Saturday, 24 March: We left Helensville after a visit to the library and the requisite antique shops and headed north. My camera battery ran out of juice; so I took some photos with my iPad. They turned out fairly well. We stopped at a wayside picnic area on Route16 near Tauhoa and had a nice chat with a farmer who was riding along his fence line with his dog. We ate our lunch as the weather began to deteriorate, and by the time we reached Dargaville it was pouri...

Saturday, 24 March: We left Helensville after a visit to the library and the requisite antique shops and headed north. My camera battery ran out of juice; so I took some photos with my iPad. They turned out fairly well. We stopped at a wayside picnic area on Route16 near Tauhoa and had a nice chat with a farmer who was riding along his fence line with his dog. We ate our lunch as the weather began to deteriorate, and by the time we reached Dargaville it was pouri...

Sunday, March 18: A quiet day and then an evening at the Tauranga Theatre Organ Society Concert. They have a huge Wurlitzer organ built in the early 1900s. The organiist was Chris Powell...well known in the UK and a reasonably frequent visitor to NZ. Thoroughly enjoyable. Monday, March 19: The wind and rain have returned with a vengeance. Flooding and gale force winds are predicted and have forced the cancellation of our planned trip to Coromandel...we'll save it...

Sunday, March 18: A quiet day and then an evening at the Tauranga Theatre Organ Society Concert. They have a huge Wurlitzer organ built in the early 1900s. The organiist was Chris Powell...well known in the UK and a reasonably frequent visitor to NZ. Thoroughly enjoyable.Monday, March 19: The wind and rain have returned with a vengeance. Flooding and gale force winds are predicted and have forced the cancellation of our planned trip to Coromandel...we'll...

Sunday, 11 March: We left the Black's with plans for them to visit us in Hudson to ski the White Mountains next winter and headed north through Dannevirke stopping in Norsewood to check out the woolens at the factory there. On we drove to Hastings and the Bluebell Cottage and lodge..a two unit motel hidden in an apple orchard. The owner met us with a big bag of apples she had gotten from the orchard. It seems that apples for the export market must have 75% color ...