North Island and the Cooks

Gotta love those Pina Coladas!
(Chris looks like she may have had a couple!)

Our place Samade from the lagoon.

And how clear is that water?!

The pristine white, palm fringed beach of One Foot Island,
Aitutaki Lagoon, Mid September 2006.

Life´s hard, huh?!

Honeymoon island on our lagoon cruise round Aitutaki.
(Yes, Honeymoon, Don´t be getting any funny ideas!)

Er...maybe one too many Long Island Iced Teas on Island night!!!

Shake that thang! Island night at Aitutaki.


Ben with book!! Call the press quick! Rare sighting!!!

Chris being just a bit of a poser in the lagoon at Aitutaki,
Mid September 2006.
(Oooh, look at me, I have arms, Ooooh!!)


Our lagoonside beach at Samade!!
Bounty chocolate bar commercials here we come!!!


Wearing our lovely leis in our beach bungalow.


Beautiful beach bungalows at Samade on the Beach,
Aitutaki, Cook Islands.


Heathrow it ain´t!!!


Flying over the fabulous lagoon at Aitutaki.


Yeah, white sand AND palm trees!! Not bad, huh?!!


It´s a hard life! Ben the beach bum on Muri beach, Rarotonga,
Cook Islands, Mid September 2006.

The groovy Skytower in Auckland where we ate proper food for the first time in
ages after saying goodbye to Ruby!!


View of Auckland from Mount Eden in the daytime.


She´s very photogenic!


Our beloved home for several weeks, Ruby!!!
(Ain´t she purty?!!!)


Auckland at night from the top of Mount Eden.


We warned you these things were big!!! This old Kauri tree has been made into the staircase
of a woodworking shop!


The great, long expanse that is Ninety Mile Beach,
northern North Island, NZ.


Chris being a cool sand surfer dude after a big run!!


Ben tobogganing down the huge sand dunes of Ninety Mile Beach.


A long way from home!!


Cape Reinga lighthouse, northern North Island, NZ.
(Where the Tasman sea and the Pacific meet.)

The famous (and imaginatively titled!) Hole in the Rock cave,
Bay of Islands.

More playing with the dolphins in the Bay of Islands, northern New Zealand,
Mid September 2006.

Chris dwarfed by a humungous Kauri tree stump at the Waitangi Maori treaty house,
Mid September 2006. (These things are BIG!)