Saturday, February 23, 2019

Carrying on where I left off

Apologies once again for the lack of posts, our visitors left in January and since then I've been rather out of sorts. Last year was very full on, with the build up to the wedding and what followed, I think I crashed and burned when it was all over, summer has been in full swing and as much as I love the sun it's been really too hot to do too much and my enthusiasm ran low. Hopefully I'm back on track.
For this post I'll share some photos of our trip North with Liz and Pat before they went home. I'll add a link to the Facebook album if you wish to see more.
So here we go........
This was a bit of a whistle stop tour just to give Liz & Pat a taste of the North, it's such a beautiful place and should be on everyones to do list when they come to NZ.

A hearty breakfast in Warkworth




After we stopped for breakfast in Warkworth we took a detour off the main road to Marsden Point, a really pretty place with some luxury homes with access to water at the bottom of their garden! Nice  but rather contrived for me.............


 ....plus there's Marsden point oil refinery just across the bay, not sure I'd want that on my doorstep to be honest. But then I have a car so it has to go somewhere I suppose We called here because Joe has worked at the refinery in the past.


We had intended to have lunch at Whangarei but we were still full from our breakfast, we looked around anyway before carrying on




It seems strange to see a Christmas tree this far into February, Christmas seems so long ago


Each time we head up North we usually call in and stay a night with our friends Sandra and Dennis who live in a beautiful place that is called Oakura Bay. These visits normally involve walking the very short distance to the beach to either walk or have a swim, follwed by a BBQ and a game or two
There was croquet on the lawn



There was swimming




We're here again in March for Sandra and Dennis' daughters wedding, it's going to be at the end of the beach, can't wait

Great company and always good fun


Visiting Russell is an absolute must, although I much prefer it out of season.

There was a huge cruise ship, the Majestic something or other





Then it was off the the Waitangi treaty grounds  a very significant place in the  history of New Zealand but now hugely expensive so I doubt we'll do it again.






In a small town called Kawakawa there are some pretty amazing toilets, we've always managed to miss these in the past, we've either been on the road road or had no time etc. This time however I told Joe we were going to see them or there'd be trouble!
Hunterwasse toilets


If you need a pee I can think of worse places to have one!







After a quick bite to eat we drove to Hokianga harbour, just past Opononi where we stayed with Jim and Carolyn 2 years again, a truly beautiful place. We stayed at the Copthorne hotel which has the most amazing views, the accommodation was good but our dining experience was hugely disappointing, the food was good but the service was appalling. I've still got to write my review.








The next morning we drove through Waipua forest and stopped to see Tane Mahuta



The last night of our trip was spent in Auckland, staying at the newly refurbished MSocial hotel, on Quay St overlooking the harbour and Viaduct.



Great views and another cruise ship

And then it was all over, Liz and Pat left, Joe went back to work and the world slowed down and got back to normal, well as normal as it gets here.
Here's the link if you would like to see the rest of the photo I took click here

I really want to get back into blogging again and using my SLR camera, I've been using my phone camera a lot and sharing through Instagram, which made me a bit lazy. I deleted my Instagram this week, I know lots of people use it and like it but I find it a bit pointless really. The people I followed practically share the same things on Facebook, so I'll just stick to that, I don't have the bottle to delete iFacebook though,  it has it's good points.....most of the time.

Right, that's more than enough for today, I'll be seeing you soon
I hoped your liked the virtual tour of tha last of our holiday

Sue
xxx


6 comments:

  1. I hope you get back into your blogging again Sue - I enjoy your posts. I too have "mixed feelings" about instagram to be honest. No wonder you crashed & burned for a bit there - you had such a full on year. These weddings can really take it out of you. Take care Sue Xx

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  2. Glad to see you back blogging Sue. Looks like you had a really nice trip. I signed up for Instagram but haven't put one picture up!lol I only went on there to follow the grand kids.

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    1. Instagram is perfectly fine for lots of people, it just isn't an outlet I need just now. xx Hope the grand kids are keeping you entertained ;D

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  3. Lovely photos and a nice reminder of our trip up North a couple of years ago. Sure Liz and Pat enjoyed as much as we did.x

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