Another visit to the Sculptureum

This morning we headed south on State Highway 1 as far as Waipu and then turned off and went down the coast road to Mangawhai and over the hill to Matakana thus by-passing most of the State Highway with its road works and trucks.

It was a wonderful day (well it is the first day of summer tomorrow so, hopefully, that is a sign of things to come) and a lovely drive through lush valleys.

It was good to see the gardens in spring as it was autumn when we visited last time.

The meal was as delicious as last time and I had intended to take a photo but only remembered too late.

After lunch we went into the indoor gallery where there were some new installations.

                                              Head of a young woman by Paul Cezanne

                     This was made from a block of wood made from several olive trees.

                                                         These were made from plastic ties.

A Short Break 6

In the morning after a delicious buffet breakfast we loaded our luggage before heading to the Waitomo Caves.  They are truly magnificient (no photos were allowed)  We walked through several caves before boarding a boat which our guide steered by pulling us along a rope above us.  It was then back on the coach for our drive to the Tree Church and gardens at Ohaupo.  We spent about 90 minutes there and then headed for Hamilton Lake for lunch and back through the Auckland traffic to home.

The trip was three nights (4 days) and, as usual, a lot was packed into this time.

A Short Break 5

The next morning it was out to the coach straight after breakfast for our journey to Waitomo.  We headed to Kawhia but first stopped at the Bridal Veil Falls which were magnificient (and we have some good falls here in Whangarei).  We then drove through some lovely farmland to Kawhia where we spent time in their interesting museum before having a local come aboard the coach to tell us all about the area as we drove around the settlement.  We bought our lunch at a small cafe which produced some delicious meals for a coach load of visitors as well as serving the locals.

From here we drove to the Mangapohue Natural Bridge.  There was a pleasant walk through bush to this natural marvel.

Then it was time to travel to our destination, the Waitomo Caves Hotel built in 1908.  They provided a magnificant buffet meal.