A few hours later she jumped aboard the ferry to Devonport for a quick walk about town, hike up Mount Victoria with panoramic views of the harbor and a delicious lunch at our favorite Devonport cafe. The next day was on to Middle Earth where the enchantment of Hobbiton captured her heart and sense of the magical.
"The Cottage"
"Cheers"
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"
And then if was off to Wairere Falls ---- the highest falls on the North Island ---- right there in Matamata. Now there will be tales of this hike --- something to do with steps and having to redo steps because someone thought we had gone past the viewing point ---- the number of these steps varies from 130 to 250 one way as the story takes dips and turns. You will have to weigh the truth of such tales though passing hikers did comment about whether we would redo the steps since the waterfalls viewing stations was a mere 10 minutes after the steps. This picture reveals our decision.
Jurassic Park ????
Moving away from a movie set, our next day took us up to the Bay of Islands. We of course stopped for tea in Warkworth before heading to Uretiti Beach.
Will they beat the wave? Maybe we still are on a movie set!
We travelled on to Paihia where we explored the town and crashed for the night. The morning found us kayaking around a small island in the bay. Katie and I maneuvered a two seater and David was the lone wolf. (Check out the boat shoes --- oh yeah!)
We embarked on a short car ferry ride across to what now is called Russell. The Maori name is Kororareka which means "sweet penguin". And no --- we didn't see any penguins.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh --- This is the life as David exclaims, "I'm on holiday!" We loved the peace and tranquility of this small island so extended out stay another night.
View from Flagpole Hill
Tea time before exploring the Russell Museum which was full of Maori artifacts, a model of Cook's Endeaver, whaling artifacts and a historic movie. Katie and I were impressed with the size of the stuffed kiwi --- apparently they can be quite large.
My tree fort!
I took a rest with my bunny friend on the way to Longs Beach. He is now living in my tree fort.
I picked these two up on the way to Longs Beach also ---- they were reluctant to leave their estate ------
Finally --- Longs Beach
Climbing over the lava rocks at the far end of Longs Beach. Check out the color of this water….
And now dinner at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel and Restaurant known for "refreshing rascals and reprobates since 1827" ---- a lovely establishment on the strand on the waterfront.
Katie's trip to be continued in the next blog --------
No comments:
Post a Comment