Dinner at the Nausbaum's

Everyone outside enjoying appetizers at Anouska's parents home. They invited us all over for a nice evening and home cooked dinner.

It was so beautiful in their backyard. Nothing like we would have at home. It was like a small botanical garden. All sorts of flowering plant life.

Susie, Anoushka's mom, fixed a fabulous meal. She cooked lasagna, chicken, potatoes, and salad. It really hit the spot. We just enjoyed the evening visiting and sharing stories about Anouska and Josh.

We plan to head to Waitomo and Rotoura tomorrow. We will actually end up spending the evenig in Rotoura tomorrow evening. Want to see the glow worm caves, go black water tubing, and see the mud baths. Should be two busy days of seeing some of the best of New Zealand. We will be renting a car tomorrow, so lets hope we can remember to stay of the correct side of the road. Well big day ahead of us tomorrow. Better head to bed, its 12:15pm here and hope to be up around 7am. So far we have adjust to the time with out any problems.

Touring the Island

So we got a little adventurous and thought we would rent some scooters to tour the island. The tricky part came in on remember what side of the road to drive on.....the LEFT side. We didn't have any trouble and was really enjoyable.

Greg on a scooter....

We were finally able to get our feet in the ocean. Felt pretty nice. The tide was out when we made it to the beach and we found some really unusual sea shells. They are the same sort of shapes we would find at home, but they are very uniquely colored.

Mud Brick Winery

So we arrived to Waihihi, then proceeded to hike to the top of the island. Definitely worked up a sweat. Then we realized we had walked to far and hopped into a cab for our lunch at the Mud Brick Winery.

You can not image a more picturesque location. It had wonderful views back toward the Auckland harbor as well as beautiful vineyards all around. It was very aromatic. We sat down for a wonderful lunch. Greg and I had some delicious lamb with a great bottle of Mud Brick Riesling.

Group shot at the winery after lunch. What a great experience!

Ferry Boat Ride to Waihihi

So we were able to get a great nights sleep and woke up about 7:30am this morning. Ate a nice breakfast on our balcony over looking the harbor. We meet up with everyone to take a ferry boat ride to a smaller island. It took us about 45 minutes to reach Waihihi. We couldn't ask for nicer weather - sunny and warm with no humidity. This is a picture of Greg on the ferry boat.

This is part of the group that came from the United States for Josh's Wedding. They were all "sunning" themselves. That was before we learned that the sun is extra harsh in New Zealand. Come to find out the hole that is in the ozone layer sits right over top the country. They warned us to wear or sunscreen.

A picture as we were leaving the Auckland harbor. You can see the Auckland Sky tower in the middle.