Easter Monday

I had a painful night and was awake a lot and my back is no better.

I was glad to be up first and left Jon asleep and I made a cup of tea.

Finally down for breakfast at 9.20 the waitress told us they were just about to close but in the book in the room it says till 10.00 everyday. She was laughing about it as she didn't know!

We had a really good fresh cooked breakfast, hash brown stack with poached eggs.

Jon suggested I stay in the hotel but we have to get out and see everything and I am sure it is better to move than just sit.

We left hotel and drove around Whangarei Heads, really really beautiful with so many beautiful views and it was very painful getting in and out of the car.

We stopped at Urquhart's Bay and got out and walked to Smugglers Cove which was across hilly farmland with lovely views wherever you looked,.

This is a really beautiful part of Northland and I had no idea it was so beautiful. Amazing views round every bend. It is so hard to decide which part of the North Island I like best. Every time I go to a new part I like it the best!

We went back to Whangarei Basin, the marina, for a coffee then we decided to go to the waterfalls and on the way saw a sign to Zion Wildlife Park where the Lion Man was filmed. Jane and Jason really wanted to visit but it is a long way from Tauranga so we didn't. Jon and I decided to go out there just to take a photo for Jane , what a long way it was, too way out in the hills behind Whangarei. It was not a all like I imagined it to be and was very small and very expensive. You could only go in on a tour and the tours were $60 for and hour and a half.

We headed back into town and on our way bought some sandwiches and drinks at a petrol station and went out to Whangarei Falls and had a picnic. The falls are not very big but very pretty. You can walk across the top of them on a bridge and then walk down a path to the bottom pool and look up at them and then carry on up the other side so you actually walk right around them.

My back was feeling easier so it was the right decision to walk but we went back to the hotel for a rest and I did some crochet - more beanies.

Shower and hair wash, my hair feels like straw and I think it must be the new hair dye I used last week, I have never known it so dry.

Jon had arranged to meet some of the men who work at Northport and go out for dinner so we walked into the town to meet them. My back is still really sore but I think I have done really well.

We met up with John and his wife Tawny who are from Zimbabwe and Kevin and his wife Yvonne and had a really good dinner with them. the couple from Zimbabwe have been here in NZ for 11 years and have two young children and Tawny told me about their escape from Zimbabwe and it was just terrible what they went through she was so brave. I told her she should write it all down before it is forgotten as their children were only three and a half and two weeks old at the time and they will want to know all about it in years to come when she may not remember it all so well. The other couple are Kiwis and Yvonne says she hasn't travelled much but would like to but they were very nice and we all laughed a lot. We laughed about her daughter being at uni in Auckland and how expensive it is and how she is working to keep her in this lovely flat she shares with fabulous views in Auckland but like all children they take it for granted.

I said we would walk back but we got a lift back from John which in hindsight was good as my back is playing me up a little now.
Coffee and bed

WEATHER
Mostly sunny but some cloud and warm 24 degrees