In November my brother Robin came to visit us in New Zealand. He was our first visitor from home and we were overjoyed to see him. It was fitting that he would be our first visitor, as he had found the Waiheke Island home that Steve and I eventually bought on the Internet from Massachusetts.

Before he came, we sent him a book about Waiheke and he knew more about the island than we did, showing us places we had not seen yet, like Stony Batter and Enclosure Bay. After being delayed in Los Angeles, he was here for a little more than two weeks. We spent the first on Waiheke and took a road trip around the North Island for the second week. After Robin left, I was telling an acquaintance about our trip. She said that was a great trip for two weeks. When I explained that our road trip was only half of it, she was shocked. I’ve always known that Robin liked to drive, but we drove nearly 2,000 kilometers, much of it back roads, some unpaved, all of it winding and beautiful. We saw Mt. Taranaki, miles of gorgeous coastline, the Desert Road, and Lake Taupo. We saw a giant carrot, roadside waterfalls, and lots of old cars that Robin stopped to photograph. We visited smelly Rotorua and art deco Napier. We taunted the sea gods at Castle Point and were awaken by volcano sirens in the night. We saw beautiful places, ate good food, and stayed in some awful motels. I’ll write more soon but for now I’ve promised to post these photos for weeks and weeks.

Waiheke photos

Road trip photos, part one

Road trip photos, part two