice...and I can't describe the smells..

 

 

  

 

  

Wow ... I had to save those.... gotta do something with them!!  LOL ... I probably wouldn't be able to breath either!!

Positively beautiful pictures, Mary!  Everything looks so lush and green, I can sure see why you love NZ.  Can you show us by the map I'm posting below where you live?

 

 

I am almost at the top of the North Island. We live in a little village called Onerahi (ownaraaahee) about 10 minutes from Whangarei. That's pronounced Fawngaray..most everything up here has Maori names and the largest amount of Maoris live here at the far north. The South Island is very British with the dramatic alps and lots of snow. It's the closest place to Antartica you can get without being there.We get those  cold southerly winds sometimes and brrrrr..At the very top of the North island there is a huge lighthouse resting on a point that looks out over the Tasman Sea and the South Pacific.  You can actually see the two seas meet. The water is two different coulours and it crashes against each other making spectacular waves. It almost doesn't seem real. I hope to get up there by the end of the summer and I will try to get some pics to show you. The whole country is about the size of Oregon with a population of about 31/2 million, maybe 4..And the furthest you can be from the sea is about an hour. Thanks for asking..lol..as you can see I love the subject..

Mary - oh those pictures are heavenly!  I'm so glad Sherri thought to post the map - now we can all "see" where you are in the scheme of the world!  Guess I wasn't kidding when I said you lived in the "country"!

heehee, I guess you can say we live in the country although the townies in Whangarei would bristle at that. It is the largest city in the Northland and they pride themselves on their Cosmo lifestyle. In the City Centre there are tonnes of sidewalk cafes, pubs, clubs, and designer clothing shops. All the ladies wear black and everyone is really into looking good. We also have the newest and best library around and a great cultural arts centre with suprisingly good events almost 7 days a week. Plus a great Artisians fair and farmers market every saturday. And they just were chosen to host the Pasifika Cultural Fair next year which is a HUGE deal here. All of the Pacific islands send groups of dancers, singers, craftsman, etc..over for week long festival. It looks pretty awesome and they have always held it in Auckland so Whangarei is moving up in the world..haha.. I remember you asking how far away from Auckland we are, now that I think about it..lol..(can you tell I got some new green??) we are about 2 1/2 hours away. It would be a quicker drive but the roads here are way dangerous. They are mostly two lanes with sheer cliffs on both sides. It seems like you can always count on a monsoon to go along with your drive too..and the natives all thinking that they are in some kind of road rally doesn't help either..lol..so I will stick  to enjoying nature for a long time, with the occaisional trip to Auckland..

Found an article if you are interested.

 

Beautiful pictures and so neat to see where you live.  Which island was LOTR filmed on??  I figured probably the south island since you said that was where the mountains are.  Am I right!! 

 

The last 2 pictures look so much like Alabama...with the hills, everything green and the lakes.

 

You are a lucky lady!!!

wow!  Mary that's absolutely beautiful!  Thanks to Sherri for the map.  I enjoyed the geography lesson!  You are so so lucky!

Thanks Mary ... I skimmed most of it, LOL... never been a history buff, haha.  However, I always find it interesting when a country has less people in it than the city I live in!

 

That was generally a nice website with great information.

Rhonda..yes, most of the film was filmed on the South Island but some parts were filmed here. Hubby bought me a book of where the scenes were shot but NZ made the film company clean up everything so it looks like nothing was ever there so you have to have a GPS thingie to find the spots. That was his ulterior motive anyway because he wants one..

 

Cindy..save your pennies and you have free room and board if you want to visit!!

 

Diane..the page helped me to figure out this crazy voting system over here. Everytime I try to watch a session of Parliment I can't figure out why all of the various parties have a say and when things finally start making sense they all start yelling and jeering and its over....lol..I do know that if you don't vote you get a hefty fine..

 

Huh?  If a citizen doesn't vote, they're fined?  Is that true?

ok...thanks for making me look it up Diane..lol..In NZ you must register to vote or you are fined. They call  it compulsory registration. In Australia you must vote also or you are fined but they have been going back and forth on the issue here. I think I read there are 20 countries in the world with this practice and you would be suprised at which ones they are. The reasoning is that the type of people that usually vote are wealthy and white and NZ and Aussie have a large indiginious population that were not being represented. This is a typical response to social problems here. They are not very PC, common sense seems to be more important. It's the same with immigration. If you don't follow the proper procedures to get in you are out, no matter what may happen to you when you go back..it is really sad sometimes when you hear the stories but the people know the consequences and they are always the same..  NZ was also the first country in the world to allow women to vote, although as with pavlova, and lots of other things, they argue with Aussies about who was first..

Mary - Thanks a lot for using the map to show us where you live.  It's so much nicer when I can place you, as it were!    I loved reading all the information you wrote.  NZ sounds like a wonderful country.