Overcast but warm all day, the sun never broke through all day today which made it a little muggy.
We were up a bit later this morning so we cut our schedule back a bit so we weren't rushed. Started with a couple of hours wandering round Whangerei centre and harbour side. All very nice, the town has everything you could need and of course the harbour side was very pleasant with lots of cafes and galleries. The cafes were very busy with folks having brunch, we didn't succumb though!
We then took off up the scenic road, in fact only road, up to Ocean beach which is a popular surf beach. Lovely drive up with the obligatory great scenery and amazing houses dotted around (I did have a sneak peak at the property press in Whangerei - 10 acres with bay views ~£300K and prices dropping!). Property appears to be priced on a number of factors here, of course view is one of them but distance from a town centre is another. As the public transport systsem is non-existent over here everyone has to use cars, so the closer the property is to the town i.e. walking distance, the price is significantly higher. This means the prices drop significantly being 10 minutues out of town, go even further and you can buy your own bay or valley with acres for the same price you'd pay for a decent town house! Enough of that.... now where was I?
On the way down to Ocean Beach we popped in a local gallery and found some nice bits and bobs, Deb saw some nice glass jewelery she liked, I had feeling we'd be coming back! Got up to Ocean beach and other than half a dozen surfers we had the place to ourselves, I had a peek over the headland at the end of the beach and you could see other completely deserted white sandy beaches stretching for miles down the coast! We explored some of the other bays round the headlands, completely unsploit, parts of which were part of conservation areas. Although I say unspoilt it would be remiss of me to point out there is a massive oil refinery just the other side of the bay! Oddly enough it wasn't that imposing, certainly the folks who owned properties overlooking it didn't seem to think so anyway.
And of course on the way back we had to pop in the gallery again for me to buy Deb her belated birthday present!
In the evening we then went out for a fine dining experience at one of Northlands top restaurants set in a converted period art deco house. As you would imagine the food was excellent, with Deb not having been to a fine dining restaurant before I did have to correct Deb on her table manners a couple of times ;o))) The biggest surprise was the price, far lower than I would have expected, certainly at least half the cost of something equivalent in the UK. Then back to the accomodation for a good old cup of tea!
Photo: "a Deco" restaurant, Whangarei, NZ (Joe)
We were up a bit later this morning so we cut our schedule back a bit so we weren't rushed. Started with a couple of hours wandering round Whangerei centre and harbour side. All very nice, the town has everything you could need and of course the harbour side was very pleasant with lots of cafes and galleries. The cafes were very busy with folks having brunch, we didn't succumb though!
We then took off up the scenic road, in fact only road, up to Ocean beach which is a popular surf beach. Lovely drive up with the obligatory great scenery and amazing houses dotted around (I did have a sneak peak at the property press in Whangerei - 10 acres with bay views ~£300K and prices dropping!). Property appears to be priced on a number of factors here, of course view is one of them but distance from a town centre is another. As the public transport systsem is non-existent over here everyone has to use cars, so the closer the property is to the town i.e. walking distance, the price is significantly higher. This means the prices drop significantly being 10 minutues out of town, go even further and you can buy your own bay or valley with acres for the same price you'd pay for a decent town house! Enough of that.... now where was I?
On the way down to Ocean Beach we popped in a local gallery and found some nice bits and bobs, Deb saw some nice glass jewelery she liked, I had feeling we'd be coming back! Got up to Ocean beach and other than half a dozen surfers we had the place to ourselves, I had a peek over the headland at the end of the beach and you could see other completely deserted white sandy beaches stretching for miles down the coast! We explored some of the other bays round the headlands, completely unsploit, parts of which were part of conservation areas. Although I say unspoilt it would be remiss of me to point out there is a massive oil refinery just the other side of the bay! Oddly enough it wasn't that imposing, certainly the folks who owned properties overlooking it didn't seem to think so anyway.
And of course on the way back we had to pop in the gallery again for me to buy Deb her belated birthday present!
In the evening we then went out for a fine dining experience at one of Northlands top restaurants set in a converted period art deco house. As you would imagine the food was excellent, with Deb not having been to a fine dining restaurant before I did have to correct Deb on her table manners a couple of times ;o))) The biggest surprise was the price, far lower than I would have expected, certainly at least half the cost of something equivalent in the UK. Then back to the accomodation for a good old cup of tea!
Photo: "a Deco" restaurant, Whangarei, NZ (Joe)
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