Our final week on South Island took us up to Farewell Spit in the northwest corner. The highway from Motueka is in good condition but extremely winding, uphill and back down, so that for about an hour you can barely drive more than 40 km/h. Yet the standard highway speed limit of 100 km/h is frequently posted, Kiwi humour I suppose. At the spit we had a great walk in the dunes, but the weather turned on us for the first time since Banks Peninsula, and spoiled our visit to Wharariki Beach, which could have been a highlight. But we had a beautiful day on the Motueka end of the Abel Tasman Track. On the roadside we bought a basket of the most beautiful pears I've ever tasted for $2 in an honour box. Apparently honour is so universal in these parts that the box wasn't even tied down, you could open it and make your own change. "This wouldn't work in Malaysia," Frances said, and I had to admit it wouldn't work in Canada either. Nelson is a very nice town, as I mentioned, and the back road to Picton is slow but scenic.

Frances braved the 3-hour ferry from Picton to Wellington, keeping her motion sickness in check . In Wellington the Downtown Backpackers is in a historic hotel, but is a bit large and institutional. The Te Papa Museum is excellent, and the parliament house and the old wooden cathedral were both worthwhile. At the National Archive nearby, the original Treaty of Waitangi is on view (free), in spectacular tatters. We rented another car. I made a point of visiting Napier, known for its art deco main street. We continued to Taupo, Te Aroha, and the Coromandel Peninsula, up one side and down the other, beautiful scenery all the way. A bit farther north at Miranda, we took a few hours off to do some bird-watching, which was more rewarding than I expected, never having been much of a bird-watcher.

In Auckland we stayed with my friends Carol and Kenyon, who took us to Waitakere (forest walk with giant kauri, where we also had a good look at the very large and colourful wood pigeons) and Bethells Beach with its famous west coast burger. We then met Frances' brother Terence, who apparently had been missing us back in KL . We toured with him for a week. At Rotorua we bought a combination ticket for Waiotapo and Waimangu for NZD $60 each, which nicely filled up a whole day. Both places feature geothermal activity, lots of steaming and bubbling and colourful pools, and a geyser at Waiotapo. The way they geyser is managed saddened me, but I won't tell you, or you'll be sad too.

Frances somehow gained knowledge of a giant totara tree on the way to Waitomo. Our attempt to track it down involved a bit of sleuthing. Asked if it was worthwhile, a woman in a nearby village declared that she had seen better. We found it though, signposted from the road and a kilometre down a forest trail, and it was splendid, all the better for the effort and knowing that it was little visited. These old NZ trees are built like lighthouses. If it wasn't so far, I would have gone back and asked her to show me the better one.

The famous caves in Waitomo house glow-worms, not so-called glow-worms (that fly), but real worms . Apparently they exist in several places, but Waitomo has succeeded in marketing them. Our guide was excellent, but the short tour may be over-priced. From there we went up north of Auckland to the popular Bay of Islands and Russell, a lovely village. Then across to the less-visited west coast, which was more natural.

This is the home of the giant kauris, which metaphorically put the giant totara in the shade. If they were closer to the totara, they would put them in the shade literally as well. Plus there are a lot more of them, and some nice walks to get to them. Tane Mahuta, the king of the kauris, is not the tallest tree in the world (only about 50 metres), but halfway up it's still about 10 metres in circumference, and these giants may be over 2000 years old, and unlike people of a similar age they look like they could keep on going a lot longer. You might have to enlarge the photo to see Terence, right at the bottom centre. The Kauri Museum at Matakohe is really more than that, it's a pioneer museum and a very good one.

We stayed at Kai Iwi Lakes, drove a bit farther north in the morning and walked through cow pastures to a long empty beach, one of the prettiest walks and a nice change from the forest. It would have been nice to explore the beach if we'd had more time. You can drive around New Zealand and find deserted beaches like this at every turn.

Back in Auckland we saw Terence off, spent our last two nights with our friends, with a visit to nearby Rangitoto Island, and flew to Sydney.