Travelingking

This just in from Kiwi Land:

"Ok here are a couple of pictures you can post. When I arrived in Auckland
Alan Carr who manages Elite Tours transferred me to the Weston and then
after lunch I stopped back and he had to go up north to his beach home and
asked if I wanted to go so I did. these pictures are from an area about 45
kilometers north and east of Auckland along the coast. The first picture is
what New Zealanders refer to as a New Zealand Christmas tree because this
tree blooms these red flowers in December- the species is very close
relative to what South Floridians refer to as a bottle brush tree.
Also you will see picture of some fellows getting ready to snorkel - there
is a National Park - a very small island called Goat Island which is
preserved by the New Zealand Government - and around this Island are shallow
water reefs with many different types of small fish, turtles, and other
marine life. The park received its name from the Whalers who fished the
waters around NZ in the 1800s and use to put their livestock (aka food) on
the island while they fished for a couple of weeks - the idea was they would
return and then slaughter and eat the livestock - mostly goats and some
sheep and occasionally a cow. Well the story goes that when the whalers
returned the livestock had swum to the shore of the mainland (only about 100
yards) and escaped.
I also took a few pics of a small town we stopped in to get a coffee (NZs
call it a "flat white") and I thought the sights were pretty interesting -
especially the sign with the killer eels on it - what a hoot!"