We hopped aboard and went on a calm flight up north, arriving on time. It was quite a hot day in New Zealand and Auckland was a little muggy as we crossed the road and got in a hire car. I wanted to check out a large family saloon/sedan to see what a grunty machine was like to drive before I considered getting one but I couldn't. They upgraded me. Probably a good thing as the person (Esther or Stacey) who would have sat between the kids on the way up would have been a little squashed. Not too much, but a little. Just enough to be slightly unpleasant. We got a Toyota Highlander instead. I was impressed.
This paragraph is a rant about cars. move along to the next if you don't want to know. The Highlander was amazing. The engine was quiet. The cruise control, which I was told should only work over 80km/h was cool, so I'll try our landcruiser's cruise control now. It had a tiptronic gearbox, load of little compartments to put things. Plenty of cup holders, although they had a rubber inset that you could take out which made them too small for the bigger bottles of drink but still OK for a coffee or can. Once out, the cup holders were OK for the big bottles. What else. 7 seats, some wrap around mirror thing to look at everyone in the car so you don't have to adjust your rear view mirror, lovely air con, V6 and was about NZ$30 more expensive on a tank of fuel than my MR2
Whilst at Auckland airport we had some lunch and got some provisions. So as we drove up to the Bay of Islands, we were met with many, many, many roadworks. I'd driven that route before years ago and didn't really remember the roads being as windy as they were. As it was we got to Paihia, 2 minutes away from where we were going to stop and Bees was sick. Close but no cigar. The room we had was a family one in which you could squeeze 7 people if you really wanted to. We unpacked and Jamie and Bees went out to go swimming. I was going to until I realised that I forgot my swim gear. That was a bummer I can tell you. The pool looked very inviting. The weather was hot and humid. I also found out that I'd forgotten a shirt to go with my suit so I went around asking a few people and then thought I'd leave it up to the best man to sort out. Which he did, which was excellent.
That evening we went to 'isolation' bay where Janet and Steven were going to get married. It's not called that but it was in the middle of nowhere. We had to drive along to the end of the road, where it turned into a gravel road. Then after that it went onto some farmland track, where we went through farm gates and dusty track, passing fields with horses, sheep and cows. then the road ran out and it was up a grass hill to the top and back down again, to the bay. It was a very lovely place. quiet and peaceful. Jamie and Bees went through the practice run of what they had to do, being flower girl and page boy before we took the 20 minute trip back to the camp site/motel where we were staying, for a BBQ.
The next day, at breakfast, Janet got up earlier than her bridesmaids and so decided to come over and spend breakfast with us. It was nice to be able to spend some relaxing no-pressure time with her before everything got mad and the wedding started. After, Esther, Jamie and I went for a walk along a track following the river and up to the top of the falls. Then along the track some more until we decided that it was probably best to turn back before the kids got too tired. The kids had another splash in the pool whilst I went into Paihia to get some lunch to bring back for us. After lunch we got ready for the event. Esther and I got the kids ready and then ourselves and when the bus came back from dropping of the first group of people we all boarded it at went to the bay. The ceremony happened. Tears were shed for Audrey. Janet and Steven got married. Photos were taken of the happy event. Bees got grumpy having to hang around and wanted to go back to the motel, which, after photos were done, we all did.
At 18:00 the reception started. There was a 3 course meal, very nice, and speeches were made after which I was getting rather tired. I'm getting old :-D. So after a couple of wines and a wedding in the heat of the day in a suit, I decided to go back to bed whilst the party, partied on.
The next morning we had to leave. We packed up and noticed a few people worse for wear. It must've been a good party :-). We said our goodbyes and left at 10:38 (I'm 1.3 today) and arrived at Auckland Airport with a journey time of 1 hour less than the time it took to get up there. We even stopped off in a rest area to have lunch.
After getting to Auckland Airport and dropping off the rather excellent Highlander, we had a coffee and a bite to eat, before I lost my credit card. I cancelled it whilst I was there and now I have a chip 'n' pin which takes longer to process than just using a mag strip 'n' pin. Ah well, the price of progress.
So that was it. A very quick, very packed but very entertaining and wonderful day. I hope that Janet and Steven are as happy as Audrey and I were and they have some excellent fights too :-D.
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