We repacked for another week away, and left home here last Friday morning (the 30th December). Andy still had to work that day, so he drove up by himself later. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, so we missed a lot of the scenery which must have been lovely, being mountainous and sea views all at any given time. We got up to Russell, on the east coast in the top section of New Zealand. Russell used to be the very first capital of NZ, and is set in an area called the Bay of Islands. this is well named as there are about 150 islands dotted around there - some big, and some tiny. It is absolutely beautifull there, with yachts in every little bay and around every corner. We stayed at a holiday park, and each couple had a little cabin, then we used the communal ablutions and kitchen. We had Logan's cot in with us. There was bedding there, but we had to take all our own crockery, cutlery and pots.
Other friends with us were Jo and Gerard with their 20 month old daughter Sienna, and Grace and Scott and their 2 year old Roy, so we were pretty overrun by munchkins. There was no enclosed area where we could let the kids run, and as the camp road ran thru the park, and the main road was just outside (yes, I do know that this is obvious!) we had to have a trail on Logan the entire time. He took one look at the cute little backpack we gave him for christmas - which hides a set of reins - and hated it on sight, so that was no help at all. Because of all the rain there was a lovely lot of mud around, which he made a bee-line for each time he got free. As this was right on the side of the road we could not leave him just to play in it though.
Jo had suggested that each couple host a 'come dine with me' evening, which was not quite like the telly evenings, as we had different sets of crockery, including a mickey mouse plastic plate and plastic cutlery, so the table settings were eclectic to say the least. It was great fun though. Margi and Andy went first - on new year's eve - as Margi had a murder mystery game she had been given for her 21st, and thought it would be good to use up time till midnight. Fortunately she managed to unearth a tape recorder, as the game had a tape which had to be listened to. With each couple having to jump up and take care of a child, and trying to get them to sleep etc, the game did not work at all, so eventually we just read the answer as to who the murderer was! Their setting was just-post prohibition Chicago, to fit in with the 'murder of Hal Cappone' mystery. Andy made the most delicious prawns and then roasted duck breasts, and Margi made sticky chocolate brownies for dessert, so it was delicious. (Their timing was off though, so we only ate quite late, which caused them to loose points in the scoring.)
Jo and Gerard were next, and they had an Arabian sheik's evening, with couscous, hummus, Moroccon chicken etc, and a delicious chocolate and cream cake - named Camel Dung Mirage in their menu! We had this outside under a gazebo which they put up.
Linsley and I were next, and I had invited them - as guests at our Tiger Sanctuary - to join the management for dinner. (I could not get any 'South African' paper on which to write out our invitation & menu except paper with tigers on it). I hung up a blanket with Springboks as rugby champions (thanks Colin and Aly for sending this to Logan when he was born) and had an african type of cloth on the table. I also had a liqueur bottle with animal print on the table, and we had candles, so our table was way better than any of the others' tables. For starters we had brown mushrooms with garlic butter and cheese topping as I could not get a watermelon. (I had wanted to do a watermelon, feta and mint medley.) then we had a bobotie, yellow rice, tomato salad, and 'brash broccoli', which is my famous broccoli salad. For desert we had Malva pudding with custard and cream. I had also made a coffee cream liqueur, and made everyone drink it 'management style' which is my party trick way of tipping the drink from one glass into another, then upside-downing one glass and placing the other carefully on its base, by using one hand only. I was so proud of everyone, as they all managed without spilling - except for Linsley, who was the last to go, and who dropped one glass and bust it.
On the last evening Scott and Grace had an 'Asian experience' with various types of rice crackers and vietnamese spring rolls as starters, then very thin slices of beef and pork cooked over a Korean barbecue. This is a little machine which sits on the table, and cooks with gas, but also with steam, which keeps the food nice and moist. A few vegies were also cooked on the barbecue. For dessert they had bought some flavoured glutinous rice cookies, which were very different and tasty.
I am very proud to say we won!!!!!!! We were given 55 points out of 60, Margi and Andy got 51, Jo and Gerard got 48, and Scott and Grace 46, so we won the $40 stake.
While in Russell we did quite a few geocaches, and Margi is also enjoying this now. We also took the ferry over to Pahia; wandered through various museums and interesting graveyards - at one we saw the grave of the first white woman who had been born in NZ. We saw the flagpole which the Maories had chopped down 4 times in the 1800's before they left the fifth one; had coffees in various places, etc etc.
Andy had to leave to come back to work on the 4th, then Margi took us further north, and we got a nice motel room at Kaitaia about 4 hours away. We certainly needed the swim in the pool when we got there as it was hot. Linsley jumped into the pool, then jumped out just as fast, as the water was freezing cold! The next day was beautiful, so we drove 110kms right to the very northern point of New Zealand, which took about 2 hours of driving because of the roads being so twisty. If you go for about 400 meters on a straight section of road you think you have gone wrong and got on to the motorway by mistake! The scenery and lighthouse at Cape Reinga was very pretty, and one could see the waters of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea doing battle just below. The Maories believe that the souls of their dead go back into the sea at this point, to rejoin their homeland, so it is a sacred place for them. Linsley had a fit thinking that Logan was going to jump over the little wall into the sea below! On our way home we stopped at a Kauri museum, which showed pictures etc of the huge Kauri trees, some of which have been carbon dated as 45,000 years old. The shop is built around a Kauri tree trunk, into which a staircase has been built to go up to the top floor of the shop.
We spent that night at the same motel, then set off on Friday to go south again towards home, through kauri forests and pretty farmland country. We stopped for lunch at a place where we could walk into the forest and see the oldest living Kauri tree. It is estimated to be about 2000 years old, and it is truly awesome to see. We spent that night in another nice motel in a town called Dargaville, and again just swam and explored the town in the afternoon. At one place we saw a couple who had dozens of dead possums on the back of their buggy!
On Saturday morning it was raining again, so we set off at about 9 for the last stretch of our journey to home. All the way through we had a lovely coffees and scones in a little restaurants, and on two occasions crossed from one side of a peninsula to the other by car ferries. This whole Northland area is very pretty! We got back to Auckland at lunch time, and Logan was so excited to see his daddie again. The poor little guy had been bitten by a mossie at Russell, and he still looks like a poor white, with sores all over him. Strangely, he had a bite on the fleshy part of each thumb, and these two bites turned into huge blisters. While he was running around at Kaitaia he fell twice on the driveway, and each time a blister went splat!
Last night Andy took us all out to a Japanese restaurant, and we had Tepinyaki, cooked for us by Tom, a Japanese guy who has lived in Auckland about 3 years. It was most delicious!
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