14 December: Wednesday. Our flight to NZ was without incident. We met Jeannie and Marty Lorrey at the gate and were sitting two rows behind them for the trip! I slept most of the way...Buzz watched endless movies. Arrived at 6:45 am, passport control, baggage, customs, topped up my Vodafone account, picked up our rental car, and arrived at the Grayson's in Red Beach just after 9am to the Stars and Stripes waving in the wind and a wonderful welcome from Helen and Luke. A cup of tea and a shower revived me until after lunch when we collapsed into our bed. In the late afternoon Buzz went with Jim to help out at the Athletic Club "Sausage Sizzle" They make and sell sausages and drinks to benefit the athletic league programs for kids.

15 December: Thursday. This morning we drove into Auckland with Jim and Helen to see a special exhibit at the Auckland Art Gallery.  "The Maori Portraits" by Gottfried Lindauer is an amazing collection of pantings of Maori Chiefs and leaders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was European born, and, after living in a few places in NZ settled in Woodville, a small town not far from where we lived when we first came here in 1971. The portraits ate beautiful, and the curation telling about each one is excellent. Lindauer also painted many portraits of European settlers, and several of those are on display as well. Put it on your list "to do" if you will be in Auckland before February 17 when it closes. After a late lunch, I took a nap (still catching up), and Buzz helped Jim begin the building of a frame for a sand pit (sand box for the Americans) fort the grandchildren.

16 December: Friday. This morning was time for laundry and a couple of errands. While I did that, Buzz helped Jm fill the sand pit with new sand. In the afternoon we went for our traditional walk on the Beach at Stanmore Bay. It is one of our favorite spots. It was low tide, and Helen told us that because of the full moon, the tide goes out further than usual. We were able to explore more than usual because of the exceptionally low tide. Jim cooked dinner on the grill, and we relaxed for the evening. Disclaimer: I spelled Pohutakawa wrong on the photo label and am not "hi tech" enough to figure out how to change it!

17 December: Saturday. What a great day. We drove about a half hour south and picked up Shmuel Btzur who is in NZ for work until the end of January. He had contacted me just before we left hoe to say he was here. We took him to Muriwai on the west coast to see the Gannet Colony. The baby gannets are recently hatched, and it was quite a sight to behold mothers with their new babies. On to Helensville for lunch and then to Orewa for a walk on the beach there...are you sensing a theme? All the while, we caught up with this young man who we first met when his family joined our synagogue about fifteen years ago. He now lives in Israel but is traveling for work this year. In the evening we took Jm and Helen out for dinner at a new Mediterranean restaurant, Kuzina, in Orewa. It's worth a stop if you are there.

18 December: Sunday. We packed up our stuff while JIm and Helen were at church this morning, loaded the car, had lunch with them, and headed north to Warkworth with a brief stop at the Puhoi Cheese Factory to buy some cheese. What was once a factory with a small cafe is now a destination with a large, bustling cafe, childrens' playground, and more. We got the last spot in the carpark, bought our cheese, and continued north. We're at the Sandspit Holiday Park, a campground with rental cabins, right on the Sandspit harbor. The tide was out when we arrived, and we took a long walk along the muddy flat. Made a quick trip into town for groceries and spent a quiet evening reading. Tomorrow we'll meet Dan and Valerie Cohen and take the Royal Mail boat to Kawau Island.