Indulge in reminiscence: Road trip up north

One road trip after another . . .

On the same week of beach marathon (previous entry), a Saturday, after eating my instant noodle for lunch, I asked Phoebe if she's keen to explore Paihia which was about 1.30-2 hours drive up north. EXPLORING is always in our dictionary and hence, off we go! Oh, my whangarei mother joined as well! Boom Zoom Zoom

The chauffeur, passenger and driving instructor. Since mother tagged along, she saved me from using my little helper (GPS). She was our tour guide, photographer and driving instructor for the day! I really thank her for being so nice, helpful and informative! She makes an excellent and efficient tour guide cos' she know so much and I love listening to the story behind every places I go. Since I don't have miang king anymore, my mother can replace him in terms of exploration *not the miang-ness hee*

On the way, we stopped at the Limestone Scenic Reserve.

My baby

They are all formed naturally that way. It is just like everyone of us is a unique creation

Phebs, Sexy legs! *adrenaline rush*

Continue driving up to Paihia

Yes! We reached there finally after much talking and laughing in the car

Paihia is just the north island version of Queenstown! I never thought it to be so beautiful. Well, I mean i knew that it was but this is not only beautiful, but also radiant!

Officially starting our adventure in Paihia

This was the first shop we went into

This bear is ~~not for sale~~ because the "badges" that were pinned to the bear indicate the places that the owner had been to.

Part of the town

Chocolates/ fudges!

It is so hard to choose the flavour but in the end, I made my decision to get Maple and walnut on waffle cone

Trust me, the ice cream is really cooling and not that sweet so overall, VERY GOOD!

Wish that I live in one of the units here

St Paul's Anglican Church

Errr...ice cream in hands while praying?

Cool right?

The interior of this restaurant is fabulous! Apparently, the glass walls were used to be an aquarium.

Would want to ride in this one day!

A chinese restaurant in Paihia

Hop into the car now and off to the land where Treaty of Waitangi was signed! I'd love to know about the history of every possible things. Well , if you let me choose between history and Science, I'd say history cos' it is interesting. Behind everything, everyone (including Science) is a history but I am not a big fan of books! Better for people to tell me. HAHA. i will research about it once I have been there

It is such a pity that we did not explore the treaty grounds because it is more worthwhile to come another day and do all the activities included in the package. Yes, we need to pay. Anyway, I hope to go back one day for this. My mother also wanted to take us to the other side of Paihia which was the Old Russell where you can get there using the ferry.

Once upon a time . . .

. . . there were a lot of "black" cows

This is another tourist attraction - The Haruru Falls

I look like "sa po"

After this, mother asked, "you have two options now. 1 - go back to Whangarei or 2- drive up to KeriKeri"

I am sure you know my answer *wink and smile*

I am glad with my answer because I get to sample the BEST chocolate I have ever tasted. No jokes! I am being VERY SERIOUS HERE! Go to www.makana.co.nz

They are all hand-made which partly explain the very costly price. The one I tried were with walnut/macademia and the truffles as well. (I like the nuts better but both were heaven!)