As far as you can see are islands and water. And it's much warmer here. In fact, it is quite hot! I love it!

We took a side trip to Opua and caught the little car ferry over to Russell, which was the original NZ capital. It's an historic place now, with beautiful old buildings and a very popular tourist spot. We thought we might spend the night there but discovered just how popular it is by the hefty hotel prices.

So we headed on back and wound our way all the way up to Kerikeri which I found rather disappointing. Dad lived there a long time ago and I had heard storied about it but I guess over the years, its popularity has grown and it suffers now from urban sprawl. So we ended up spending the night and leaving fairly early the next day, but not before a little shopping at the kauri wood store.

The wood that is used for the carvings and furniture is called swamp kauri and is mined from the peat bogs. some is reputed to be more than 45,000 years old. Bought a few little gifty things and admired a $28,000 dining set.