We are waiting to start our trip to New Zealand.

or so the claim went at least…

It was quiet and serene here.

I could not quite get a glimpse of the face and the back. But it did look like some kind of a bird of prey to me like an eagle.

This is about 130 feet high. Note the kans grass on the top. I will refer to them later.

The climb up had nearly 500 steps. We reached a height much higher than the top of the waterfall actually. If you see way below – you can see the kans grass that we could see from the bottom.

I cannot recognize most birds. So, had to ask a local for the name…

Nikita was knocked out in the boat…

Very efficient and frequent service. The island is gorgeous.

This is called Wild Estate – Untamed Winery

The basin in the winery toilet was about half the normal size. And that struck me as very efficient. In most of the public places, why would we need those space consuming big basins?

Interestingly, these days when I go to India, I do not see those birds anymore

One of the perks of traveling for me is to get to meet so many strangers and make friends out of them. This trip to New Zealand and Australia has been remarkable in terms of how many different countries we have met people from. Vanessa made a nice old fashioned for me. The three of us got to know her well and we shared our excitement in the great times we spent in her home country – Chile. Which reminded us that we need to visit the south part of Chile some time…

Every morning in Auckland, I got the chance to spend some quality time with my two friends – Nisarg from Gujarat and Sophie from France. The coffee bar was mostly empty every day and that gave me to chat up with these two baristas over a couple of cappuccinos. Sophie has a fascinating story of how she works for a year in a different country. She is barely a few days younger than Natasha but has lived in some half a dozen countries already. And she plans to do the same for a few more years.

The day we were leaving, I got a chance to take a picture with her but Nisarg had not come to work yet. Hope to see both of them soon again!

Trekking to the top of the volcano

We should be able to see Auckland all around from there.

It is pretty large in size. Check out the size of the people standing on the rim on the other side to get an idea of the scale.

This is on our way from Auckland to Sydney

You know how the flight status boards show “Go to Gate” or “Final Call” or even “Cancelled”? Well, in Auckland, the suggestion was “Relax”! Loved it. For a guy like me who is way to OCD on these things, that gave me a chuckle!!

From New Zealand to Australia first. We drop Nikita there and then head out to the USA. First the West Coast and eventually to the East Coast.

Drove diesel cars (in Australia and New Zealand) and used the diesel pipe at the pump station!!

They first build all the roundabouts.

Then they fill the gaps with roads!!

# Flights: 10 (with 3 different airlines)
# Rental Cars: 4 (3 of them driving on the “other” side of the road)
# Hotels: 5 (all my favorite brand 🙂 )
# Train Rides: 1
# Bus Rides: 2
# Boat Rides: 3 (one included driving the car into the boat)
# Helicopter Rides: 1
# Ropeway Rides: 1

Got to see some magnificent sights. Made a ton of new friends and most importantly spent time with Rishu (nephew) and Nikita (younger daughter)

Now, nothing says we are back home better than grabbing a Starbucks moment we landed in Atlanta!!

Here are the Australia pics and posts: https://www.rajibroy.com/australia-trip-2025/

And here are the New Zealand pics and posts: https://www.rajibroy.com/new-zealand-trip-2025/