New Zealand: Rotorua’s Alpin Motel and Conference Centre Provides a Great Place to Stay

Rotorua’s Alpin Motel and Conference Centre was our favorite motel in New Zealand. It had all the comforts of home and added a hot tub filled with geothermally heated and mineralized water. The room was large, had a kitchen, and the couple in charge were really nice. The motel was the only place we stayed that provided a French press, or plunger, and ground coffee to go in it. (Everywhere else had instant coffee.)

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Stories from an Alaskan Cabin: Chapter Twelve

“Ordinarily, I would’ve told you a story about the Northern Lights or why there are no penguins in Alaska, but I guess I will save those for later,” Gerald began. “The idea that common sense isn’t so common was something that my grandfather said on several occasions. He didn’t really think that schooling was a necessity, but he encouraged his grandchildren to go to college. He just warned them about the dangers of getting too educated. He thought too much education sabotaged common sense if you weren’t aware of what was happening. I want to tell you about the time that led to my grandfather and me gaining respect for each other and learning to love each other’s differences and what we had to bring to the table in our interactions.”

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New Zealand: Christmas Photos and Video

New Zealand celebrates Christmas on the same day as the U.S. does, but I also heard that Boxing Day was a bit of a bigger deal. Either way, it’s the summer time when Santa comes around, and Jolly Old St. Nicholas is still wearing a heavy red coat. The decorations were up in November when we arrived though not all of the trees had been completely decorated. Here are some photos from the Christmas side of New Zealand.

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New Zealand: To See Queen Street You Have to Move Beyond the Sidewalk

If all you do in Auckland is walk down the sidewalks of Queen Street, not only are you not seeing all of Auckland, you’re also not seeing all of Queen Street. What you will see is plenty of construction as the city tries to improve the harbor area. There are dozens of shops available to rent. There are lines of people who are waiting to get into internationally famous, upscale (read: exorbitantly overpriced) stores that apparently provide a personal salesperson for every shopper.

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The Mystery of the Brown Goo: A New Zealand Suitcase Caper

When our bags came off the plane in Auckland, one of them had a putrid smelling Korean sauce with the consistency of jelly spilled on it. The brown sauce covered about six square inches with a spicy-smelling stain. It stank, and we had no idea where it came from. People aren’t supposed to bring food into New Zealand; it’s a huge deal. If the food isn’t declared or disposed of, you could face a $400 NZ fine. We got rid of our food in Seoul.

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New Zealand: The Dunedin Railways’ Taieri Gorge Train Trip

We went to the iSite in town to make sure that we hadn’t missed any penguin experiences. In Dunedin, there is the Royal Albatross Center and its nightly return of the little blue penguins, and there’s the Penguin Place with the rarest of penguins: the yellow-eyed penguins. We were told that we had pretty much done everything penguin related, so we needed to find something else to do. We chose the Taieri Gorge train trip with Dunedin Railways.

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New Zealand: Is It Possible to Eat Cheaply in New Zealand?

If you change your definition , you might be able to eat cheaply in New Zealand. Unfortunately, it will require some sacrifice on your part and a change in expectations, most likely. While you may be able to eat cheaply, the other question you have to ask yourself is if you really want to.

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