Ahoy from New Plymouth, New Zealand. Mom, dad and I traveled north on Monday, we flew to Wellington to check out the city I lived in when I came to New Zealand to study. We flew into Welly and went to visit our lovely friends Odie and Joel. They have a 180 degree view of the city from their house, which is perched high upon a hill above the city. We stayed in a backpackers in the city and the next day did a walking tour of the city, saw where I used to live and the university where I studied.

Then we drove north to visit with Craig (Darrel's Brother), Trudy, Kelsey and their wee kittens. Then we took off for New Plymouth to see Darrel's parents in New Plymouth.

The North Island was hit with a "Weather Bomb" last week, luckily we were far south and totally missed any effects of the storm, but we have seen some of the destruction that it left behind in our travels. Lots of slips (land slides), water logged fields and uprooted trees.

Today, we took off for a walk and saw the sites of the city. It was dad's day, since its his birthday, so we were at the whim of what he wanted to do and see. We saw the black sandy beach, and the beautiful ocean walkway. We had coffee at the museum and walked to Pukekura Park, found Tui birds in the trees and admired the large silver fern filled forest.

Then we had fish 'n chips for dinner!! That's what dad wanted and that's what he got. I even found the Beatles song "When I'm 64" on the iPod, since dad is now 64. More soon, going to check out Mt Taranaki tomorrow. Hopefully we get a clear view of it tomorrow. Going to see the ski area, but we didn't bring our skis north, so just going up for a nosey.