A to Z 2015 - "M" Photos

It's Day #13 of the A-to-Z challenge. Really?! I'm barely clinging on at this point, since I keep having to go out at night after a day at work, and then by the time I get around to actually selecting photos, it's past bedtime already! Thankfully I'm still motivated, but I have not managed to visit nearly as many blogs the last few days as I'd like to. I will fix that, I promise! For now, it's time for "M"...

You may notice a certain type of photo I've been posting... photos that feature snow, and coldness, and the icy climes I so wish I lived near (and also, we have no mountains here. None at all). I know, most of you won't have any sympathy for me when I bitch and moan about the endless summer I endure every year ... but I have no sympathy for you with your cold weather complaints either. :P So let's just agree to disagree, shall we?

But moving on to the theme of the day (night)...

Disclaimer: some photos are very old and from a dodgy camera.

Mountains

   

Travel Series: NEW ZEALAND

It's been a heck of a long time since I posted my last (and only) travel story entry (part of my Globetrotter blogging series begun in 2011). But this year I've vowed to post at least once a month, so here's my first attempt at picking up that old and dusty thread! In my first post in this series, I talked about my trip across Australia with my father and uncle back in 1998. This trip was actually the start of a months-long world trip my Dad and I went on. The second leg of the journey took us to New Zealand, and that's what this blog post will be about.

I've been to New Zealand a fair few times prior to and since 1998 (both my parents are from there). In 1998, we flew from Sydney (where we'd spent a bit of time with my dad's sister and her family) to Wellington. My Grandad collected us at the airport, having borrowed his girlfriend's car for the purpose, and drove us back to Paraparaumu ----------->

We spent a few weeks in Paraparaumu and surrounding areas, hanging with family. My Kiwi family is pretty darn interesting, and I could write about them for daaaays on end. Don't worry, I won't! After a lovely relaxing visit with the family, it was time to move on. We headed off (with Grandad in tow!) to explore the North Island on the way up to Auckland.

Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, I don't know which one we're looking at here (possibly both?).

One of the first places we stopped was the Tongariro National Park, part of which is pictured above. Dad and Grandad climbed one of the mountains, leaving seventeen-year-old me to fend for myself on solid ground. I was thrilled to have time to myself, and drove around listening to my alt. rock/grunge mix tapes. I also had really bad food for dinner (chippies and cookies) and it was awesome.

Seventeen-year-old me, at or near them mountains.
This is my Dad's photo! (he is very very very clever!)

The next morning Dad and Grandad came back down the mountain, and I snapped this shot of them just before they collapsed to the ground in exhaustion:

Next, we ventured to other places, such as Lake Taupo, where we swam in a river with natural hot springs (there is a cool pic of us in the river that Dad took, but I haven't scanned that slide yet). We also went to Rotorua, which smelled strongly of sulphur (understandable, what with the mud pools there):

Finally we reached Auckland, and I'm sure I have photos from there somewhere but I haven't scanned all my pics yet. To close this post, here is a picture of me, Grandad and Dad at McDonald's (and I believe this was the place where Grandad had met up with some of his friends from his motorcycle group whose motto was: "Grow old disgracefully."

Another of Dad's photos.

And for today, that's all there is! Tune in next month for another travel story.