NZ2024 - Leg 2 - Auckland and Warkworth

 From Vancouver to Auckland is about a 14-hour flight.  Air New Zealand, however, knows how to treat their passengers.  The service is absolutely exquisite, even if you are in economy, and of course, the accent....  You board, take off, and as soon as the crew are allowed to move about the cabin, they are getting ready to serve drinks and dinner.  There was a choice of two meals, and we both selected the beef roast and mashed potatoes in gravy, which also had a lovely mixed vegetables.  It was served piping hot and very tasty.  There was also a slab of real cheddar cheese, a warmed whole wheat roll with butter, a delicious quinoa salad with a light sesame dressing, and of course dessert - a spiced apple cake with light frosting.  Maybe not gourmet dining, but for airline food, not bad at all. 

After dinner, the lights were dimmed, and wine was topped up (if you wanted).  I slept early, after walking about Vancouver all day, I was tired.  I was grateful for the extra leg room in the seat I had booked, and slept fairly well most of the night, waking a bit earlier than i had hoped, but having still slept most of 8 hours.  I took the time to go online (in-flight wifi rocks!) and get an eSim for New Zealand, that I would have to wait until I was on the ground to activate, but at least I was prepared.  

Breakfast was a cheese omelette with turkey sausages, coffee or juice, breakfast potatoes, yogurt, and fresh fruit.  Lots to hopefully keep us going for a few hours.  Tasty, but actually, almost too much food.  A couple of hours later and we were on the ground in Auckland.

The day was rainy, and it was still very dark out (we landed at 4:45 a.m. local time), but we found the rental car that would give us a chance to get out of the city.  First we wanted to get to our room and freshen up/shower, drop our bags, and have a bit more of a snooze.  However, not having driven on the "wrong" (left) side of the road, and sitting on the right side of the car as the driver, for many years, in the dark, in very busy traffic, in a city I've never driven in, was an interesting experience.  I was ok, but we hadn't been able to punch in the address for the lodge to our GPS, so after getting out of the airport, I found a shopping mall - and of course drove in the wrong lane.  Thankfully there were no cars around in the parking lot.  

We managed to get ourselves oriented, and found the lodge, which was a beautiful, colonial style home that had been converted into rooms.  The owner/manager came to help us find our room, show us where everything was, including milk and complimentary bottles of water in the fridge (milk for coffee), and Linda wanted to crash for a bit more.  So I wrote my blog, and then showered.  

After Linda also had a chance to wake up and freshen up, we chatted about what we wanted to do - it was still raining, and the forecast was for rain much of the day.  We didn't feel like doing a ton of driving, even though Coromandel beckoned, it was just too far for one day.  So we chose Warkworth, a small town north of Auckland, situated on the Twin Coast/Hibuscus highway.  Before leaving, however, we managed to take a few photos of the beautiful place we had landed.  This historic home, called Western Springs Villa, sits on a hill, with lovely views, 10 foot ceilings, original doors and many original windows, and a property that was likely at one time the home of a wealthy businessman.  

  

  

  

Before heading too far, however, we had to fuel up.  By this time, it had been several hours since we had eaten on the plane, somewhere over the Pacific.  So as we headed out for Warkworth, we kept our eyes open for the cafe the lodging owner had told us about.  Not far out, we spotted The Parkside Cafe, which seemed on the outside to be closed at first.  But, finding the door open, and two people inside, we realized we were just a bit early for the lunch crowd, and very late for breakfast.  It was only about 11:40 a.m.  On entering, the lady behind the counter asked if she could get us something to drink, and our response immediately was - a flat white.  A proper flat white, not like they serve in a paper cup from Starbucks.  One with that wonderful NZ coffee and fabulous clean water and oh-so-delicious grass-fed dairy cow steamed milk.  Yes, a real flat white.  

Brunch was truly fantastic - I had the corn and capsicum fritter, served with a poached egg on top and hollandaise, and streaky bacon (what we call strip bacon, or just bacon).  Linda had a waffle with all kinds of yummy goodness on top like berries and butter and syrup.  It was all just fantastic.  On our way out, we got scooped into buying gigantic homemade cookies from large glass jars on the counter.  When I wasn't sure what one kind of cookie was, the lady behind the counter said "Smell it".  I did.  Sold.

Warkworth is an easy-ish 40 minute drive, which means we would take at least an hour - especially if there was something to see along the way.  Which of course there was.

  

  

Warkworth itself was really lovely, even in the rain.  We found a place to park in the core, and it was right by the public restrooms.  One thing we had noticed on our previous visit was that there are public restrooms almost everywhere - a blessing for all, local and tourist.  And they are usually kept very clean, in fact, there was someone in this one, cleaning, when we arrived!

A walk along the river graced us with the sighting of a beautiful historic boat, a number of birds including a white-faced heron, and a walk past a historic hotel.  

  

  

Our next discovery was found by following the yellow brick road (almost literally) -  a small but exquisite art gallery, of Hand & Heart, full of gorgeous works by local artists, pottery, silk clothing, jewelery, paintings....  All stunning work.  I encourage everyone reading this to check out the website.

Feeling like we needed another flat white, we stopped around the corner at a little "So French cafe", and had a flat white.  Another walk along the river, and soon we were headed back to Auckland, after having had a lovely afternoon!

When we returned to our lodging, we realized that we were hungry again, so we spent some time trying to find a restaurant close to us, and opted for the Surrey Pub.  Wonderful food and really great service.  Linda had the fish and chips, and I had the calamari.  Neither of us could finish it, so we didn't bother with dessert (not like I should have any anyway).

It wasn't long after getting back to the room that we were ready for bed.  The first day after a long travel like that is always tiring, with a bit of time-zone messup.  And tomorrow morning will be an early start - have to get to the airport, return the rental car, and get checked in.  We've learned that, even with our meager possessions with us, we have to check one of our bags with Air NZ - they actually care about getting things right.  I'll write more about this later, but trust me, I'm a huge fan of Air New Zealand - and it's about way more than the accent.

Even though we have now been here for another day, and I haven't even started writing about today, I'll have to leave this till tomorrow - which also promises to be a full day.  But the eyelids are starting to close, and we have another early start coming up.  I will share more when I have more energy.