Whangarei

Last night the couple we’re renting from (Julie and Graham) invited us to dinner. We had a very nice evening. They are both really interesting people and had lots of stories about how their families arrived in New Zealand. They both know a lot about NZ history so it was all very interesting. We had a nice meal and just a bit too much to drink! Nothing drastic but more than we’re both used to at the moment. Wag, their Irish Setter, fell asleep on James’ feet under the table and was most upset when we moved.

This morning, after opening my birthday cards (thank you to everyone that sent me one – even Mark and F’s card arrived on time!) we left the house about 10am and drove to Whangarei – the nearest big city - which is about 90km away.

Just outside the city is a big store called Harvey Norman. We went there to see how much furniture, beds, washing machines and TVs cost. There aren’t many places in Kerikeri to buy those sorts of things and they seem quite expensive to us so we thought we’d see what a bigger store might have. Now we know the prices of things we wished we’d brought more furniture with us. Although, our stuff is still sitting in England somewhere as far as we know.

We went to the town basin where there is a harbour full of yachts. There are some really nice cafes around the harbour but they mostly serve fish, which neither of us eat, so we headed up to the city and wandered around the shops for a while.

We found a place called Dickens Inn for lunch – mainly because it had at least something we could both eat – it can be a bit of a struggle sometimes!

Then a leisurely drive home.