I had my first Golden Kiwi fruit for breakfast – delicious, and definitely different from the green ones. Decided to spend today and tomorrow in and around Auckland, then find a motel for Julie and Gordon to overnight in after they had dropped me at the airport. How quickly the time has gone!

Devonport is delightful! Coastal, with a naval base, and opposite Auckland, it has many older houses, which are beautiful, and lovely shopping and cultural areas. It’s expensive to live in, but seems such a nice place to live. We caught the ferry over to Auckland and wandered around the seafront area before having a Gelato – Hokey Pokey flavour, in case you are interested, which is honeycomb and butterscotch. We then caught the ferry back and wandered up through Devonport main street in search of a late lunch, which we found in a local Deli. Delicious, and still weird to be sitting outside in the sunshine while Christmas Music is played by all the shops and cafes.

After lunch, we went up to North Head – another blustery headland with astonishing views. It’s one of the many volcanoes in the Auckland area, plus a site of Maori importance, and was fortified against feared Japanese invasion during WW2. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves……………..