Matakana

These are the public restrooms in Matakana

After we dropped Barbara at the Auckland airport we headed north to Matakana where we stayed for the next 5 nights in the world’s most romantic barn.   This was courtesy of yet another kind, travel-loving family who were willing to give us a few fill in days at a discount so that we could enjoy the very gracious 2 bedroom accommodation on their beautiful working farm.

We could definitely live in New Zealand.  It is all the good things about California and none of the bad.  Matakana and the surrounding area in particular is made up of bucolic farms attached to deserted beaches with world class diving and snorkeling, and incidentally also dotted with picturesque wineries.  What is not to like?

In summer especially this place would be heaven, but by our visit it was fall and we happened into especially rainy weather.  So we mostly cooked and enjoyed the fabulously upscale converted barn and daily went into one of the neighboring towns to the library for internet so that the kids could work on their classes.

Other activities included an outdoor hot water park and a winery visit.  Peyton opted out of the water park as she was over egg smelling water.  The rest of us enjoyed the giant hot tubs.  Mark and Wilder said the water slides were the fastest they’d ever been on.

One day Mark and I dropped the kids at the library and went to one of the local wineries.  It featured a hour long walk though their grounds filled with artist sculpture and was an interesting diversion.

One of our favorite activities though was a tour of the farm by our host Angelo and his kids.

This is Luca and Lucia, aren't they the cutest?

We can’t believe it is now April and that we can see the end of our trip on this month’s calendar.   For our next stop we are back to our continent of origin, South America, with a week in Santiago, Chile.  Stay tuned.