So, day 1 was an easy day ... sort of. We have a car rented to get around while we are here and these people all drive on the wrong side of the road! And they put the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car too! I'm quite thankful that Brian stepped up to take on the burden of NOT crashing the car before we left the city of Auckland. It was trial by fire navigating through a city with a traffic circle at every street crossing.
We managed to get out of Auckland in one piece, and in less than a full hour which was a small miracle considering we didn't really know where we were going. We drove 3 hours north to the Bay of Islands area where we took a ferry over to a quaint town called Okiato. The scenery was everything I thought it would be and more. We saw sheep, cows and ponies grazing on the hillsides as we passed through town after town.
We are staying in the home of a couple named Gary and Paula who are very hospitable. The view from our apartment is just stunning. We are overlooking a small inlet. Paula has put together a beautiful hillside garden which we explored when we go there. We also took a short hike through an area that looked almost junglesque. Dinner was at a bayside restaurant in Russell called "The Duke." Speaking of dinner, we paid a small fortune for our meal. I think my three week stay here is going to make me seriously appreciate the cost of living at home. These guys had a $23 hamburger on the menue. That's right, I just wrote "hamburger." This may well be the first vacation where I come home weighing less than when I left!
So, no pictures for the next couple of days as the computers at the place I'm at can't handle an SD card! Sorry!
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