The names of places were something we all noticed - a lot in Maori and all with a history behind them. On our way from Rotorua to Auckland to catch our plane home, we passed Matamata, Kaiaua, Raungaiti, Papakura and 'regular' names like Clevedon and Firth of Thames.
We left Rotorua early enough so we could do a little sightseeing on our way north. We drove as close to the coast as we could and saw a lot of interesting birds and boats.
At one point we spotted a Black Swan Lagoon - there were hundreds of them - apparently it's a breeding area and one that's permanently occupied. I tried to get as many swans in one picture as possible but this is the best I could do. 
Driving along the Firth of Thames, we spotted these boats and pots offshore. We surmised they were either fishing for prawns, crabs, lobster or something similar. A little farther down we saw a small outboard with a few men with fishing poles right near the pots. If you know what the pots are for, please let me know.
New Zealand is known for its lamb so I had to get a photo of a field of sheep .. then we saw one wading in a stream (a little strange methinks) so I snapped that one too. It seems most of the sheep are on the south island and more cattle are on the north island.
We saw a lot of family burial plots in New Zealand like we did in French Polynesia. Here's one which is fenced off to protect it from the cattle.
Even in the towns, the cemeteries seemed to be very prominent - I'm presuming they had been there for decades and no-one wanted them moved. Sorry for popping the traffic lights in the middle of this shot but it was right there on a junction of two streets.
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