After a very good night's sleep we went down and had breakfast. We both chose continental and there was an amazing selection to choose from, really good.
We had the car brought round, you can't get it yourself, and headed out west but got a bit lost looking for the motorway and our trip took about 45 minutes longer than it should have but we eventually found Scenic Drive and it was very pretty.
Bearing in mind this is a bank holiday weekend the places to stop for a drink are few and far between. One big cafe said they won't be open till next weekend - you don't get UK cafes missing opportunities like that. We finally found Elevation cafe which had lovely views except it was misty over Auckland even though it was a sunny day. Unfortunately, they had no muffins in fact, he had very little food!!!!
We went on to Karekare beach which is where the film 'The Piano' was made. It was really difficult to get to it from the car park as you had to wade through a deep, cold stream OR climb over hills which is what we chose to do. I can understand why it is so clean, not many people can get there! It was quite spectacular and very good for surfers but not families. As the sand is volcanic it is not really pretty like our white sandy beached on this coast. I think they must have had to get the piano in by helicopter.
We carried on to Piha stopping to take some photos from the road above. Once again a very beautiful beach but black sand and really rough and dangerous. There is a TV programme on about the lifeguards on this beach and I am amazed anyone goes swimming there as it is so dangerous. Jon was really disappointed with it all but I liked it.
The only place we could find for lunch was a greasy snack bar and I had a very greasy toasted sandwich and Jon had fish.
We got back to the car and I read the instructions for the train ride and realised I had made a mistake with the time and we had 20 minutes to do a half hour drive to the train depot!!!! I was in a real panic as I thought we would miss it. Fortunately we made it in time and they were just giving the safety talk as we arrived phew!!!
It was a nice journey, lovely views, though lots of tunnels that were dug out by had 100 years ago and over lots of bridges. It follows a water pipe which carries 6% of Auckland's water from a dam.
We could walk up a gravel road to the dam or go up 155 steps, we, and a young couple from Oz decided on the steps and it wasn't too difficult and much nicer than the road. Lovely views at the top.
The couple from Oz were just over from Sydney for the weekend to buy a car!!!! I think it was a classic car and they were going to have it shipped back. Really pleasant couple and we enjoyed their company. We meet some really interesting people on our travels.
When we got back we drove to the visitor centre just down the road and on a clear day it must be amazing but it was still misty so not as good as it could have been.
We then drove to Titirangi, the main town up that way, as we really needed a drink. We stopped at a small cafe and had a cuppa but the most awful brownie which just crumbled like dust. We haven't had the most successful day for food so far.
The journey back to Auckland was easy and only took 40 minutes or so. We had time to have a shower and get ready to meet Richard and his wife Lyn for dinner down at the port. We were given a chocolate on the way out in a little pink box, don't know why but very nice.
Auckland night life is so busy and not what we are used to but it was great fun. We met in a bar looking over the harbour and had a drink and then went on to a restaurant overlooking the harbour. The meal was a very nice and I had baby chicken with vegetables followed by a lovely apple cheesecake. Only problem was the price they charged for Lyn's scallops. Very expensive for what was a small meal of scallops, they did reduce it when Richard complained.
We then walked to the Hilton for coffee. The Hilton is built on the end of a pier where the cruise ships come in and it is actually built to look a bit like a ship. Richard is living in one of the apartments there at the moment but will move back to Hawke's Bay at the end of the month, it is all very nice down there. We then got a taxi back and we were more than ready for bed again!
WEATHER
Sunny all day 20 degrees.
No comments:
Post a Comment