Wellington to Auckland

Since I don't get to post pictures very often, here are my pics from the trip from Wellington up to Auckland a few weeks back.

First was a pitstop at Mt. Fuji. I mean Mt. Taranaki.

One of the guys I was travelling with thought it would be a good idea to take the "scenic" route from Stratford to Taumarunui. It was secnic, but we should have figured out by the name of the highway that it would take 6+ hours.

Just before hitting Auckland, we stopped in Matamata. Matamata holds a special place in my heart, though not for any LOTR fame reasons. When I came to New Zealand in 1997, Matamata is where we did homestays for a few days. It was eerie driving around this small town in the middle of rural New Zealand now in 2006 and totally recognising things like the high school and some random lookout points.