Sorry for the delay, it's probably gonna be about a week in between posts, as I'm trying to be a good girl and study hard. :)

Last weekend I took the train to Auckland to see Kassie's parents, who were on a tour of Australia and NZ. I took some photos of the scenery along the way. If you click on them, they open larger and you can really see the detail if you want:














































This is Mt Ruapehu under cloud cover, in the foreground some baled hay
















This is a deer farm, it's a little blurry, but I thought it was worth showing...Teddy Roosevelt gave some white tailed deer to New Zealand when he was president and the populations just flourished, getting to the point where they were too abundant. They tried hunting for a while, but it didn't really solve the problem, so they came up with the idea to farm them (yes, the fences are very high). They farm them for meat and also for the velvet that grows on their antlers.





I loved this guy coming to the train station in his mobility scooter under an umbrella. Such a great image.













We stopped in a little village for about 30 minutes and I got out and wandered around a bit. I saw a shop window that was interesting, advertising possum fur rugs and blankets ("the perfect gift!"). Possums are another introduced species that have become a nusiance. These Kiwis are creative problem solvers.






Possum fur hat












It got sunnier as we approached Auckland (and the equator). This scene reminded me of the default Windows wallpaper.






















Proof that I didn't just move to Detroit or something and get all these photos from the web:



worrying about Chemistry probably










































Auckland:































Some kids playing cricket






Typical Sunday afternoon activity, batting practice with Dad. But this was cricket batting practice. Every time the boy would hit the ball, he'd run and touch the end of the flat green surface with his bat and run back to start.


The Auckland Festival was on that weekend, so there were a lot of music and theater productions, like the Edinburgh Festival, along with the Fringe element, of which this guy was a part. He was moving around 50 suitcases throughout the city, enlisting passersby to help haul them. His assistant was dressed as a old time bellhop, complete with pillbox hat cocked to one side...
















The elusive McDonald's (Kassie's parents...we had a bit of a time coordinating and getting in touch)














Somebody's floating shack with the...whatever that tower is called...in the background. A common activity was bungee jumping off the tower.


I had a great time seeing the McDonald's. I've known them since I was about 15 and they've pretty much adopted me as part of the family. A little love from home was very therapeutic.