Ethan Dylan Siegel's Website

March 25, 2002. Hello from New Zealand. We survived the 12 hour flight and have already had a great 4 days in Auckland. We are a day ahead of you. The pictures below are from Auckland and Devonport, which is a small island 15 minutes by ferry from Auckland. Devonport reminded us a lot of parts of Rhode Island, it's a total beach community. The big building in many of the pictures is the Sky Tower, which has sweeping views of the entire city. It also has a casino with the only craps table in all of New Zealand. We took a few hundred of their dollars before they even knew what hit them. I also had the pleasure of spilling beer all over one of their blackjack tables. The people here are extremely friendly, but no one has told them that they drive on the wrong side of the road. I've been driving on the left side of the road like a champ, but we each keep going to the wrong side of the car every time we drive (the steering wheel is on the other side of the car). We must look ridiculous to the locals. The biggest challenge is going left around traffic circles instead of right. Today (March 25) we left Auckland and drove up to the Bay of Islands, about 3 1/2 hours north of Auckland. Our room is about 20 feet from the beach and we can hear the waves. We are taking a boat in the next day or two to see dolphins and whales, which apparently are all over the place here. We hope everyone is doing well and we will be in touch soon! G'day!

March 28, 2002. After 4 great days, we have left Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands. We knew that we would see some unbelievable sights here, but neither of us was expecting a dog on a boogy board. We also saw Russell, the oldest town in New Zealand. Our favorite activity was a 4 hour catamaran ride to Cape Brett and the apparently famous Hole in Rock. As the pictures will show you, it was phenomenal. The weather was perfect, the water was turquoise and we were able to see for ourselves why this is called the Bay of Islands. Today we head off to the Coromandel Peninsula, another beach area about 5 hours from here, with a few stops along the way to take in the sights.