Truss Bridge Waikino

Duders Regional Park - one of many Auckland Parks

Maraetai Beach

Totally awesome Auckland day.

The Redwoods . Rotorua.

Mamakau Blue - Blueberry Experience

Maraeroa Road , Rotorua.

Www.mamakublue.co.nz

3km off State Highway 5.

Don't  miss this on your trip to Rotorua.

Epic incredibly reasonably priced food from the attached cafe and an array of blueberry and gooseberry products.

Very good hosts.

The Wild Rice Thai Cuisine , Rotorua

1114 Tutanekia Street,

(In the closed street)

Came here twice while on holiday , hard to imagine you could get a bad meal here - highly recommended.

"High tea" for five from the Esplanade Hotel in Devonport.

Somewhat lacking the delicacy of the one I shared with Mum at the Flower Show in Christchurch and to be honest the tops of those sandwiches were drying out , but the scones were excellent as were the mini desert. Tea itself was awesome and the tea sets very cool but on the whole probably not value for money if you had paid full price which we didn't (their self confessed error) . That was a shame because their sit down evening meals are really good. Eaten there many times in the past. 

South Piha beach

Very popular beach with surfers but dangerous for swimmers who stray from the surf patrolled area. Home of the famous TV series "Piha Rescue" and the location of one of Taylor Swifts videos.

My dad used to travel all the way from Christchurch in the 1930's with his younger sister and mum to stay with friends who had a house on the beach. That must have been some trek back then as just the trip from the beach over the Waitakere Ranges would have been a challenge.

Murawai Regional Park

Two view of Devonport , Auckland

Looking west towards the Harbour Bridge and east towards Rangitoto Island .