Rainy Day Greens

Rainy Day in Plum Tree Cottage

 No Blues, thank you very much. It is SOOOO green up here. John and rented a car and drove from downtown Auckland to Russell, in the Bay of Islands New Zealand yesterday. It reminded me of Pennsylvania, John of Ireland. However, The Rain is spectacular. I'm an East Coast girl. I thought I knew rainy days. This came down in buckets for hours. Fortunately, our lovely Airbnb hosts had the foresight (and the room) to upgrade our studio to an apartment, and I'm glad they did. It has been lovely watching and listening to this rain from the broad windows of this sweet place. We ARE going to venture out soon. Can't stay inside All day. Or can we?

Rainy Day at Plum Tree Cottage 2

The view from this spot above the bush (the Kiwi name for the sub-tropical jungle here) could not be better. It stretches over a vast array of exotic flora, complete with songs of birds we don't recognize, down to a wide sweep of the bay. We had good weather for the drive up yesterday, so we hiked in a couple of different places. We ate dinner at a local place that Pete, our host, tells us has not only been recently restored, but the owners have taken a great deal of civic responsibility in a sort of rebirth of the citizenry here. More on that tomorrow.

Roadtrip view

So. To retreat a bit. Walk backwards into the future. We drove up to The Bay of Islands. The scenery gets to be ridiculous, it's so beautiful. One gorgeous vista after the next. Once out of Auckland, it's rolling hills with trees on the tops and sheep and cows grazing peacefully. Think an English landscape from the 1800's. But darker and lighter greens, and more stark outlines. Kiwi's are justifiably proud of their agricultural products, and by the look of it, many are raised in this part of the country. We didn't see a lot of row crop agriculture, but we did see a ton of sheep and cows (dairy and beef) grazing. We also didn't see any CAFO's, though at least one New Zealander told me that they are starting to come in. Their butter and milk is amazing, as you might imagine.

Roadtrip view2

Dogs Say Always stop for a hike

First view of Mangawhai Cliffs walk from the Parking Lot

The beach with rocks and seawall. Dogs allowed

So! My plan was that we drive for a couple of hours (even the Route 1 State highway here narrows to two lanes pretty quickly), then go over smaller roads for a hike. This is an old habit from having dogs in the car with us. You always get out for a hike at some point. I chose Mangawhai Cliffs walkway, mostly because it was a good length (1.5-2 hours our of Auckland), and promised to be easy-to-find. I'm always concerned that these well publicized places will be over-run with tourists (what a snob I am), but that hasn't happened since we've been in New Zealand. There are other folks there, of course, but non of the thoughtless bus-full-of-selfie-taking-crazies, or the tourist-weary workers in restaurants and shops. Such a relief. This turned out to be a wonderful hike, again full of ridiculously beautiful vistas. The hike up to the cliff was not trivial either, even by Rocky Mountain Standards, so we had a decent workout before heading into Russell.

I'll close this post with some of the views from the hike. It's still pouring. Thank you, Patient Reader, for giving me a lovely task while I enjoy this Shelter from the Storm.

From beach to cliff climb

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There be cows here.

Ridiculously Beautiful

View from the top