In case I haven't mentioned it before, the weather has been practically perfect. We are continually missing terrible storms, where flights are canceled, and arriving to blue skies and gentle breezes. Knock on wood. Another stellar day (btw, I hadn't known until the other night that Orion, the constellation, also makes an appearance in the Southern Hemisphere this far down) as we set out for a morning of wine tasting in some of the famed Marlborough wineries and...

After a quick flight across the straight from the North Island to the South Island, we were in Nelson, our jumping off town for a day in the Abel Tasman Park, named after the same Dutch explorer as Tasmania and the Tasman Sea. He first discovered this corner of NZ in 1642, but thinking the waters on the west coast made it too difficult to settle, left if for Captain Cook and the Brits to claim New Zealand as yet another flag sight where the sun never set on the B...

After an enjoyable but whirlwind visit with Simon, we headed south for a stay with his parents, Jennie and Peter, who have retired in Masterton, a small town just over the mountain range from Wellington. They wished to show us portions of the Waiarapa, the huge stretch of land northeast of Wellington where most of the country's beef, lamb and dairy cattle are raised. We drove over winding roads through small townships and into some of the most gorgeous coun...

Cousin Simon and his family live in the suburbs of Auckland in a wonderful 100 year old Bungalow which they are currently renovating. The interior is finished and they're on to paint color for the exterior. Simon and Jane have two small boys, Conor and Cormac, 5 and 2. Sunday morning we went for a walk on Mt Eden, a hallowed out volcanic remnant in the middle of Auckland. You can see his family in the pix. That afternoon, We went to a museum with a fantastic ...

The chief reason for our visit to Fiji was the diving. We heard it was the best in the world and as far as we're concerned, it is. I was hoping some of our videos would give you a glimmer of what it was really like but I'm afraid uploading our videos is a bit of a problem, so you'll just have to wait till i get home to see them. Meanwhile, imagine the following: Was that a puffer fish that skimmed by us or just a little reef shark? And several Angel fish. All...