Spirit of the Antipodes Day 18

If yesterday was wet and miserable, today was the opposite end of the spectrum, both warm and brilliantly sunny. 

We left the Heartland Hotel at 9 am on the courtesy shuttle bus which took us to the airport and Budget car hire. We were all kitted out with a brand new Mitsubishi,  and on the motorway out of Auckland by 10. 

We had decided to take the Twin Coast Discovery Highway north,  which took us up through Helensville where we stopped for morning tea, and then along a scenic coastal drive with views over Kaiparu Harbour on the west coast.




Joining State Highway 1 at Wellsford we now took a hilly,  scenic inland route. At Waipu, we were back on the east coast and stopped to take photos of the Whangarei Heads and a very cute calf which was on duty in the paddock beside the lookout. We sought some more coastal scenery down towards Marsden Point and One Tree Point where we hoped to find a cafe with sea views for lunch, but there were plenty of new housing developments and not a cafe in sight, so we rejoined the Highway and headed for Whangarei.




As we entered the city we spotted the i-site visitor information centre and its cafe nestled in a lovely green space, which sated my craving for a toastie and iced latte, and gave us the energy to push onto Paihia where we will spend the next 3 nights. 

Finally, after 2+ weeks in New Zealand, we have somewhere to stay with a view that is not the backyard of a hotel and its bin storage area, the wall of a neighbouring building, or a sea of rooftops. And what a view we have in beautiful Paihia overlooking its stunning Bay of Islands and sparkling water dotted with a variety of watercraft. 



After settling in, making use of the guest laundry, and wandering down to the supermarket for some supplies (we are eating in tonight as we have a fully equipped kitchen … what bliss!), we positioned ourselves on the outside table and chairs to sit and soak up the  serenity. 

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