Above: The Wild West Coast doesn't look so wild here, but it's the other side of the Southern Alps and the whole area has a completely different 'feel' to it; very frontier-like.

Above: The Trans-Alpine train, from Greymouth on New Zealand's West Coast to Christchurch on the East Coast, winds through some spectacular scenery. 

Above: Further down the line and the weather was starting to change. For a whole week we'd been treated to gloriously sunny, but cold days; now everything was about to change.

Above: The snow clouds were rolling in. We were about to experience a once- in- 60 year Antarctic storm. 

Above: White-out:   This spectacular, for us once- in- a- lifetime storm, followed us right up to the North Island. Here's a view of snow-covered paddocks not far from the three volcanoes in the Rotorua area.

Above: Several years before the 2011 trip, we'd visited the Whakapapa Maori Centre in Rotorua, home of ominous plopping grey mud pools, steam vents and the hissing, fizzing Pohutu Geyser. On that particular trip we could see this geyser shooting boiling steam up in the air every few minutes from our hotel lounge.  How's that for a Room With a View?

Above: Then came Auckland, the largest city on the North Island, although Wellington is the national capital. The Auckland tower soars over the city and for a fee, you can take a ride to the top. Definitely worthwhile.  If you fancy abseiling down the outside, you can do that too, though we left that to others. We did enjoy watching people abseil down,risking life and limb, while we looked on  during our evening meal. 

Another view of the Auckland Tower.

Above: Bit of a relic this one: The photo shows a group of the Guthrey's 1973 New Zealand tour at dinner in Rotorua. From left is Peter who was just seven, yours truly, Lindsey-Jane, Peter's Mum Linda, Barbara, who became a dear friend until her death in 2000 the lovely Maori hostess, Jill and her friend Chris. Such delightful memories. Back in 1973 there was no Auckland Tower, no Lord of the Rings tours and no Bunjee jumping in Queenstown. That started in 1988 and contributed to a new boost of tourism in NZ.