New Zealand! Sunday and Monday.

Had a disrupted journey, the plane had to turn around after 45 minutes for a medical emergency. When we got back to Brisbane, everyone got up and streched legs and someone shared biscuits and there was a bit of conversation. The situation was a good ice breaker. We weren't allowed off the plane, just waited til the ambulance came, the bags were unloaded and reloaded, and food was loaded, refuelled, and we left for the second time 2.5 hours later. We flew faster, and I met Elsie at Brisbane. We got hour hire car and drove to our airbnb nearby.

First sight of New Zealand. The water was very clear.

We then headed straight to the Villa Maria winery which was also nearby. It was a perfect evening, large crowds, soft thick green grass, food trucks, picnic blankets, and live music. I bought myself nachos and a beer for dinner.

Elsie went up the front for Bic Runga, and I went up the front for Brooke Fraser. Wonderful to be so close. They are both flawless singers.

So that was the original motivation for visiting NZ, and it didn't disappoint. A great first start to our trip.

The next morning, I slept in while Elsie exercised. I guess I slept til 8am which was 6am in NSW and 5am in Brisbane. We packed and left, and had some nice sandwiches in the bakery over the road. Bakeries don't bake bread there, they mainly sell tarts and pies. We also popped into a market garden and bought snow peas and cherry tomatoes.

We drove East to the Coromandel pensinsula, stopping to change drivers at this little apple stall at a rest stop. $2 bag of amazing little apples to snack on for the week. I was very happy.

As we were driving along the coastline, we noticed an opshop in a town we drove through. We stopped there, it was called Thames, and it was delightful. I bought a holiday book, we had a cup of tea in a good cafe, and walked up and down the street, admiring the cute buildings and trying on vintage clothes.

Pulled over at a lookout.

After stopping for lunch at a mussel place, yummmmmy, we went to Driving Creek Railway. An obsessed potter built his own narrow railway. Worth doing. Good views at the top and just amazing what really obsessed people can do.

Bought an ice-cream, it was not great, so I fed it to this polite dog. It licked it slowly rather than chomping it down in one go.

We drove further west to our airbnb, through windy hills. We ran into a herd of free-roaming pigs and chickens and fed them some stale peanuts.

Arrived at our airbnb, decided to drive into town for dinner but the takeaway options weren't tempting so we bought biscuits, ham and cheese to supplement our tomatos and peas, and took it back and had dinner on the verandah.