Back to Auckland and home for Catherine
Trip Start
Nov 16, 2005
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31
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Trip End
Apr 11, 2006
Auckland, New Zealand
Sunday, February 19, 2006
We got back to Auckland at about 1 pm having driven from the Bay of Islands. The weather was very good and we stopped off for coffee at a place where the women's league were quiltmaking! I would love to have stopped for a lesson but Catherine would not hear of it!
When we got back to Piha (Jason and Dale's home) we had some lunch and they took us to the beach and to see the village of Piha. All the large homes are set into the mountains and are hidden by the trees - lots of privacy - many "famous" artists (both music and film) have homes here to get away from the madding crowd or to hide from the tax man! It is totally out of the way - we would never find it on our own. We walked the beach there and watched the surfers - many of the beaches in this area are not suitable for swimming because of riptides and strong currents - you have to know where to swim.
We went to visit Dale's parents, whose house has another magnificent view from the top of the mountain! Having stayed and chatted with them awhile. They really have a lovely lifestyle - great walkers who spend a lot of time travelling and doing walking holidays all over the place - they have plenty of opportunity to hone their skills in this neck of the woods!
After dinner we took Catherine to the airport and had a quiet evening.
