Today we journeyed north from Auckland to The Bay of Islands - we were fueled by an exceptional breakfast from East (the vegetarian restaurant located at our hotel), which included probably the best French toast of my life (topped with candied banana, blueberry compote, vanilla creme . . .), Reef enjoyed homemade granola and locally made vegan coconut yogurt, and Sharyl & River split eggs and fresh baked sourdough toast. Enroute we stopped in to visit some old family friends - Ann & Chris who live in North Auckland.
Chris is a Kiwi and works as a Project Manager for a large local construction firm - he actually was the lead on the team that built Sudima - the hotel we had just checked out of; we had chosen the hotel on their recommendation and it was a perfect location for our brief Auckland adventure. Ann is from Maui, and her kids went to Emmanual Lutheran (they are grown now) - which is how Sharyl knows the family. They had a great house and treated us to coffee and scones before Ann took us on a tour where we got to see a bunch of her diverse art and a really cool sculpture of dandelions they had in their large back yard.
Ann highly recommended we visit the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangarei on out way up North, saying it had exhibitions that Reef would love - unfortunately with the four hour drive and early sunset we had to make a straight shot for The Bay of Islands in order to get settled in before dark. But we definitely look forward to checking that museum out in the future.
The rain, which had started last night was going full on today. Sharyl was incredible, navigating the traffic on the wrong side of the road through torrential downpours for 4 solid hours behind the wheel! Throughout the drive we were entertained by playing Botticelli (Reef managed to be Mickey Mouse, the Mischief Maker, and Minnie Mouse for his first three turns - possibly the first time in the history of Botticelli that a player has chosen individuals with the initials "M.M." for three turns in a row!) and fueled by some of New Zealand's finest snacks - including a raspberry licorice with chocolate center that Reef was fully prepared to eat his weight in.
After hours in the car and a brief ride on a car ferry to the island we pulled into our Airbnb just as the rains stopped.
The small town of Russell looks like an extremely small and slow paced version of Lahaina or Key West. The town has a ton of history, which I'm sure I will dive into on a future Blog Post after we've actually wandered around the town. But it is picturesque and our Airbnb is right on the main drag, directly in front of the ocean and immediately next door to the small local boat ramp. You couldn't ask for a better or more convenient location - oh and the view isn't bad either!
Once we settled in we walked the half block to the towns most famous restaurant (and the closest place to eat from the house) the Duke of Marlborough. Even though the town is super uncrowded at the moment we were lucky to get a table as reservations are typically required due to the place's popularity. The meal was phenomenal and a perfect way to relax into the new town after a long day of driving through the pouring rain. Reef capped the night off with a chocolate sunday that probably outweighed his brother.
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