There are a number of photos from my friend Allison’s visit to New Zealand that I haven’t had a chance to post yet… so here we go!

We were excited and a little anxious about renting a car and driving on the other side of the road. But we did just fine and didn’t have to test out the insurance policy! We rented with Apex and were very pleased with them; the car cost around $300 NZD for five days including a thorough insurance policy that reduced our liability to zero dollars. We spent around $200 NZD total on gas and traveled around 1100 kilometers according to the odometer. Average speed on the open road: 100 kilometers per hour. Average speed on city streets: 50 kilometers per hour.

Parking signs in New Zealand always specify the number of minutes you are allowed to park in any given area. Even if the limit is several DAYS, the signs also post the exact number of minutes.

This makes me think of my co-workers in the booth at Y&R (shout-out to Robbin, Tracy, and Conal) who regularly teased me about the song “Season of Love” from the musical RENT. They could never remember that there’s 525,600 minutes in a year (the chorus of the song) so instead they made up a large number in its place. RENT is one of my favorite shows so I always appreciated that they invoked it in my presence!

Oh look, it’s Erica Street. By the way, we also saw an Alison Road (spelled the “wrong” way with one L) on Waiheke Island. On the right is a glorious sunset we witnessed while driving back to Auckland from our tour of Hobbiton in Matamata.

There are so many cows and sheep and other farm animals dotting the New Zealand landscape.

We passed this cute bridge on our way to Hobbiton; I don’t even recall which town it was. But I asked Allison to park so I could run back and take this photo overlooking the river.

There were a few meals I didn’t already share photos of. I know, you’ve been waiting with bated breath.

Here’s a pasta dinner and chocolate cake from Capers Epicurean in Rotorua (split between myself and Allison):

And a pub in Rotorua called Pig & Whistle where we each got a fried fish lunch special:

We loved this coffee place called Fix in Rotorua so much that we stopped by twice:

This is another pasta & chocolate cake combo meal (ha!) that we split. I can’t find the name of the restaurant, but we liked it a lot.

Grilled panini at Dixie Browns in Taupo:

Burger at the Waitomo Caves.

Two notes:

1) New Zealand burgers are most commonly served with beets (or in this case a beet relish).

2) I didn’t get to finish this because an unruly bee interrupted our meal and I dropped the burger on the ground while attempting not to get stung. Bummer.

Latte at Hobbiton. I love the pretty red mug and expertly poured foamed milk.

On the left below: dinner at a cute coffeehouse-type restaurant on Parnell Road in Auckland.

On the right below: dessert at the Chocolate Boutique also on Parnell Road.

Dinner at Moto Sushi Bar on Parnell Road.

And one of our favorite places, the Coffee Club:

We passed this coffee place in Rotorua and it reminded me of my high school Theatre Arts teacher of the same name. (Mr. Harris, if you’re reading this, I was thinking about you!)

We spent four nights total at the wonderful Lantana Lodge hostel in the Parnell district of Auckland. It was home for a brief time and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The manager, Raj, is fantastic and could not have been more helpful scheduling taxis and airport shuttles on our behalf.

On the day we visited Waiheke Island, we passed by the Auckland Triathlon downtown en route to the ferry. It hadn’t started yet but it was neat to see the city preparing for the event.

Here’s one last image from a visit to Auckland several days after Allison left; it was taken at the bar at Nomads Fat Camel Hostel. I dined there with my new friend and Stray Bus tour mate Emma. The decor is so cozy and charming; you’d never guess it was linked to a backpacker hostel. Plus they had excellent live music. I hope to go back when I’m in Auckland at the end of my trip!

That wraps up my time in Auckland for now. It was such a treat to share this trip with Allison!