Well dear reader, Grandad is back from his excursion to New Zealand, now returned safely to Sydney. New Zealand, what a place! Fabulous countryside and coast, easy roads to drive on, the friendliest people I have ever met and a terrific place to visit, live and love. We only had time to explore some of the north land in the north island, to see this country would take at least three months for each part, even then you might only touch upon the surface.
The beaches are plentiful, sandy, not crowded and the sea beautiful both in colour and temperature. Parking nearly everywhere is entirely free and easy to find. All in all I suppose I drove not very far in local's terms, doing 1,106 Km in total, which is about 687 miles in real money over 8 days. Don't forget, Grandad has a lazy breakfast, usually followed by a swim in a cove/beach somewhere and then explores the area a bit more.
We have seen glow-worms, (they only exist in New Zealand and Australia), been kayaking up to raging waterfalls, down rivers and back again. Walked through forests, mangroves and seen herons nesting in trees and an owl just sitting on a branch while we took its photograph. Been swimming in the Pacific ocean, body surfing in the waves on a surf beach, driving through tropical forests and also saw a large pod of whales off the coast of Hokianga harbour from a vantage point at Pakia Hill, just before descending the road to Oponomi. There we saw wonderful sunsets and rainbows, all viewed from our verandah and the beach a few yards away, before enjoying dinner and a glass of wine or three.
Apologies to all those avid readers of my blogs, but we are so busy enjoying ourselves that I hardly have time to paint or draw, let alone write a blog for you to share our journey. Do I feel guilty? Not a bit chummy!
Until the next time, take care of each other, all the best, Grandad.......
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