 |
| Not a bad spot for a picnic! |
We left our apartment in Tauranga around 11am, with plans to take our time on the drive. It started out as an overcast day, but the clouds began to disappear and once again we had beautiful New Zealand landscapes accompanying us. We stopped briefly at this picnic area overlooking the Wiakato river, and it was beautiful.
 |
| Another view of the Waikato River |
We then stopped in the town of Hamilton – our half way point – and went to the Hamilton Gardens which I had discovered using Google Maps. And man they were beautiful gardens. Joanie was in heaven. The gardens are owned and maintained by the city of Hamilton, and they don’t even charge an admission fee. Situated on the banks of the Wiakato river, Hamilton Gardens is themed; they have an English garden, a Japanese garden, a modern American garden, a perfume garden, a rose garden, a Maori garden and a lot more. Just a very special place and kudos to the city of Hamilton for providing this for their citizens and visitors alike. A really unexpected find.
Then back on Highway 1 and in about an hour we were near our destination – a hotel near the Auckland airport. But more internet research from the previous night led us to Villa Maria Winery – which happened to be just a kilometer away.
 |
| The Italian Garden |
So the winery and vineyard became our first stop – the hotel could wait. The funny thing about finding the winery was that we had put in the vineyard’s address on our GPS system and it didn’t quite get us there, telling us our destination was on the left – but it wasn’t. Joanie had a feeling that it was further down the road, so off we went on another of Joanie’s wild goose chases – although this one paid off! See, we were in a business park and it didn’t look like there would be a vineyard within a hundred kilometers of this place, but just a few blocks down the street were the gates to Villa Maria. And as we made the left turn – wow! – opening before us were acres of vineyards. We were both blown away as we happily proceeded down their long driveway in search of the taste of wine.
And the wine tasted great! The funny back story here is that when we first arrived in New Zealand, we went to a bottle shop (liquor store) in Paihia and Joanie picked out a bottle of wine, and it happened to be Villa Maria. So visiting the winery on our last night in New Zealand nicely bookended our trip. We bought a bottle of Syrah and sat on their deck enjoying the view and the pleasant weather before we decided to head, finally, to our hotel.
 |
| The Entrance to the Maori Garden |
We had dinner in the hotel bar; a very good pizza and the best beer Joanie and I have had down under. It was a dark beer brewed here in New Zealand. Good job mates! All in all - a very nice day spent traveling from Tauranga to the Auckland.
 |
| Ending our day at the Villa Maria Vineyard |
 |
| Isn't Greg in this photo twice? Yes, and it cost him! |
