The motivating reason
It's a long way from Dunedin to Northland, and even though it was on the 'must go there one day' list, we needed a motivation to do so.
One reason for choosing to do it now is that we have visited the Bluff signpost this year so it seemed fitting to try to get to the other end of the country in the same calendar year. The other much better reason was the Hamilton wedding of Alice Bowden to Samuel Marneth-Rust on Friday 6 October. She sincerely wanted us to come, so it seemed an excellent opportunity for a holiday exploring the Far North.
First a picture of the beautiful couple in the midst of their nuptials yesterday.
Following a delightful wedding we adjourned with family and friends to the Woodlands Homestead 25 minutes out of Hamilton for the reception. A marvellous time was had by all.
Today (Saturday 7 October, 26th birthday of our charming and well travelled Brendan) we picnic-ed with family in the Hamilton Gardens. Really splendid themed gardens relating to different cultures and historic periods, as well as inspirational culinary and backyard gardens to admire. (There are lots of lovely photos to add but we are working with phone photos only at present so the selection is more limited.)
An early afternoon departure with Barney (and Maureen) back to Auckland, where we had flown to on Thursday, and we were soon on the road ourselves in a zippy rental. A slight navigational error took us to Helensville and up the Kaipara Harbour, not a bad thing as it turned out, as we would have missed this spectacularly and unbelievably lime green part of the country if we had stuck to Highway One. From about Wellsford we were looking for accommodation and as things were starting to seem desperate with No Vacancy signs in Mangawhai we chanced across a delightful motel with a miraculous vacancy in Waipu Cove. So here we are, enjoying dinner in a coastal retreat with friendly natives and oil tankers on the horizon.
One reason for choosing to do it now is that we have visited the Bluff signpost this year so it seemed fitting to try to get to the other end of the country in the same calendar year. The other much better reason was the Hamilton wedding of Alice Bowden to Samuel Marneth-Rust on Friday 6 October. She sincerely wanted us to come, so it seemed an excellent opportunity for a holiday exploring the Far North.
First a picture of the beautiful couple in the midst of their nuptials yesterday.
Following a delightful wedding we adjourned with family and friends to the Woodlands Homestead 25 minutes out of Hamilton for the reception. A marvellous time was had by all.
Today (Saturday 7 October, 26th birthday of our charming and well travelled Brendan) we picnic-ed with family in the Hamilton Gardens. Really splendid themed gardens relating to different cultures and historic periods, as well as inspirational culinary and backyard gardens to admire. (There are lots of lovely photos to add but we are working with phone photos only at present so the selection is more limited.)
An early afternoon departure with Barney (and Maureen) back to Auckland, where we had flown to on Thursday, and we were soon on the road ourselves in a zippy rental. A slight navigational error took us to Helensville and up the Kaipara Harbour, not a bad thing as it turned out, as we would have missed this spectacularly and unbelievably lime green part of the country if we had stuck to Highway One. From about Wellsford we were looking for accommodation and as things were starting to seem desperate with No Vacancy signs in Mangawhai we chanced across a delightful motel with a miraculous vacancy in Waipu Cove. So here we are, enjoying dinner in a coastal retreat with friendly natives and oil tankers on the horizon.
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