A quick visit to Auckland

On Friday we headed up to Auckland to visit family. My Dad was celebrating his 70th birthday and DH's son was celebrating his 29th. We left early in the morning and had to make our first stop at the Army Museum. This was 2 hours drive north from our place, at Waiouru. This is home to the Army who have a large training ground here, and anyone joining the army gets sent here first to do basic training. We also have some fantastic mountains here in the centre of the North Island. No snow today tho, The musuem is a regular stop as the coffee is good, and they have the cleanest of toilets! I spotted the menu, mmm ...
You would be expecting one hell of a spectacular breakfast? Mmmm, not so sure. I don't know who wrote the description, but this is what you actually got!
Our next stop was at 5 Mile Bay on the shores of Lake Taupo where some friendly ducks, or may be hungry ducks came to see what I was doing and check me out for food. I am always pleased that there are other drivers in the car, it's a 7 hour drive to my parents, and add another hour if we go right into Auckland city to see the kids.
This is part of Lake Taupo from the car
Our next stop was at Tirau for more coffee. This is a fabulous little town, full of cafes, and gift shops. Corrogated iron is their trademark and the stores use it everywhere. It's a definate feature of the town.

We then had a stop at Grandmothers Garden in Gordonton. Now isn't their front enterance very enticing? I felt like Gretal looking at the gingerbread house!! This is one of New Zealand's best quilting stores with thousands of bolts of fabric and some very clever staff. They always have exciting and beautiful patterns, samples and kits! I'm always clutching my wallet very tightly when I enter this store, not that it seems to make any difference!


This is what you get when you enter, there is much much more you don't see until you wander thru the store! Hazel caters for husbands who have to wait for their other half drooling over fabrics etc... She makes cups of tea and yummy things to eat. There are also cafes now at Gordonton, which makes the stopover easier! (If you know what I mean!!)I left with a rather fat bag of interesting goodies, sigh...
Here is a great shot of my Mum, me in the middle and my sister, taken on Friday night during our family get-together. Believe it or not, none of us were drunk! (Although some of us may have been boarderline!!!)