New Zealand is growing on my, exponentially right now. The rains appear to have gone away and I've had two fabulous back to back weekends and have the suntan to prove it.
On Saturday I left Auckland behind and spent the day on Waiheke Island. First stop, Oneroa Beach. Quality beach time and a great lunch here at Vino Vino overlooking the ocean.
Then onwards to Mudbrick for wine tastings and patio time. Have I mentioned that this is my favorite place in Auckland?
We finished off the afternoon at Stony Ridge, then back to the beach with some fish and chips for dinner. Not a bad day!After a good nights sleep (and plenty of lotion), Kwang, Lauren and I took off for a day up on the Northland. We kicked it off with brunch at "The Art of Cheese Cafe" in Puhoi (home of the Puhoi cheese factory), then headed to The Vintry for wine tasting.
Followed by Ascension Vineyards for lunch!
Finally Snell's Beach late afternoon which turned out to be pretty spectacular.
We saw these fins and we were wondering...dolphin or orca? We decided to call them 'dorcas' which must have really ticked them off because then they started to jump out of the water. Amazing! There were at least 5 of them, and one of them was a baby with its mother.
Talk about an awesome day and weekend. And as the orcas distracted me from reapplying sunscreen, I'll be reminded of it for the rest of the week...
