[jdbob]

Arrived in Auckland on Tuesday and drove up to the Coromandel. Went to the Driving Creek Railway which was an impressive accomplishment.

Thursday I flew down to Palmy and friends from Masterton picked me up. I will be staying with them probably until early next year, with possibly a trip down to Southland. Someday I hope to see the Wairarapa when it's not raining :laugh

[jo-and-jeff]

Welcome to the Land of the Long White Cloud, jdbob!

Jo

[Smiler]

Welcome to New Zealand :cheers:cheers

The Wairarapa is beautiful and I hope it stops raining soon. :nice1

[sarahw]

Welcome!!

I haven't visited Driving Creek but worked with Barry Brickell last year on his habitat restoration project - pretty great guy & amazing project - would love to go one day!

Enjoy the Waiarapa - beautiful in the sun (with no wind!!) Make sure you visit some of the vineyards!! Toast Martinborough is on this weekend if you're not too jetlagged - well worth the visit!

[jdbob]

Went down to the south island last week and among other things did the "Fly by Wire", a lot of fun. Some pictures on my blog: http://jdbob.blogspot.com/

[Ana&Steve]

Whoa! That looks like a rush, if I could convince myself to try it....
Ana

[StevieD]

Looks like one of those "fly off the end of a pier" things!! Great pics

[marcia]

We visited the driving creek railway in January on our reccy - not really 'train' fanatics, but what Barry had acheived was amazing, we actually saw him pottering around as well, the way he had made use of old materials was amazing too, the points levers made out of old spanners etc, the embankments made of old wine bottles and tyres, and the views from the top were breathtaking! Well worth a visit if you are up in the coromandel, train lover or not!

Now that fly by the wire thing looks pretty scary - not sure I'd have the guts to do that even though I did jump out of a plane - then again I was strapped to a red devil :D

Great to read your updates!

[jdbob]

Starting the long trip home today. If the weather cooperates for the 12 hour drive from Northern California to home I should be home around mid-day Friday (NZ time).