Bay of Islands: One

Friday
We left the Ramada this morning.  It was a good location and a clean studio apartment.  However, the view was the wall of the next door block and we could hear the city traffic and air conditioning units.

This is in stark contrast to the view over the Bay of Islands I am presently looking over with the sounds of exotic birds, insects and other fauna.  The flora is wonderful semi-tropical plants, some of which I have struggled to grow in the greenhouse or conservatory - Datura for one.  The roadside is covered in giant agapanthus plants in their full blue and white glory.  The ferns are giant (like the all blacks I suppose) and it seems everything is extra large sized.  Anyway back to the story...

We collected our hire car which is a very new white Toyota Corolla (Auris in the UK) which is just the right size for a couple of OFs and their luggage.  It is a joy that NZ drives on the left so it is not too difficult.  We navigated out of central Auckland with only one navigational error and no falling outs.  It was motorway for a few miles then single carriageway with passing lanes every few miles, mainly up hills.  For some bizarre reason Joyce (our new satnav - so called as she sounds like Joyce Grenville at her headmistress best and someone you don't mess with!  "Turn around NOW". Is not an option...) directed us off the main road and took us through some lovely farmland with more bends than Donald Trump promises.  We arrived back on the main road a few miles further up but having added 15 minutes to the journey...  As a result, Joyce is now on the naughty step and we are now wary of her 'good ideas'.  Although there is generally not a large amount of traffic, it takes longer than you might imagine because the roads are so wiggly.  So OF1 is starting to panic about the planned 360km one day when we are in South Island - could be a marathon 🚗🕒👎

We had been looking for a lunch stop cafe when one was signposted off the road.  Well, it looked a bit of a shambles and a little wild-west like.  However, the lady IC was superb and produced an extra large bowl of freshly cooked spicy potato wedges with cheese and sour cream.  We ordered one between two and still failed to cross the finishing line.  The locals were very friendly and gave us plenty of 'must sees'.