Apr52017
Anne here . . .
So I was awake at 5.30am (touch of jet lag?). But watching the sunrise; listening to the early morning birds (Tui?); and having the background sound of waves gently breaking on the beach from the apartment’s veranda was just magical.
Truly one of life’s golden, memorable moments.
Apr52017
Anne here again…
Wednesday today.
And we have dodged heavy rain showers all day. But the scenery on State Highway One through Northland was absolutely spectacular. Far more hills and scoria cones (we think) – whatever a scoria cone is (I married a geologist) – than I expected.
And now we are sat in the loveliest apartment, with the most spectacular views of the Bay of Islands, with balcony doors open listening to waves crashing gently on the beach.
And the best bit…We are here for three nights.
#betterthanworking
Apr42017
Anne here…
Now it is raining … torrential rain in massive showers! It isn’t a surprise. We missed cyclone Diane that caused so much havoc in Australia. But caught the heavy bands of rain that followed the cyclone. Home from home. Much better weather is forecast in a day or two. And at least now we have picked up the hire car, we can shelter in the car.
We’ve left Auckland, heading North. Over the Auckland Harbour Bridge – fab views of the waters around Auckland. The rain hadn’t started at that point! We didn’t come this way at all 3 years ago. So all new sights.
Heading for The Bay of Islands with a few stop offs at little beaches along the way.
The featured photo at the top of this post is Langs Beach. Not a soul on it!
Apr252014
Friday 25th April, ANZAC Day.
Anne here. Another catch up post from last week…
We actually drove up the West side of the Coromandel peninsula yesterday afternoon after leaving Hobbiton and stayed in Coromandel Town last night. The weather improved dramatically. The road twists and winds its way along side the Firth of Thames, with cute little bays. The water was so still you could see lots of reflections and hardly any ripples. A road sign said beware of wide loads because the road is very narrow; it didn’t explain that this meant large boats on trailers and the occasional very long log lorries!
So many of the places where we have stayed have definitely qualified as “a room with a (superb) view” but this was “a whole house with a (superb) view”. Coromandel town is based around fishing (the fresh fish is fantastic) and also allegedly lots of arts and crafts and a gold mining history, although we didn’t see the latter two.
Then today we drove on a very dramatic road across the top of the peninsula then down the east side of the peninsula in blazing hot sunshine. The beautiful white beaches make this side the more popular, with fairly upmarket holiday apartments and really nice small towns. We didn’t see as much of the beaches as I hoped from the car and sadly we didn’t have time for the walk that they deserved.
Suddenly, what has felt like a never ending holiday in New Zealand, has a definite end date! We fly out of Auckland on Sunday morning! Aaaggghhhh.