Travel Tips

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With lihue - Uli and Heike.

It all began . . .

Mar 2001The very first VT member I met was "lihue". Uli from Germany and his lovely wife Heike. You guys will always be very special to me.
Then "bianchis", Sylvia and Otto from Switzerland. It was a pleasure to meet you and thanks for being such great friends to my Mum!
I should mention here that my Mum is vt member "Morepork", named after our little native owl.
And "arkadia", Arkie for short, came to the farm and we had a real nice time together. She has a great knowledge of photography so I learned as much as I could in the short time. She had come a long way and was wildly enthusiastic about New Zealand and utilised her time here to the extreme.

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Swanet, Felicienne, René, me and Pieter-Jan.

Belgium Beer and Fine Friends!!

I met this member in two cities, Rotorua and Auckland. It was very easy for me to drive and meet his group.
"RENE_CARDOEN" from Belgium. René and Felicienne were lots of fun and we needed longer together!
June2002 - I travelled to Belgium and visited Rene & Felicienne in their own country !! Wonderful, that is what VT is all about!
27 Feb 2002: Today I said goodbye to some wonderful new friends from USA. Wayne and Cathy. "WayneSGA".
We 'clicked' and I could have known them forever! We'll meet again I promise....
ciao guys!!
Pam
5 Mar 2002: - Today I collected member "seagoingjlw" and her husband and drove them to see the Maori show at Rotorua. Had a great day with a wonderful couple and took lots more photos for VT!!
Mar 2002 - I met member "lomer" and her husband and aunt while they were travelling around our country. Lots of laughs and funny stories!
June 2002 - A magical day as VT member "pieter_jan_v" and his family drove for several hours from Netherlands to meet with me and "RENE_CARDOEN" and his wife. PJ's son is a VT member too, "AC_spotter", he is an Aircraft Spotter :-)
SEPT 2002 - "Kiwigal_1" and friend visited me!! Fantastic thanx Rhianon. See you b4 you leave again.
"Andi_Curtis" was in Auckland so I met with her and we went out to dinner. Super evening Andrea.
9 Oct 2002 - Met with "dragontml", Mei Leng, in Rotorua and we had a fun afternoon on the Luge. Great to meet you Mei Leng, hope we meet again before you leave NZ.
5 Nov 2002 - Bev & Barbara Tyler called for a chat and cuppa. Member "beverlytyler" - Bev is writing history from his Long Island home area, I found this very interesting and more so because he is so passionate about what he is doing. I really enjoyed their visit, and Bev got to talk aviation to my husband as well. They have had a super trip around NZ staying solely at B&B's so have lots of pages to write when they get home!
MAY 22, 2003 - "bjmd22" was stopping over in Auckland for 12 hrs so I met him and showed him around. He was on his way to Fiji in the Sth Pacific. We went to town and had lunch with "Kiwigal_1".
MAY 23, 2003 - Dinner meeting at West Harbour marina with "morepork", my mother, and "cabernetman".
MAY 24, 2003 - met with longtime traveller and member "worldkiwi"and his vt friends "tinkabel" and "IcemanNZL". We brunched on Princes Wharf at a very nice cafe with a lovely view of the harbour sheltered from Auckland's notorious rain.

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VT International Meet Los Angeles.

August 1 - 3, 2003

I travelled to Los Angeles to the Official VirtualTourist International Meeting. These are the members I met while there:
mikeman007, Bernardone, Sharrie, worldtrekker, lmkluque, travelmad478, emilesc, Jenn_d, lauriejeanne, Spartan, Jenn75, TinKan, Dionosaur, Jim35, hoodiesmom, avryle, Yubert, soulanjuli, LindyCaptain, oldmonk_92129, Wilson, mitbewohner, Brewco, LindaV, brewjohnson, Gerry, Giampiero6, jrjohnson, tilman, Stephanie, supune, juliaPickar, Kamran, Britta, kweb, dundooni.

11 Nov 2003 - member and staffer Stephanie and Gerry long awaited visit to New Zealand. Check my travelogue to see more photos on their time in NZ.

DEC 2003 - jmesax and his new wife called in to my town and we had coffee together. Really nice to meet them!

Just a low key VT meeting in Auckland for the auspicious occasion of the visit from VT Staffer Giampiero6.
Regular kiwi members unable to attend at the height of holiday season, but we managed a few:
kiwi, morepork, cabernetman, and new member MetaMihelcic. We had a lovely meal at a small place in Mission Bay on the waterfront of Auckland.
Thanks Meta for the lovely photo!

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Member EagleEye and Barney and friend.

Newsweek makes EagleEye and Barney media stars!

1 April 2004 - We had a very special visit from the other side of the planet! EagleEye from Paris, France. He has taken months to get here, but he made it. And intime for the Newsweek fotoshoot, so ....look out! Arnaud, my computer now resounds from the sound of your wonderful French music, thank you so much!! Go safely my friend.

May 2004 :- Got to meet member john195123, his brother and Dad, while they were in my region. Loved his digital camera and wow the memory!!

2/3 Oct 2004 - Tramping Waihou River and Wairere Falls, Waikato, NZ with members allikat & kiwitrekker. Very enjoyable time. More pics here and here.

20 Nov 2004 - Met keeweechic, No.1 member for coffee. Really felt like we had known each other for ever. Must be that kiwi link huh!! Was a real pleasure all the same. Top Member, salut!!!!!

Had Sat nite dinner in Auckland with swings from USA and her delightful husband, "morepork" joined us as well.

20 Dec 2005 - Went to Auckland and met with flyingkiwi and danielinnz along with regulars allikat and morepork for drinks and a catchup.
2 Jan 2005 - worldkiwi and IcemanNZL visited while passing thru and were here same time as longtime friend 80-bettyboo. Great to meet Bet at last after so long of emailing each other.

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Frank visits the flying school.

Frank from Antarctica to New Zealand.

17 Jan 2005 - frankcanfly - and as I suspected, Frank Can Bungy!!!!

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Tilman inside the Zorb.

Tilman tries Zorbing...

26 Jan 2005 - Tilman visits and we head for Rotorua and try Bungy jumping and Zorbing!! We've been friends a long time, all through VT. Surprisingly we enjoyed looking around this wonderful land where I live, and hardly even talked about the site. We had met before so this was not a first time real life encounter. I was extremely happy and proud to show Tilman and Philipp my little corner of the planet.

22 May 2005 - "cnango" came to Auckland from California and we had a couple of nice days together.

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hailsbails and kiwi

TUI GIRLS FROM NZ...

25 June 2005 - "hailsbails" drove up near to where I live so I drove over to see her. Great to meet you at last Hayley, we'll do it again soon, hugs Pam xx.

29 July 2005 - ATXtraveler and saraheg77 came over from Australia for a short visit to NZ. They are Americans living in Australia. We met downtown Auckland for dinner with a nice group of Ak VTers, and had a lovely evening. Hope to see them again for further VTbonding :-))

8 Sept 2005 - the_p0et and his wife came to Matamata to visit the Hobbiton Movie Set so we met for coffee. Happy travels guys!

25/26 Jan 2006 - Bernd_L and his wife and inlaws came to Matamata so we met for dinner at Workmans, and walked throught the bush to the Wairere Falls. Fun meeting you all, hope we meet again!!

2/3Mar 2006 - RENE_CARDOEN, a long time VT friend, returned to New Zealand with his family and it was really great to catchup again.

5 Apr 2006 - MFAMILY - I met with Maria and her wonderful family early in the morning at the Balloons Over Waikato hotair balloon fiesta. We had a few hours together, finishing with coffee and they set on their way to drive to the South Island. Super people!!