Our last stop before heading home … to the snow 😦 is a few days in Auckland.

We’ve been cooking in our apartments for the past week, so last night we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner in Whangarei at The Quay. We ate outdoors on the patio, because we could.

I’m not one for posting pictures of our meals, but these were particularly tasty dishes, and also artistically arranged. And I didn’t have any pictures of flowers, so this will have to do.

After dinner we needed to work off some of the calories, so we went for a stroll along the river as the moon was rising. The lunar eclipse was two nights ago (quite impressive, btw) so it’s still nearly a full moon. I took this picture as it was rising.

I showed a picture of the bridge in Whangarei the other day, but when it is lit up at night, it is even more impressive.

On our walk we came across this on the wall of one of the stores. It looks like a painting, but it is made of carved pieces of wood on the wall. Very stunning, especially at night with the shadows.

Today, after another entertaining breakfast, we headed south. We were planning to visit the Scottish Migration Museum in Waipu, a town that was settled by colonists from Nova Scotia in Canada. We had no idea. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the museum, but while chatting in the gift shop we discovered shared connections through genealogy research. Small world. Maybe next time. Then it was onward to Auckland where we checked into the hotel and I returned the rental car. No more driving – just walking around the city for the next three days.

As I write this, we’re pondering our options for the next few days. I’m enjoying the view from our room, and feeling that we may just take it easy.