Close enough to touch?  

It really was an amazing trip and I thoroughly recommend it. If you do make it there, I recommend AAT-Kings coach tour. They are the best, with top hotels and food, great commentaries and full service - and competitive prices.

Yes, the sulphur smell was all over Rotorua, but it wasn't really offensive.

We also found the New Zealanders very friendly and helpful. I suppose they need to be, since tourism is such a big business for them.

Hi Hatley. The holiday was absolutely fantastic with every day offering new spectacular views and experiences. I found it amazing to have so much variety in such a small area.

Enjoy your memories of your trips. It seems you've done most things.

Hi Sue. You will never regret it if you decide on New Zealand! The South Island is fantastic, offering new spectacular scenery every day. I would thoroughly recommend AAT Kings coach tours. While they are the tops, using the best hotels with full breakfasts and dinners included, they are certainly the best value for money. Their tour guides are great and add so much more to the experience. They even arranged our flights with Air New Zealand at much less cost than the cheapest we could find with discounted airlines on the net. We did the 14 day New Zealand Splendour Tour which covers both islands.

I feel obligated to come here and say brrrr....

Hi Holly. It is good to BE back. The holiday was fantastic but there is no place like home - especially BED and SHOWER. We stayed at top hotels on the tour and enjoyed the luxury, but beds and showers are not the same as one's own.

I took over 500 photos and weeded them down to 200. I spent yesterday trying to upload pics. They have a short simple filename and they are jpeg format, under 1MB each (as advised in the guidelines) but they refused to load. Have things changed? I've never had trouble loading pics before. I sent a contact email but haven't heard anything back.

No we didn't have any tremors while we were there, but apparently many places live with them, disregarding things shaking at times. Kiwis are VERY friendly and helpful.

I had yet another try to upload the rainbow picture here, but same results. Maybe I should try one of those photo holding sites and give you the link.

Hi Cloud--there have been a few changes, but I can't recall whether they were in effect before you left or not. Other people have mentioned difficulties uploading pix and making changes to their profile pages, commenting on friends' profile pages seems to be impossible for a lot of us at the moment.

I'm sure admin will get back to you, but as they are in the US and it's a 3 day holiday week-end here (Memorial Day week-end), you might not get an answer for at least 2 or 3 more days.

That's a lot of pictures you took! It must have been a little heart wrenching to cut some of them out to get to 200. If you do upload them to a photo sharing site--I would love to have the link, thanks for offering! :-)

Glad to hear that you didn't get all shaken and stirred while you were there--I was hoping you wouldn't.

I know precisely what you mean about appreciating our own beds and baths! For me, it's especially true about the bed. I could usually adjust to the various changes between one bathroom and another as far as showers and bathtub fixtures go. But, there's just something about sleeping in one's own comfy bed that can't be replaced. I'm sure you slept like a baby when you got back. :-)

PS--Our friend from California seems to take her duties seriously as far as keeping us informed as to how much she dislikes the cold!

Hi Holly. If the bed doesn't suit I sit up with a lot of pillows and I'm OK. I don't need much sleep, but I must admit MY bed was SO good when I came home.

I find some showers frustrating. Many shower heads here are water-savers. Some have an outside ring of water at a wide angle - so wide that if you stand in the middle you can stay dry! Any whatever you do, don't try washing your hair with one of those. It is impossible to rinse the shampoo out! Other shower heads are set so high that they'd even be high for my 6ft6in sons - and that makes it impossible to shower without getting your hair wet.

Am I a grissly-grump? Not really. Maybe I just like my own shower where I can put my hand on everything without looking and where I can adjust the flow and be sure there is enough water to rinse my hair.

Our friend from California should come here. Tomorrow is the first day of our winter but we are still in summer clothes with the fans working - lovely weather!

Hmmph--I can see why you would not like those shower heads. Have to say that I haven't run into the problems that you've mentioned. Usually, with the water savers heads, they're too small and sometimes just a trickle!

My favorite are the hand held showers where you can adjust to the flow that you want and the temp right on the handle--and put the water exactly where you need it!

If I slept the way you mentioned, I wouldn't be able to stop hurting for a week!

Sorry, you're still having trouble with the pix--my understanding is that they are working on it somehow...

Hi Barb. You really should go there. Lori will be in the North Island but the South Island is absolutely crammed full of spectacular scenery and amazing experiences.

We might LOOK well wrapped but I wasn't really. The coach was supposed to check into the hotel and give us time to change, but because of approaching bad weather, the helicopter flights were brought forward and there was no time to change into warmer clothes. It was cold on the glacier but not too cold once back in the helicopter.

I'm having problems trying to load photos. I don't know if things have changed here but they refuse to upload. I haven't had this problem before. The only one I could load was the one on the glacier - not one of mine, but a scanned photo.

It WAS awesome Dawn, and such a variety in such a small area!

This rainbow was very special. We all felt like we could reach out and touch it. I've never before seen one that hits the ground right in front of you. I wish I could load the picture but myLot is not cooperating.

Did you also find the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow, Cloud? If so, will you share?

For me the "pot of gold" was the view and I'd love to share that but I still can't. I just tried again.

hi,i think u loved to be in the travel always and that is really so good to say i too loves to be in the travel always but i have no money to travel and that is the point of my side and no problem..i think u are enjoying a lot..have fun..life is to do something to enjoy with and it is so good to travel to new place..have fun..

Hi Maximax. While Rotorua was great I must admit the South Island was by far the most spectacular, especially the fiords and glaciers. I think I'll have to return for a second trip.

We didn't see a great deal of animal life, besides the farmed areas with sheep, dairy and beef cattle and deer, but we did see quite a lot of birds in the rain forests and a fur seal colony on rocks on the coastline.

We really appreciated the coach tour with all the commentary and information. They were superb and took us to places we might have otherwise missed, but I would like to return and drive ourselves, spending more time in some areas.

Hi Alice. I'm thankful that the weather cleared for our visit to the thermal springs. It had been raining, but cleared just for us. Yes, the springs are boiling. Since they just "pop up" in various places, including in peoples' gardens, they can be a danger and people have been killed by falling in to them. Hence, all springs are fenced. Most in the town area are small ones, where the ones at Te Puia Thermal Reserve are massive and rise 100 feet into the air. The ground all over Te Puia is hot to walk on.

I'm still trying to upload photos but so far without success.

I hope you get them posted!
I've wondered about the temperature of those springs though, ... how do people know whether or not they are too hot to go into? does someone check them with a thermometer?

I'm afraid I can't answer those questions Alice. I know that ALL thermals MUST be fenced and indeed I saw some in private gardens that were fenced. I suppose there are local laws regarding them in the same way as we have local laws regarding swimming pools. Our guide quoted the temp of some springs and mudpools in the park and many of them are above boiling point.

Even though it was raining at the time, we walked through a town park where there were many thermal areas, all fenced. There were also concrete-lined pools with thermal water at various temperatures. People were soaking in them. The temperatures must have been controlled somehow. There are also commercial indoor pools fed by thermal water which is supposed to be highly beneficial to the skin.

Hi AmbiePam. I agree you wouldn't see much in 2-3 days. In fact one would need 2-3 months to cover all of the splendour, but we at least had a good taste in 2 weeks. The good thing about NZ (especially the South Island)is that there is so much to see in such a small area, so there isn't a great distance between them. I hope you have a chance to return there someday.