Cape Reinga

Unfortunately for me, due to an administrative error, I have lost my scenic room and now am staying at the delightful Mara's house (Andrea's mum - Den has kept her room next door). Last night we had a delicious meal of beef stew and dumplings -  and I took a picture of the lovely Mara, Andrea and Judy

We set off at the crack of dawn this morning on an 11 hour 4X4 truck/coach trip to Cape Reinga - the most northernly spot on New Zealand and the place where Maoris believe their spirits depart this world and make the final journey to the ancient homeland of Hawiiki. This is a sacred area for the Maori so no eating or drinking is allowed. There is also a lightouse which overlooks the meeting of the Pacific Ocean with the Tasmin sea (note the white waves)

afterwards we went to one of the many miles of sand dunes and some people did sand boarding (not me and Den as we were told that we would not be insured and so couldn't take the risk!)

We then took a 90km drive along the famous 90 mile beach (which apparently is 70 miles long or thereabouts) in the boneshaker - by the time we got back to Paihia my bones were still there but not neccessarily in the same order as when I started!!

Can you believe it? another Durdle Door

Having a bath in the river water

Golf at Waitangi

The day started with a tragedy - Den fell off her en-suite (the red bucket!) and broke it - I laughed and laughed (sorry!)

After I wiped the tears from my eyes I played golf with Andrea whilst Den went to see the place in Waitangi where the treaty was signed. It was most enjoyable (I won!) and the scenery was fantastic

Needless to say I was also chasing birds around the course!

Paihia and Russell

We spent the evening with Andrea on our veranda watching the sunset - it was lovely

The next day I watched Janice feed the chucks and generaly ran round the garden trying to photograph birds!

Aunty Janice tending the garden

We took the car to Paihia and caught a ferry to Russell where I chased even more birds!! (Mandy, I hope you are going to name them all - some gulls and others are nameless at the moment, bless them) We had fush ind chups for lunch which were delicious!

In the evening we had a lovely meal with Aunty Janice, uncle Ron and aunty Shirley - they are really lovely people and so welcoming - Den &I love it here, it's a beautiful location and wonderful people, After dinner Ron took us to see the cattle farm next door with milking sheds and wild turkeys

Wild turkeys

Milking sheds

Hillcrest Homestay

The place we are staying is run by Andrea's aunt Janice and uncle Ron (who's from Birmingham!). It's called Hillcrest farmstay and today we have sat on the veranda taking in the scenery - it's stunning!

Yes there is a fully functional bath on the veranda!

Is this a Tui

We have had a bit of fun here with the cat catching a mouse and 2 rabbits which it proudly brought indoors. One rabbit was alive and spent the day hiding behind the sideboard - eventually it took 6 people, 6 towels (not the white ones on aunty Janice's strict orders!) and a cardboard box to get it out

Boxing Day

Today we packed our bags and headed off to the airport to collect Andrea. I had a specially prepared sign so that she didn't miss me. We drove up to Kawakawa, stopping off for a mandatory meat pie (Andrea's favourite) at a lovely place on a river. Believe it or not we met a woman walking her goat!

4 hours later we were with Andrea's family in a most beautiful spot in the Bay of Islands. We had a delicious meal (very raucous - it could have been a Sheehan get together) at her mum's house with her sisters Kim & Judy, neice Bonnie and brother-in-law Jeff

Driving over the Auckland bridge

A woman walking her goat

Hey Mandy - I think this is a fantail!

Andrea's mum's house

The fancy designer toilets in the town done by a famous
artist - don't ask me who!

The toilet again

Xmas day

Den and I had a lovely Xmas day begining with a small gift each of chocolate. We made a picnic and picked up a hire car and drove up to Orewa which was a beautiful beach north of Auckland.

In the evening we had jacket potato (made by me and the microwave), salad and a delicious steak with a red wine and blue cheese sauce (made by Den). We drank rose wine as an aperitif and I had chardonnay with my steak because I am a pleb, and Den had a Merlot because she knows what she's doing!

Denise watched 2 films and I slept through 2 films before retiring to bed!

Couldn't resist buying Den a toblerone as she had been oggling them at every airport we went to!

My gift had a bit more class - I had one for breakfast and one for dinner - perfect!

The full extent of our swimming in the sea!

The beach had a grass verge - perfect for a barbeque

Spot the sea  a view from our apartment