South to Manukau City

Hundertwasser Toilets

The operative word for the day was green. Lots and lots of green, everywhere we looked. We popped over to the bakery and picked up a couple of breakfast rolls, with ham, cheese and fried egg inside, far far nicer than an egg McMuffin, and stood out on the beach watching the sunrise over the Bay of Islands, then checked out of the hotel and drove south, for the most part. We stopped in Kawakawa for a while to use the most interesting public toilets I've ever seen, the Hundertwasser Toilets. It was very odd taking pictures inside a bathroom, but it simply had to be done, and I was careful to wait until no one else was using them, of course.



Everywhere we looked was like this

Down the main motorway 1 to Whangarei, then cut across the island to the other side to the little town of Dargaville, where we wandered the main street for a while, searching for a farmers market which turned out not to start until much later in the day, but did manage to stumble upon a charity book sale, so I bought a couple of New Zealand cookbooks to play with when we get home.

TokaToka Peak

Zigzagged back the other direction, stopping occasionally for photo opportunities, returning to the motorway at Brynderwyn, and stopping for a pair of pies (chicken curry and lamb fry & bacon) and some ginger beer at the Swinging Cow Café. Chatted with the owner there a while, then zoomed on down the road again. Arrived in Manukau City, where we have an apartment booked for the next few days. There's little to recommend the area except its proximity to the airport and to some of the wedding venues, hence its name, Proximity Apartments. There do appear to be many many shopping malls nearby, and Rainbow's End amusement park, so we may be able to keep ourselves entertained between commitments.




The Swinging Cow

We got cleaned up, and I shaved for the first time in a week, which was especially painful due the fact that my shaving gel had dried up. After sufficient imprecations, the GPS unit spit out directions to St. Marks, where we met up with all the family and ran through the wedding rehearsal. Afterwards, we drove to Howick and had a fantastic meal at the George Bernard Shaw pub. Roast duckling for Michele, and bacon-wrapped Gurran (fish) fillets with steamed mussels for myself. After a couple hours of fun and conversation, it was time to come back to our apartment and crash.