Starting on the left is the birthday girl, Carol. Hiding behind her is Carolyn, Grace (friend of Katie's)., Katie (daughter of Carolyn), Sue (Carol's flatmate landlady) and me. We continued the surprise by meeting another couple and Carolyn's husband at the restaurant. It was Carol's first ever surprise party.
Saturday ended up being a rainy, windy day so David and I worked out and then settled in for Saturday at the Movies right in our living room (which Kiwi's refer to as a lounge). We would need our stored up energy for our Sunday explorations.
Sunday was mostly fine perfect for tramping. So we took a ferry over to Waiheke Island which has numerous beaches, vineyards, art galleries, and laid back seaside villages. A short shuttle ride brought us to Oneroa where we began our tramp doing a loop along the coast. It was absolutely beautiful.
View of Hurauki Gulf from the Ferry.
What I love about tramping in New Zealand is the variety of terrain --- there is always some bush walking mixed in with cliff walking overlooking the coast. I'll leave you to ponder the Valley of Tranquility...
We trekked right up behind this vineyard as we entered the bush.
The top photo is a view from the cliff and the bottom is along Island Bay Beach.
And David even found a horse I might be willing to ride --- where do these things come from?
This was the point we had to turn inland before reaching Owhanake Bay on the other side of the island.
This was a good 3 and 1/2 hour tramp and just had beautiful views.
This is Matiatia Bay --- the end of this tramp. This is the ferry building where the ferries from Auckland come into. We had taken the ferry from Half Moon Bay so landed on the other side of the island at Kennedy Point which made for an interesting adventure. Since we were catching the 7 PM ferry back there were no more shuttles back to Kennedy Point. What does this mean ---- We had an additional 1 hour walk from Oneroa after dinner ---- I was gobsmacked!
When we dragged our sorry bodies onto the ferry it was party time! You have to love the kiwis!
And now an update about TCF in Auckland. We had our very first meeting tonight and it was great. There were two other couples and one woman that attended along with Judith, the grief coordinator for Auckland - 8 total which made for a perfect first meeting. Everyone was open to sharing and grateful for the group. David and I are blessed to be able to get this started --- a great beginning. Everyone said they were returning next month. There is healing in sharing.
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