It is now mid-April. Internet connectivity was very weak in almost all of our accommodations and it’d be very easy to blame that for the lack of posts here. However, it would be fair to point out that it wasn’t until we left New Zealand that I even had time to consider looking at the photos I took.

We had extremely busy days of “sight” seeing and driving. When we reached our various destinations, I had time to upload and then backup all of the shots I took and then go to bed. I was able to triple back-up to insure that all of the photos would make it home and now we are home.

But. (don’tcha just love that word “but”? ) But, four hours after we wearily arrived home and I reconnected the laptop to its home and backup drive, the laptop crashed. Irrevocably. What followed was 4 days of attempted return to functionality which culminated in Apple replacing the logic board and touchpad and then my restoring the computer from the last backup from that fateful morning. Back in business. Whew!!

So, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?

Ah yes... Cape Reinga and the air-ground tour of the northern end of the North Island. One of the things that I would like to do in these posts is emphasize the geographic uniqueness of New Zealand as well as how the New Zealanders adapted to the island to make farming and life in general better. New Zealand consists of two islands  between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasmanian Sea, which means they get the strong winds off the oceans around the islands. In the first two images below, trees are used as a windbreak to protect the crops and (more so on the south island), the sheep and cattle in their grazing areas. They literally create a tree wall to block those winds. Seen from above we got a real idea of their value. This is a recurring theme and there will be more as we travel down the islands.

These two pictures are aerial shots of the terrain that is so different from what I am accustomed to seeing. The mountain formations are most intriguing for the way the trees grow in clumps alongside of grazing areas. This, too, is very common.

And then the fjords. Small and large, they are a principal feature of the islands.

Slartibartfast was very busy here. (See "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy")

Remember the sand-dune tobogganing from the other Cape Blog?

This is the land side that we drove up on.

And finally, here is another shot of an oyster farm. This, too, is common in NZ.

Unabashadly shameless plug, ignore if you so desire:

This photo is available for sale. A simple click on it will get you to the “buy” option. You can then choose from prints of many sizes and all sorts of specialty items like mugs and phone cases.