Last day in Kerikeri

Tomorrow we leave Kerikeri heading back to Auckland by way of the Kauri forests and Tane Mohuta in particular.

Yesterday we went on a boat trip out to Hole in the Rock and saw a few dolphins in the bay on the way back. The weather was not that great and we certainly rocked and rolled out in the ocean but in the Bay it was pleasant enough.

We have also been to Pompallier out in Russell which was the first Catholic printing press. It was so interesting that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there. We crossed on the car ferry and that in itself was exciting as it is a drive-on, drive-off ferry. We also stopped at Okiato which is the site of the first capital of NZ. We have discovered so much history here.

Today we went to Kawakawa and went on the train that goes down the middle of the town right on SH1 - that was fun too; in fact, so much so that we rode on it a second time! Back to Kerikeri to Marsden Estate for a late lunch. "The kitchen is closed" I was informed by a rather snooty waitress, who then proceeded to tell me that we could only get an antipasto platter and started to explain what an antipasto platter is! We had one, it was $35 which was rather pricey for what we got. Give it a miss.

Thursday we plan to go to Waiheke Island. One of our aims is to do as many of the AA's 101s for Kiwis as we can. We are close to 60 now