Labour Weekend 24-26 October

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Waiheke Island sprang to life like never before--during our stay, at least.

The bays filled with sailboats and power boats.

The roads were crowded with vehicles, and the ferrys with passengers.

We heard groups of folks walking past our living room window as they
dragged their wheelie-bags up the serpentine road to the rental units
above us.

The police wanted to keep the Labour Weekend death toll down and they
were out in force.

I was breathalyzed twice. Luckily the first time was early enough that
I had nothing to drink--it was before lunch time--and that convinced
me to avoid drinking at dinner. We were going to see In The Loop at
the community cinema.

That was a good idea, I was checked on the way to the cinema.

The police ask the driver to say "one, two, three, four, five" into a
non-contact device. Both times my result was 'no alcohol.'

Despite their efforts, the weekend death toll was up 50% from 2008.

Although the weekend is Friday to Monday, they include deaths that
occur up to 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the count.

In 2008 four persons died in accidents during Labour Weekend. This
year six persons died.

Home Again -- 10 October -- Saturday

We returned home with a side visit to the Manukau market.



We bought fresh-steamed and frozen Tasty Pork Buns and stall-shopped.

The car ferry took us back to Waiheke Island.

We have a lovely Sunday before returning to work and school.

In two weekends the country celebrated Labour Weekend.
Just like our Labor Day Weekend, people travel about during the
three-day weekend.

We stayed on Waikehe. We went to a movie at the community cinema, but
otherwise took it easy.

Cheers.

Still Heading North -- 9 October

We passed the Super Loo, and visited the dam that controls water supplied to the hydroelectric generators along the Waikato River.



In Rotarua, we stopped to visit with live kiwi--the birds--and took a tour through Rainbow Springs.



The next morning we returned to Auckland.

Click here for 7 photos .

On the Way Home--8 October 2009

We've almost covered the two week excursion with these posts. I'll bet that we'll need the first six months in 2010 to post what we will do in December before hopping the flight home.



Our drive north took us past Mt. Ruapehu.

A great photo of the volcano is here.

The area was covered with fresh snow. When the southerlies hit us hard on South Island, the winds deflected eastward hit North Island hard. Over 700 autos were snowed in for the night on a high pass. We changed our plans and went to Taupo through a road that hadn't closed.

After a night in a family suite, we visited Huka Falls, a dam that controls the hydroelectric power system by adjusting the water flow to power demand, and the honey store. www.honeyhivetaupo.com

After some honey ice cream, we were on our way again.

Click here for 6 photos and 1 video.