After our Pacific crossing, we anchored in the Bay of Islands, a vacation community north of Auckland. To get a good tour of the 100+ islands, we took a short helicopter flight out to “the hole in the rock” island. The weather wasn’t great, but it was still a good orientation tour. This time I broke the videos into shorter sections so you can pick and choose. The helo ride is a 3 minute video.
We also played two spectacular golf courses owned by Julian Robertson, the famous Tiger Global hedge fund manager. They’re both difficult to get to, and even more difficult to play – especially in 30mph wind like we had! A bit of video is below, but it’s hard to capture the essence of these cliff-side courses.
We then moved on to Auckland, just ahead of the remnants of a hurricane coming in from Australia. Auckland has the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest tower, where what they call a “base jump by wire” was first invented – a variation of bungee jumping. We wanted to do it despite the high winds. You’ll have to watch the video below to see what happened! (4 minutes)
And as scary for Debra, we went on a horseback ride on the beach at Hawke’s Bay near Napier. That video is a bit longer (5 minutes), but worth it if you want a laugh at the most annoying “safety briefing” you’ll ever see!
Helicopter ride video (3m):
Golf outings (3m):
Tower Jump (4m):
Horse adventure (5m):
We caught up and zeroed our backlog! We are back with you now.
Amazing adventures and new experiences (I would never have dared the tower jump..)
Keep posting blog notes, pics and vids…. we are addicts
Love from your friends in Paris
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This from a guy who jumps off mountains?? Welcome aboard G+F!! D+d
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You are awesome! That tower jump looked crazy!
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Debra is a natural on horseback – next up the Kentucky Derby!
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Didn’t see the entire round, but it appears that the course record is safe.
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Truely incredible adventures! The tower jump made me ill, however.
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