Orewa, is a town in New Zealand's North Island. It lies on the Hibiscus Coast, just north of the base of Whangaparaoa Peninsula and 40 kilometers north of central Auckland. It has a population of about 7,400 people, which is an increase of about 1,500 people over previous estimates - it's mainly because Orewa is one of NZ fastest growing places and is one of the most expensive areas in which to buy a house.

Today our plan was to head to the Bay of Islands near Russell - some 250 kilometers north of Orewa. We set out on Highway 1 north. Thank god for Ian and his local driving skills. I'm sure that when the planners laid out the roads years ago, they threw some spaghetti up against the wall and that became the national plan. Roads here are nothing but curves and hills. We set out to travel the most scenic roads we could find, but geesh they were nothing but cut-backs and turns. Ian's biceps got a great workout moving the steering wheel side-to-side.

I was still on a quest for my Green Lipped Mussels. I've asked in each town and city, but no luck. I'm pretty sure that I want to move to New Zealand. It's me I think. I've pretty much got Deborah convinced that we could get a couple of acres here on the North island and start a sheep ranch. We had to drive north through Warkworth, Wellsford, Mangawhai Heads, Waipu, Ruakaka, Whangarei (pronounced Fung-aray), Hikurangi, Whakapara (pronounced Fuc-a-para), Kawakaka and on to Russell in the Bay of Islands. We found that we had to go out on a ferry on the peninsula so for $25.00NZ we rolled the car on and headed to Russell.

On arrival we were all in need of food, so we stopped at the Duke of Marlborough Tavern for a mess of fish and ships with about 100 seagulls. Wendy taunted them with the occasional french fry much to my dismay. Unfortunately no green lips at the Duke. I came across a local food store that was called Four Square Supermarket, they had my elusive mussels. With only little in the way of ingredients back at the house, I thought six of these suckers would fit the bill. So in a plastic bag with ice and I was a happy camper.

We covered around a 600 kilometers out and back so it was a long, long driving day - THANKS IAN - Every time I thought he should have turned left, he turned right so I'm sure that I would have had a few fender benders along the way. We've decided that Ian has a new calling as a tour bus operator, so for all of you out there that know Ian, with Christmas just around the corner we may need to get Ian, a new headphone and microphone set-up so that he can get this new business started. I took a total of 350 pictures during the day, so you can imagine just how beautiful it is here on the North Island. We stopped in Wellsford for dinner at La Padilla. Not the greatest looking place, I had my doubts for dinner but it just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover. As dinner came out and the first bites were taken, all the comments from our party were very, very positive. But I, finally came across my elusive, Green Lipped Mussels that were part of the Seafood platter. I had only three on the platter, covered in cheese and they were glorious.

After such a long day everyone was pretty pooped so after a few nite caps we all headed off to bed. Tomorrow's the last full day here in New Zealand for Renetta and Jean as they head back home tomorrow. I've reached a NEW RECORD on my blog readership, so thanks to all of you for following us through Australia.