An overview of our holiday. We begin in Puhoi and Waipu.

Allie made a wonderful suggestion not long ago. She proposed that we take a three night, four day holiday and make our ultimate destination Cape Reinga, the northern-most point on the North Island of New Zealand. Road trip!  Woohoo!

She outlined a very exciting itinerary. We would leave early Sunday and drive to Puhoi for Mass . From there, we would drive up to Waipu where she wanted to hit the once-a-month market that town hosts. We'd have lunch there as well. Then it would be north on highway 1 to Paihia, and to the Copthorne Hotel. We would see Kawakawa along the way; where the famous Hunderwasser Toilets are to be found. (Don't laugh, these really are famous.) And we'd also visit Whangarei Falls. 

While in Paihia, we would tour the Waitangi Treaty grounds. We'd also cross the bay to little Russel, a picturesque town with an amazing past. It was once called the 'Hell Hole of the Pacific', where 'pirates, rascals and scoundrels' ran wild and there were no laws of any kind.  Later, it became the first capital of N.Z. Today, it caters to tourists and is very well behaved indeed. 

The highlight of the trip would be when we'd take a bus tour to a grove of 1,000 year old Kauri trees, see the beach in Taipa where the Maori first landed on NZ., have a chance to sand surf down giant dunes, see Cape Reinga, and finally, to drive through the surf (in the bus) along Ninety Mile Beach.

What a plan. And we did it all, and more besides! 

I have a number of posts and lots of photos to share with you. I hope that you'll enjoy seeing more of N.Z. 

Today, we start out by going to Puhoi.

So far on the trip, we have been travelling through well known territory. Once beyond the tunnel however, it'll feel different and our road trip will really begin.   

 Built in 1880, this the Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Puhoi was originally settled by Bohemian immigrants. Each man and woman was given 40 acres and kids got 20 each.

Not long before I took this picture Allie and the boys were having a snack at the table with Jeanne. 

Those are fresh almond croissants, warm from the oven. I bought a bottle of fig syrup to take home. 

I'm sure the town library is open at 10 am on Sunday morning because of the tourists. The lady working in it sounded much more like a historian than a librarian.  

Allie and the boys across the river walking in the park.  

Amiri is trying out the swing that reaches out over the river. 

We get on the road again for Waipu. 

We have stopped at a scenic turnout and climbed a hill from the car park. That is Great Barrier Island out there. 

Arriving in the town of Waipu. I didn't take any other pictures here. We enjoyed the market. I bought a jar of jalapeno pepper jelly. I wish now I had bought several of them. They are very good and remind me of the jars of similar (though not so spicy) jelly that I'd get each year from a sales rep of Robinson's.   -djf