We started our day quite early, leaving the house at 8:50. A friend of Mark's (Tony's brother) arrived in his Land Rover and he and Mark lead the way, with us following in the Range Rover. We drove for about 45 minutes through incredible farmland. Mark's pal, Jeff, had been in touch with the owners of various farms as they were scouting for locations for an upcoming 4x4 event (fund raiser) the second week in March. I wondered why we took two cars, and an hour or so into our trek, Tony filled me in as to why....the Range Rover that we were in wasn't able to make it up quite a steep incline. Jeff hooked up the cinch from his car to ours and had to pull us up. The scenery was breathtaking. Attaching a photo of Jeff's car fiording the river, having to wend his way through the Friesen cattle all along.
At 1pm we met up with Sister Sue and T's mum and we had a lovely lunch at the "Irrestiblue Cafe". A huge organic blueberry farm/cafe. I started off with a vodka/blueberries/juice cocktail and finished off with a very nice Pinot Noir.
After lunch Sue and I headed off to Hamilton where we drove through a sweet little town called Chartwell and she gave me a tour and we ended up in the Chartwell Mall -- picked up a new Pandora charm for my bracelet and also a summer bag ... on sale of course as their summer stock is on sale now since their season is ending. Looking forward to this week and doing much more exploring of unchartered territory. G'night all.
Tomorrow I think we'll probably be heading up to Rotorua, spend the night there, and then continue north for another few days.
These updates are great, and a picture too! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteLove you!
H