My life has been marked by travel. I have worked as an international airline agent, researcher, writer and teacher for four decades. I made over 400 journeys across the globe by rail, road, sea and air to reach exotic destinations. This article is about Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Opera House’s sail-resembling roof, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site confirmed my arrival “down under”Another flight, this time a Qantas Boeing 747 -400 that lasted an hour was followed by another. “Long Reach.”
Even though I needed to lower my travel costs, I was forced to stay in a smaller hotel. The room had quaint decor, a fridge and small kitchen. There were also private bathrooms.
The nation-continent was nevertheless visited with motor and walking tours. The sites included Kings Cross and Darling Harbour Bridges and monorails. The Sydney Aquarium and The Rocks were also on the agenda.
The deep blue harbour was the perfect place to take me from Manly to Bondi Beach. It is one of Sydney’s most iconic and gorgeous stretches of sand.
It is a prerequisite “cuddle a koala”I was on a full day tour and the Wildlife Park’s first stop allowed me to pet and feed the kangaroos, nurse the wombats, take photos of the birds and stroll among them, especially the parrots, cockatoos, and other colorful birds.
Tour continuation: This tour took the coach past Windsor and over the Hawksbury River. Then, it was on to Bell Bird Hill, where there is a breathtaking view from Kurrajong Heights. As the coach passed through canyon ridgetops along with towering sandstone rock cliffs before reaching Katoomba in New South Wales, the Great Dividing Range became visible.
This area is surrounded by lush vegetation, high cliffs and eucalyptus forest, with sun-glinted, silky waterfalls.
Three Sisters is an odd rock formation that was one of the most popular geological formations in the region. It represents three sisters from Katoomba who were attracted to three Nepean brothers. The brothers captured the sisters and started a civil war between both tribes. To protect their three sisters, the witch doctor cast an emergency spell that transformed them into current rocks. The intention was to turn them back once the danger passed. The war ended, and the three sisters were left in the same sedentary condition they had been since before.
Scenic Skyway’s gondola was one of two means to ascend mountains. The Skyway Revolving Grill served delicious lunches and Devonshire teas.
The second tour, which was accompanied by an experienced guide and taken on a double-decker bus, offered insight into Canberra, Australia. The national capital was reached by a drive through Mittagong in New South Wales’ Southern Highland. It is a stretch of Berrima and crosses of Lake Burley Griffin. You will see the New Parliament, National Gallery of Australia and National Library. Then you’ll drive by diplomatic residences and embassies. Finally, the view from Mount Ainsley is a stunning proof of how well-planned, structured, and laid out the capital.
Even though the night traffic was brief, it left almost nothing.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand, which is second in South Pacific landmass after Australia, has always been in Australia’s shadow. But maybe it should be the opposite.
The Stewart Islands are comprised of North, South and Stewart Islands. This is the smallest, but often the most important. “forgotten one,”It boasts a population of 3.5million, with seventy-five percent living on one of three of these.
It was settled initially by the Pacific Maori in 750 AD. Captain James Cook is responsible for its first European exploration. His sea voyages attracted traders and adventurers alike. It is now an English-speaking country, but it still has a mix of cultures, particularly the Polynesians as well as the Maori. Its major export products are dairy, meat and wool.
Auckland, the capital city of New Zealand, has been called “the” because of its position between two harbours. “City of Sails,”The Queen Street, also known as Main Street, is home to a multitude of businesses, shops, arcades, restaurants, and other amenities.
I was a young man when my first hotel, Novotel Auckland at the corner of Queens Streets and Customs Streets was built.
“Situated on a picturesque harbor, Novotel Auckland offers the perfect venue for business travelers, corporate functions, or family holidays. Auckland’s Waitemata Harbor opens up with an abundance of water sports, bars, restaurants, and shops. This idyllic harbor location places guests in the heart of the city’s shopping and business district, and close to many of its popular entertainment spots and tourist attractions, making it the ideal venue in the City of Sails.”
I was greeted with warmth by the staff. I received coffee on my arrival, even though I’d made the booking for the room only twenty minutes before at the airport. Particularly memorable was a dinner at Vertigo Restaurant, a city-view restaurant that served lasagna and pine nuts.
To avoid the parking and congestion problems that can be associated with renting a car in large cities, I chose to travel Auckland by the double-decked Explorer Bus, which is hop-on/hop off.
The ferry from Waitemata Harbor across to Devonport was the gateway to exploring its Victoria Road, and all its intersections.
A rental car, here a Ford Falcon Futura, is always picked up. This signaled that the country covered by the vehicle was being used, and it did so for me on the day following. The 133-kilometer journey on State Highway 1 took me to Hamilton, New Zealand’s fifth biggest metropolitan area. It is also the center of Waikato farming. The town is located on the Waikato River’s tree-lined banks. It offers a mix of art and culture venues as well as shopping and a great lunch at Valentine’s Seafood Buffet.
The inward, 108-kilometer journey on State High 5 led to Rotorua for an overnight stay.
“Rotorua is the inland jewel of the Bay of Plenty,”According to the New Zealand Visitor Guide, Johnson Publishing Company 1996, p. 42. “It is famous for its areas of intense thermal activity-bubbling mud pools, spouting geysers, and steaming vents-and as a Maori cultural center.”
It lies on the volcano fault line running through the Pacific in the Ring of Fire and has been subject to the forces that have created its hot landscape. The Maori culture and origins were also revealed through this site.
When they arrived in the area from Hawaiki which was close to Tahiti by canoes they discovered it and built settlements surrounded by trenches that were protected by fencing.
While their descendants may have moved to the West, many still follow traditional cultural customs, like celebrating In. “hangi”These gatherings involve food being cooked under-ground on heated stones. A celebration follows with chants.
“Wooden carvings and buildings, tattooing, finely crafted jade, spiral-patterned paintings, and textiles are all part of a distinctive Maori arts and crafts heritage,”The New Zealand Visitor Guide (ibid. p. 11). “No other Polynesian culture has produced such elaborate arts or such exacting buildings. They are expressions of tribal dignity and visible proof of pride in a remarkable ancestry.”
The Lake Rotorua Quality Resort was my nightly home, and it is self-described the following.
“All 227 rooms have views, with many overlooking the lake just 20 meters away. The center of town is but a brief walk, as are the Government Gardens and the magnificent Tudor-style Bath Houses, and the therapeutic mineral waters of the Polynesian Pools.”
There was an entire area of hot mud pools and silica terraces. Waimangu Volcanic Park, the centre of the park was known as the biggest boiling lake on the planet.
There were many area-indicative sites.
Waiotapu’s Thermal Wonderland was located 30 kilometers away from Rotorua along State Highway 5. It is a beautiful reserve whose hiking paths lead through a different-planetary landscape of geological formations, flora and fauna. You can see their Sulphur-, antimony and manganese chemical compositions in the abundant colors such as yellow and purple.
“Colors, innumerable of every tint and hue, are displayed in pools, lakes, craters, steam vents, mineral terraces, and even the tracks you walk on,”According to Wonderland’s brochure. “Waiotapu lays claim to be New Zealand’s most colorful and diverse thermal reserve. The walk through the area takes visitors through stunning geothermal activity.”
Crossing the Waiotapu Hot stream gave rise to steaming cauldrons and bubbling mud as well as hissing fumaroles.
“The area is literally covered with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud and water, and steaming fumaroles,”The brochure is available in full. “It is drained by the Waiotapu Stream, which joins the Waikato River.”
Orakei Karko Geyserland & Caves is another similar sight, which can be found 72 km from Rotorua.
“Orakei Karako is a pocket wonderland of geysers, sinter terraces, hot springs, boiling mud pools, and the Ruatapu Caves tucked away in a Hidden Valley on the edge of a beautiful sheltered lake, where even the swallows stay all year round,”Please refer to their brochure.
The boat included access to the island.
“As we move across the sheltered Lake Ohakuri, the Emerald Terrace seems to grow larger,”It will continue. “Often mistaken for an old lava flow, this silica terrace is the largest of its kind in New Zealand and is about 20 meters thick. It continues another 35 meters under the lake.”
Orakei Karko’s many highlights include the Rainbow Terrace which was formed in 131 AD by an earthquake; Rainbow Lookout; the Artist’s Palette which was made from hydrothermal eruptions that occurred between 8,000 BC and 14,000 BC; the Ruatapu Cave with its Pool of Mirrors.
This brochure provides a final perspective, with a view from the main lodge.
“The log cabin lodge looks minute nestled beneath the proud volcanoes that once spat fir and lava into the air and one wonders in awe that, from such a turbulent past, is born such serene beauty,”It says.
Huka Falls can be found in Wairakei National Park. The narrow volcanic ledge, approximately 20 meters high, caused large volumes of water to collide and then crash into Lake Taupo’s Waikato River.
Amazed by New Zealand’s beautiful natural scenery, I drove to Taupo. Taupo is located along the 600-kilometer Lake Taupo. The largest lake in New Zealand, Lake Taupo offers waterskiing and trout fishing.
The area is blessed with the right climate and soil for grape cultivation. You can taste the fruits of the land at the Park Estate Winery on 13-hectares between Rotorua, Hawkes Bay, and get a sneak peak.
“Park Estate wines are full of fresh flowers. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay are all successful varieties in Hawkes Bay and are complemented by the classical full-bodied reds-Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot,”It was explained.
A winery, tasting room, restaurant and shop were all available. It is the perfect spot for excellent Mediterranean lunches in an atmosphere of Mediterranean hospitality.
The Fruitlands Shop sold a variety of juices made from local fruits such as boysenberry and grapefruit. They also had homemade jams, honey and pickles.
My return drive “secondary home” in Rotorua’s Quality Resort, interspersed with a restorative rest in Taupo’s Robert Harris Tea and Specialties Café, offered greater immersion into the Maori culture.
Rotorua was home to just 65,000 residents but had more than 2 million sheep. It also contained two villages that preserved tribal traditions and life.
“Nowhere in New Zealand is it easier to understand and enjoy the remarkable story of the origins of our land and people than here in Rotorua,”According to the Rotorua Visitor Guide (Tourism Rotorua – 1995-1996 p. 16). “On every hand are the stark reminders of once convulsive volcanic activity that millions of years ago thrust our massive mountains high in the air. Enormous craters, slumped surfaces, and blocked up valleys have left us with a multitude of gem-like lakes… “
New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute gave insight into culture and life of the Maori tribe.
A café, gift shop, art gallery, and carving school were located on the side of the main entrance, which led to walking paths that wound their way through the village that consisted of a weaving school, a Maori canoe, the Kiwi House, geysers, boiling springs, fumaroles, mud pools, and the Lake of the Whistling Duck.
At the halfway point between nearby Blue Lakes and Green Lakes the contrast was created. The former, 150 hectares big, appeared its turquoise blue due to reflections from white Rhyolite. The latter, 440-hectares in area, appears emerald because of its sandy, shallow bottom.
Te Wairoa Burial Village was a record of the peaceful settlement, which was destroyed in the eruption of Mount Kilauea on June 10, 1886. Tarawera claimed the lives of 153 people and scattered ash and mud over an area of 5,000 miles. The Te Wairoa Valley was once the heart of the Tuhourogi subtribe of Maori. Gran Lake was the source of the water that powered the mill which ground local wheat. The Buried Village is home to both the excavated material and scarrings left by the eruption.
Performers included Haka, the Maori dance and poi dancing, which were performed using two string-attached ball dancers. Love songs and legends were also part of the performances.
Rotorua views, breakfast, followed by a climb of 900 meters on the Skyline Gondola. Lunch was at Waitomo Caves Tavern after a cruise in the Glowworm Grotto limestone caves.
It took 500 kilometers to drive from Rotorua towards Taupo and Te Kuiti and Hamilton and Auckland in a northern direction. The trip ended at Takapuna Cho’s Motel. The dual-apartment, bedroom and living room suite were surprisingly cold during winter’s onset, in spite of the May-late-May calendar.
Route 1 led to Orewa, where human fueling is done. “breakfast”Paihia, the Bay of Islands is my last major destination.
It was a jewel of islands, surrounded by the various blue hues water. The seaside location offered boating and sailing as well as dolphin dabbling. However, it is historically important because of its historical significance as the European and Maori cradle of civilisation. He declared, “After Lieutenant James Cook anchors off its shores on the HM Endeavour in 1769, he proclaimed “I have named it the Bay of Islands.”
Paihia is one of its major towns. It was a small five-house, single-church community that began as an 1890s town. Before the construction of a road from Opua to get to it during World War II was completed, transportation was only by water. One-way travel was limited to herded cattle.
“From its hard-earned beginning, Paihia is now the main center of the Bay of Islands,”According to the Guide, (ibid., p. 16). “Adventure activities, sightseeing, cafes, bars, and accommodation are all here.”
The Waitangi National Reserve was visited, as well as the Hole in the Rock natural formation. These were reached by boat.
Lunch was in the Café on the Bay, dinner in the upstairs Pizza Pasta Café (both in Paihia), and accommodation was in the 145-room Bay of Islands Quality Resort, Waitangi.
“Situated on over 60 acres of parklands and surrounded by sea, the Quality Resort Waitangi is located in a unique setting in the beautiful Bay of Islands, just a short walk from the Treaty Hose,”According to the self-description. “The hotel is surrounded by water and probably the most breathtaking golf course in New Zealand. With its own boat jetty, the Quality Resort Waitangi becomes an integral part of the water-based activity on this bay. There are boating excursions, game fishing trips, coach tours, yachting, and nature walks.”
On the next day, a ferry took us to Russell, which was another major town in the region. It was New Zealand’s capital from 1840 to 1840. Before it moved to Auckland in 1840 it had been there for one year. The area was known for its weatherboard architecture and white picket fencing. Craft galleries were also a common feature. On the waterfront was located the historic Duke of Marlborough Hotel with its 29 rooms. It also featured a bar and lounge made of wood.
A picnic lunch at Whangerei Visitor’s Center was a nice break from the long southerly trip to Auckland International Airport. The rental car returned the next day. “home away from home”During the majority of your trip.
The Air New Zealand 747-4400 took off that night and I settled in for my 12-hour Pacific Ocean crossing. I also reflected upon the kaleidoscopic North Island itinerary as well as some staggering stats: 11 days, 11 hours, 2 in flight and 8 in 6 hotels; 1,950 km of road and 36 flying hours.
In a heartbeat, I’d do it all over again.
THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
Fiji:
Fiji was an archipelago consisting of over 300 islands. Fiji’s distinctive landscapes were characterized by rugged coastlines, clear lagoons, coral reefs and palm-lined beach areas. It was home to Suva’s capital and featured British colonial architecture. Both cities were paradises in the tropical jungle.
The most common type of meal was served under thatched roof huts.
A total of two island trips, one by water and one by land, provided an insight into the local culture.
A four-island catamaran cruise aboard the Island Express was the first. It carried 300 passengers and measured 25 meters long.
The lower deck contained a boutique and a cafe that are perfect for light lunches.
To reach the Pacific Harbor Cultural Center, the second excursion required a trip from Nadi, which took in sugarcane fields and pine forests. Upon arriving at Sigatoka Town, you can peruse the Market Place. The vehicle continued on the Coral Coast passing through resorts, coconut trees and reefs before it reached Sigatoka Town, where the restored pocket of Fiji’s past was brought to life by its exotic gardens and specialty shops. It also saw natively dressed craftsmen. The traditional South Pacific show was followed by lunch at Treetop Restaurant and a river float.
French Polynesia
To me, it seemed like little more than a dot to be aimed for, I thought, as the quad-engine Airbus A340-200, draped in Air Tahiti Nui’s blue-and-green color scheme, took to the skies from Los Angeles, intent on closing the gap between a continent and an island in the south Pacific-specifically, Tahiti.
“Nui, incidentally, connotated French Polynesia’s newly-launched intercontinental airline, and translated as “big,” to contrast it with the local, and obviously smaller, Air Tahiti, whose routes could be considered little more than hops in comparison to the current eight-hour one.
Canvassing 1.5 million square miles in the eastern South Pacific, the country was comprised of 118 islands and atolls, but Tahiti itself was only one of eight grouped in the Society Archipelago, the other seven being Bora Bora, Huahine, Manihi, Moorea, Raiatea, Rangiroa, and Tahaa. From where did its inhabitants come?
“Old Polynesia’s past is hidden in the time mists.” according to Tahiti and her Islands: Travel Planner to Islands beyond the Ordinary (Papeete, Tahiti, GIE Tahiti Tourisme, 1999, p. 34). “Discoveries of buried cities and stone petroglyphs have added pieces to the puzzle. The mystery surrounding origin remains unsolved.”
Nevertheless, seafaring Mahi people, it is believed, travelled there from either Samoa or Tonga in double-hulled canoes.
My own mode of transport, on the country’s first international airline, was decidedly faster and more comfortable. Small menus, even in coach, detailed the onboard repasts, which included appetizers of seafood marinated in lime juice and coconut milk; entrees like sautéed veal in berry and black pepper sauce, roasted tuna in orange sauce, grilled fillet of mahi-mahi, and chicken in mushroom wine sauce; French cheeses; wines, and desserts, such as lemon meringue tartlets. A second service consisted of a snack on westbound sectors and a hot breakfast on eastbound ones. Audio entertainment and movies passed the time as the blue Pacific surface passed beneath the wing.
The island’s warm, scented breezes, swaying palms, turquoise lagoons, and tropical color palette were draws for artists. Impressionist painter Paul Gaugin, for instance, traveled to Tahiti twice before he permanently settled there in 1895. Henri Matisse identified its unique nature, when he said, “The special quality of the Pacific light is its ability to intercede with the spirit, just as the gold cup’s heart does when it’s viewed.”
Catching the first glimpse of French Polynesia during the aircraft’s approach, I thought of M. Somerset Maugham’s words.
“When I turned my head, I could see the outline of an island.” he said. “The place that had always been my dream was right in front of me.”
Tahiti:
Turtle-shaped, crowned by French Polynesia’s two highest peaks, and skirted by black, velvet beaches and pink coral reefs, Tahiti, the country’s largest island, consisted of Tahiti Nui (large) and Tahiti Iti (small), which were interconnected, but rose from separate volcanic eruptions millions of years apart. Their paved road coverages measured 71 and 11 miles, respectively. Papeete was the capital.
My hotel said and scented “Polynesia:” an open-air, thatched-roof lobby (there were no seasons here), rooms with lanais (balconies), an overwater restaurant, and sunset bars and lounges. Views took in the expansive Pacific.
Henri Matisse, who spend three months here in 1930 and left impression-filled notebooks, once said, “My eyes are wide open and I’d like to plunge into the transparent, green water.”
Several tours acquainted me with this Pacific-transplanted version of France. Papeete was lined with sidewalk cafes. A travel agent I met in the hotel was from Paris. And all the houses sprouted long, birdhouse- or mailbox-resembling structures. Locals, I concluded, must take regular delivery of very long packages. In a way, I was correct, because the length accommodated the daily delivery of freshly baked baguettes, as occurred in France.
But there were differences. While shops sold French fashions, they also stocked local handicrafts. Transportation took form as “Le truck,” colorful, open-air truck-buses with bench seats. And female fashion in this paradise was often nothing more than a pareo (wrap-around skirt) and a flower tucked behind the ear. There was no concept of “Winterwear”-not here, anyway.
Fern-covered Mt. Orohena, the island’s highest at 7,353 feet, triumphantly rose and was always visible. The blowhole of Arahoho, the waterfalls of Fa’arumai, botanical gardens, and Point View-the black sand beach where the crew from the Bounty (as in “Mutiny is on”) first came ashore-rounded out its natural highlights.
An interior-island safari created distance from the harbor and served as a transfer to the island’s foothills, which were tufted with coconut palms, waterfalls cascading down green valleys to ultimately feed streams, and a canvas of pink, Impressionist-painting-like bougainvillea. Interspersed within the fern and bamboo forests were vegetable plantations and stone tikis.
Mt. Orohena, always towering above, was considered the dwelling place of the ancient gods.
The guide, I surmised, viewed his van as a dual-purpose vehicle: the transportation means of tour to the interior he conducted and the delivery method of his family’s dinner, since a freshly caught fish lay in the back of it.
The experience was capped with a beach buffet and a Polynesian show that evening, lit by strategically placed torches in the sand and the stars.
A brochure once suggested that Polynesia gave rise to the word “paradise,” and that its beaches, beautifies, and intoxicating scents hold a place in visitors’ collective imaginations. I found the philosophy pretty accurate.
Moorea:
Traveling a long distance to French Polynesia certainly invited-if not beckoned-travel a short distance to its other islands. And so, I did. Moorea, just eleven miles off in the distance, was reached after a short boat ride.
As I approached it, I thought of James A. Mitchener’s words, which said, “… There is nothing more majestic than the sight that faces Tahiti across its bay. It’s the Moorea Island. It is difficult to describe. It’s a testament to nature’s prodigal beauty.”
And its origin? The answer comes not from science, but from legend, which states that it was formed as the second dorsal fin of the fish that became Tahiti, from which I now separated during my crossing of the Sea of Moons. It has been described as “A long sierra with broken pinnacles, crags and other features that look like a dismantled castle. There are slender minarets and escarpments and rugged encasements where fleecy clouds peek from high horizons.” according to the Tahiti and Her Islands: guide (ibid, p. 68).
After a buffet lunch, an island tour made a 37-mile circuit on its coastal road past its crystalline waters, lush mountain slopes, and volcanic peaks, capped by a view from the Le Belvedere Lookout.
“The view from Le Belvedere Lookout at Mt. Rotui and Cook’s Bay are spectacular, as is the Opunohu Valley with its miles of green pineapple trees and agricultural farms that dominate the mountainslopes.” according to the travel guide (p. 68). “While cattle are grazing peacefully under the towering basalt cliffs that make up the dinosaur ridges and the stream nearby, the water gushes toward the ocean.”
Bora Bora:
An excruciatingly early, 0600 departure the following morning from Papeete on one of Air Tahiti’s ATR-42 inter-island aerial inks took me to Bora Bora. As it closed the gap, lyrics from the South Pacific musical circled in my head.
“The sky meets the ocean. Here am I, your special island. You can come to me. Bali Ha’I. Bali Ha’I. Bali Ha’I.”
There may have been a good reason for this. Then-naval officer James A. Michener, stationed in Bora Bora in 1942, wrote his successful Tales of the South Pacific as a result of his experience and the book inspired the musical itself. The idealized Bali Ha’I was based upon the island I currently approached and, yes, it even has a Bloody Mary’s Restaurant.
Lying 150 miles northeast of Tahiti in the Leeward Society group, it consisted of a main island, almost serving as the nucleus of an atom, encircled by emerald islets, as if they formed a string of pearls surrounding a multi-colored lagoon. From its center rose the basalt, chisel-resembling Mt. Otemanu.
It was the only destination that required a boat launch cross of the lagoon from the aircraft ramp on the offshore motu island to the main one that supported the passenger terminal and baggage claim area.
Although budgetary constraints restricted my accommodation to the Beach Club Bora Bora, the thatched-roof overwater bungalows nearby were experiences in themselves. Propped up on stilts rising from the turquoise, they offered views through their translucent glass floors, as if they served as horizontal aquariums, providing endless contemplation. At night, gentle waves lapping below sang sleep-inducing lullabies.
But I still shared the water in my own hotel.
“Pay attention to calm water nature.” Pierre Loti, French naval officer and novelist, once wrote: “You can hear the constant, monotonous murmurs of breakers at the reef. But look around, you will see the stunning scenery. The peaks and shadows of basalt cling to the mountain’s side. This is all lost within the vast solitude of the Pacific.”
Vaitape was Bora Bora’s main town and an 18-mile, partially-paved road encircled the island, passing colorful villages, archaeological sites, and World War II bunker and cannon remnants. But the breathtaking views were from below and above.
In the former case, I experienced underwater vistas in the almost spaceship-resembling “Aquascope,” which was equipped with a buoyancy-controlled system based upon ballasting. Remaining on the surface, it afforded views from the submerged, glass bubble-appearing sides of tropical fauna, coral reefs, and multi-colored fish.
In the latter case, a four-wheel jeep gently followed the ring road and then turned into what seemed like bush and forest, scurrying up hills and mountains, sometimes at significant angles. And the view from the top? It offered an artist’s palette of blues and greens, ranging from aquamarine to turquoise, cobalt, sapphire, emerald, and jade. Coconut palms seemed to quiver like a mirage on the horizon below and a baker’s confection of white sand beaches slanted into crystal lagoons. Warm breezes, carrying the scents of orchids, frangipani, hibiscus, pineapple, and vanilla, perfumed the air, and peace infused the soul.
Yes, this was paradise.
Article Sources:
“Bay of Islands and Maritime Park” Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 1995.
“New Zealand Visitor Guide.” Auckland: Jason Publishing Co., Ltd., 1996.
“Rotorua Visitors Guide.” Rotorua, New Zealand: Tourism Rotorua, 1995-1996.
“Tahiti & Her Islands: A Travel Planner for Islands Beyond Ordinary. Papeete, Tahiti: GIE Tourisme, 1999.