New Zealand the first three days

We arrived early on Monday morning (Sunday morning in Calif.) and got a rental car and learned to drive on the left side of the road. So far so good. No close calls.

After exploring around Auckland for a while, we found a place near downtown Auckland with a fish and chips restaurant near the beach. We ordered our food and then went down to the beach to eat our first lunch in New Zealand on a bench overlooking the water!

We visited One Tree Hill Park just south of Auckland, and then checked into the hotel in Auckland to shower and rest. We explored a little of the downtown area and wharf area, had a simple dinner, then went to bed early since we had not gotten much sleep on the airplane the night before.

Tuesday, we headed out from Auckland to go to the "Northlands". Along the way we stopped at Sheep World and got to see and participate (that's me on the left!) in sheep shearing and to bottle feed the lambs.

We arrived in Kerikeri in mid-afternoon and found our bed and breakfast in a lovely area. It is surrounded by countryside, but still close to the small town. Our hosts, Wendy and Tony, are a very nice couple who just moved up here from Wellington five years ago. The room is very clean and comfortable. A great place to rest.

After settling in a bit, we drove to a nearby trail and hiked through thick woods to a small beach, then went back to town for a nice leisurely dinner.

Wednesday we woke fairly early, which has been easy for us because we are still kind of on California time, and had a great breakfast made by Wendy. Then we headed to the local airport to take a flying tour of northern New Zealand, and to visit a lighthouse that is on the very tip of the island.

The Kerikeri area has a lot of agriculture, and since it is summer here we have been enjoying fresh locally grown fruit and salads.

After landing in the north, we took a 40 minute van ride to the light house. We walked and explored around the area for a little while. At the very tip of the island just below the lighthouse is where the Pacific Ocean, and the sea that is between Australia and New Zealand meet. You could see the ripple of currents in the water.

On our way back from the lighthouse to the plane, we stopped at some giant sand dunes, had tea, and took a ride on the sand dunes in some little plastic toboggans. We returned to Kerikeri, viewing from the plane so much of the area that would be impossible to see by car. This area is called Bay of Islands because there are so many tiny islands in the nearby bay. They say that they call anything that sticks out of the water an "island", and there are several hundred of them in the bay.

In the evening Wed., we drove up to a place called Coopers Beach, about an hours drive north of Kerikeri, and had fish and chips at a restaurant that was literally on the water. Some great atmosphere. (I'll have a photo of that later.)

Thursday was some down time for me, and I did some shopping in the local town, while Tim went golfing.