Basil’s misadventures in LAX airport led him to New Zealand instead of his proper destination, Australia. No problem…Basil enjoyed a whirlwind weekend tour of New Zealand with a couple of pals and eventually made his way to visit with Leah Maclean.

I can now report that Basil is with Leah in Australia, having safely arrived in Australia last night.

But what about New Zealand? Well, here’s some of the highlights:

* Basil took the Must Do Four Tour in Auckland, where he visited Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World, Bastion Point and the Sky Tower (the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.) The tour also took him on a sailing cruise.
That took half a day, but it was worth it to get a good picture of what Auckland had to offer. From all accounts Basil was extremely impressed and he told me he hopes someone from New Zealand signs up so he can go back!

* Basil is a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, so of course he wanted to go explore the wilderness of New Zealand. He was blown away and admitted to rarely seeing anything quite as beautiful. Those are big words for Basil who doesn’t usually speak in terms of beautiful … but more in terms of bubbly and tasty.

Go check out David Lampert’s photos at Flickr to get a feel for New Zealand.

* The donkey also went on a Potiki Adventure to experience some “Maori Tourism.” I believe he went on the Urban Maori Experience, and he was particularly impressed with the realm of Tangaroa God of the Sea, which included a walk along one of Auckland’s famous black sand surf beaches.
All in all, I’d say Basil had a wonderful time in New Zealand — and my hope is that he gets a chance to return after someone from New Zealand joins the fun!

Site note: I was blown away by the official New Zealand web site. It’s insanely beautiful, with tons of photos, videos and great content. Every state, country, tourist city should invest in a site like that.

Leah — Basil’s all yours now! Enjoy!

Tags: new zealand, auckland, australia, travel, tourism, basil

Photo by steve cadman on Flickr