Knickers Nicked by Nincompoops!

Imagine my surprise upon arrival in NZ to found two or three pairs of trousers missing from my luggage!  Not really knickers but I did get your attention - didn't I? I'm travelling lighter than usual so this theft has left quite a dent in my wardrobe. I'm checking to make sure they are not at Hale Puko'o but I'm 99% sure they are not. I remember packing my black jeans, my indispensible black jeans ,on top of my pile of clothing. All women of a certain age know how difficult it is to find jeans that fit - it can take months!

We arrived at Auckland, NZ after an overnight flight from Honolulu and didn't expect the showery weather to improve while we were here, but it has cleared and the sun has been shining through the clouds during our entire stay. We've had a lovely two days here visiting wineries, country farm markets and Dorothy's 10-24 store in Warkworth, a neighbouring town. Dorothy was thrilled that I was able to replace my jeans with a pair of hers, and she even offered to stay past closing time to alter the hems! We insisited that we would pick them up the following day and when we arrived she'd even left us some chocolates. These friendly New Zealanders never cease to amaze me - friendliest people in the world in my opinion.
From the road the views reminds us of the best parts of pastoral England, rolling green hillsides dotted with sheep, goats and a few cows and horses. Of course the dense vegetation is 100% NZ with palms, kauris, NZ flax and lots of spring flowering trees. The sudden showers that appear and disappear remind us of England too.

Muesli with Preserved Winter Fruits

Because we arrived at 6 a.m. we were in Matakana by 9 a.m. a bit too early for our B & B, so we stopped at the Honey Cafe just off the highway. Duncan commented that often cafes don't tempt him with the contents of their display cases, but he said he could have eaten any of the items on offer at this one. Because we didn't eat much on the plane and had been up all night, we decided to have some breakfast. I opted for the banana cinnamon honey porridge (ultimate comfort food) while he went for the homemade muesli with preserved winter fruits. As you can see from the photos, we really "lucked out" by stopping here. Look at the beautiful presentation and the food tasted as good as it looks too.

I had a big grin on my face. It feels so good to be back in New Zealand, even with very limited pairs of trousers. Kia Ora.

Vendor weighing tamarillos

We began the next day at the Saturday Matakana Farmer's Market at 8 a.m. It was a buzzing hive of activity, obviously important to the locals who flock there for flat whites and no end of culinary treats. Too bad we are here for only two days, we would have been quite happy to stay a week and avail ourselves of local fruits, veggies, honey, jams, pickles and chutneys, mustards, cheeses, oysters, smoked fish, sausages and beautiful bouquets of roses. This is a foodies, paradise with very high standards.

We love the Kiwi consideration too - organizers warn people twice not to bring dogs into the market, but then offer to babysit their dogs for them while they shop! Another business offered cozy rugs to cover the knees! We had to content ourselves with double flat whites and ginger slices.




One of the wineries we visited today, Brick Bay, had a sculpture trail that we hiked for over an hour. It's beautifully done and the sculptures were varied and inspiring. Though we didn't eat in the glasshouse dining room, there were lots of happy customers. We tasted the wines and they were excellent especially the Pinot Gris.

Its been great to touch down in New Zealand however briefly to recover from jetlag and break up our journey and look forward to returning in November when the weather warms up a bit. We're off to Perth, Australia and balmy temperatures. The waiter at our restaurant tonight told us the weather should be brilliant in the .Margaret River Valley, another destination.

Click to see our location outside Auckland:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Matakana,+Auckland,+New+Zealand&hl=en&ll=-36.354951,174.715576&spn=1.827118,3.532104&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=23.430526,56.513672&vpsrc=6&hnear=Matakana,+Auckland,+New+Zealand&t=h&z=8