Quaint, Curious, Quirky, Kooky, Questionable, Kiwi, 6

Ad majorem gloriam Dei; wait, no...sic transit, Gloria

Really definitive

Sunday afternoon scenic driving...muscle cars, sports cars,
sometimes in convoys

No use arguing

50s Morris Oxford; Kiwis never throw anything away

This is the lane-changing machine on the Auckland expressway;
in one swell foop it picks up the giant concrete dividers and moves
them to the other side; very definitely has the right of way

Drive with extreme caution; inflate life-vest; deploy parachute

In many public parks in NZ are these public BBQ pits, propane
fueled, sometimes coin-operated, mostly free; what a concept!

One person's hill-top paradise

Front yard decor in Russell: an appeal for charitable support for
the life-saving team

And now for something completely different...

On the Russell ferry; no rats....

In Northland they are Kiwi crazy

No end of interesting signage

Stung by a Morgul bee, my wound will never fully heal; I will
carry it the rest of my life...

Quaint, Curious, Quirky, Kooky, Questionable, Kiwi, 5

Favorite traffic warning

Not even lemonade?

Memorable acronym for your business; reminds me of the very
famous Sam Houston Institute of Technology

The hat makes the man

Largest bee metropolis ever (near Three Sisters)

No road too small or remote for school buses

A new trend in NZ is using your old microwave as a mail box;
everything is recycled on these islands

Everything

A way with words in Otorohanga

 

Entrance to the Ed Hillary Walkway in downtown Otorohanga

Bringing museum displays to the downtown business area

Seen on an Asian tourist at Cathedral Cove

Another entry for Stick Man's Very Bad Day

Quaint, Curious, Quirky, Kooky, Questionable, Kiwi, 4

You can have table service at McDonald's throughout NZ

Almost every day brings interesting new signage

Outside a fire station

Welly sewer cover

And trash bin

Sic transit, gloria...once home to the bishop and priests, now a
massage parlor

Smaller Kiwi RV

Death to pea weevils! We saw a similar sign about wild ginger...

On a cliff by the sea, Cape Palliser...maybe go ahead and inflate your life jacket
now too? (Slip=landslide)

Mind your mast

One of our few sheepish experiences; the driver in front was apparently another
tourist who had not yet learned that in order to get the sheep to move, you have
to drive slowly into the midst of the herd; keep going; you stop, they stop

Stonehenge, Aotearoa; seriously, look it up...

Not the most popular tourist attraction, however

Particularly on the South Island, I conjecture, roads were put in long after farms,
ranches, and stations were laid out...and so, to move stock from the east 40 to
the west 40, safe from traffic, hundreds of stock underpasses were dug; here's the
incoming

And the outgoing

Monumental Services on Main Street

Headstone World (Napier); we never did see "Tombs R Us"

Goodbye, Rooby

So at a shopping center near the airport, we finally returned Rooby to her owners/agents. She served well, although we would have done well to rent a somewhat larger, more fully-equipped rig. "Still I'm gonna miss you." Our experience with Cruzy Campers was entirely satisfactory, however, certainly exceeding expectations. (Much practical information on camping in NZ will appear shortly on our website under "Vicki's Practical Guides").

At Orewa

We drove some 8,000k during our 80 days with Rooby

On Auckland Domain

The Auckland Domain is the city's central park, sort of, a huge park-like area that includes the museum and other civic buildings, many trees and sculptures, playing fields, and a conservatory of winter and tropical plants. I spent a last hour there gawking at the various exotics...

Between the two conservatory buildings

Several specimens familiar from my youth in south Florida

Boy will be boys...tormenting a "sensitive plant"

I always thought it was called a shrimp plant; no, a lollipop

Last seen at Kew Garden

OK, so with a last tropical/botanical fix, I am ready to leave
New Zealand