Nelly keeps giving me a hard time because I am repetitive in saying how much New Zealand reminds me of home. Well, more of a combination of Maui (minus the skyrise resorts) and northern California. And the past two days have been spent with what feels like family, so he really has no legs to stand on when ribbing me about it! One of my dad's really good friends is from New Zealand and his whole family still lives here. On Wednesday morning we picked up our car and headed to his sister's house in Orewa, which is about 1/2 hour north of Auckland. It is a very cute beachside town. We stopped downtown at the beach for brunch first as we were starving from not having eaten since lunch the day before. Unless wine tasting counts as dinner! After that we met up with John's mom, Gay, at the house and she gave us a tour of their town and where John was raised. We got to see the house he grew up in, his school and his surf club along with Shakespear Park and the thermal pools just north of town.
This is the beach at John's surf club. Earlier in the day when we stopped for brunch the tide was all the way up to the sea wall just a bit out of this frame, but you can see from this photo how large it really is.
Me and Gay at the club.
This picture of the whole beach was taken from the opposite end of his surf club. I loved that there are no tall buildings clogging the shoreline.
Then we went back to John's sister's house (Gay lives there too) and had an amazing afternoon lounging by the pool and drinking wine. I want Gay's life!! All of the family came over later for a BBQ where we feasted on local wine and food and Pavlova. If you have never had it before, you are missing out. It's basically a meringue topped with cream and berries. To.die.for. Nelly said it may have been one of the best things he has ever eaten.
John's sister's mother-in-law made it. She is also the same delightful lady who informed me that New Zealand has the best ice cream because they have the happiest cows. I think I would be pretty happy if I were them too :)
Stay tuned for the Hopper family visit 2.0!
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
What is a skyrise? If it is something tall then I am certain that the Kiwis would be bungee jumping from it. I think Pavlova is going to be the next big thing. Tell Gay she looks great and from mom and I thank her and her family for hosting you guys. Bubba says garrump! Dad
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly ` Tell Matt Nelson I said hello! Please tell Gay I said hello and the rest of the Hoppers. Pavlova is one of Ina's favorites. I think I will be making it now. It looks like you are off to a great start in the Adventure. Love the Blog! XO Victoria
ReplyDeleteThe beach looks like Ecuador's.
ReplyDeleteLoved this -- esp the reminder about how great Pavlova is. Matt - I don't know if you remember that Uncle Den's sister and family lived in Australia for 5 years, back in the 80s....she used to make it. xo aj
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