New Year Travels

After our New Year's Eve celebrations (and a day to recover!), we decided to head North and visit Rosemary and Stan, friends who live north of the Bay of Islands at the Whangaroa Harbour. We took a slow drive up, stopping off at various sites en route.

Seaside views



Vineyards

Dad and Nik enjoying very large glasses of wine!

We were treated like kings and queens at Rosemary and Stan's with great comfortable beds and so much delicious food (not to mention the champagne and wine!). They also organised for us to spend the day on one of their friend's boats...the weather was great and we even managed a quick dip in the sea!

Pat and Steve's gamefish boat




Sisters catching some sun

Rosemary and Stan have a beautiful home with stunning views of the Whangaroa Harbour. On our last morning, we enjoyed a huge breakfast in the sunshine on their amazing deck.

Breakfast on the Deck

We then headed west and stopped for a quick walk at the headlands of the Hokianga harbour. The views up and down the coast and across the sand dunes were wonderful.

Hokianga harbour

As we carried along the west coast road, we stopped and walked in the forest to view the huge kauri trees. Some of these gigantic trees are thought to be 2000 years old and don't appear to have stopped growing at all in that time!

Can you spot us at the bottom of the tree?

We stayed a night in a farm close to the forest, then visited the Kai Iwi lakes on our way back to Auckland. We had never been here before, but we will certainly be returning to this little tucked-away place. The freshwater lakes were crystal clear and wonderfully refreshing...we really felt on holiday.

Kai Iwi lakes