I flew Hawaiian Air with a short layover in Honolulu. the LGB to HNL flight was sold out. Left a bit late but arrived on time. Good thing I have short legs. Complete with crying sneezing baby behind me. You do get a nice little breakfast and a free rum cocktail which helped. It was a shortish connection by the time we landed and taxied, with a long walk and shuttle ride.

Other than being an hour late, the HNL to AKL flight was good. Seats are actually padded, you get blankets and a cute eye mask. I had both seats in a quiet back of plane row (40J) . I'll bet they held the flight for our bags. Watched most of Season 1 of Resident Alien.



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I'm at the Auckland Rose Park Hotel with a room overlooking the Parnell Rose Garden. My room 210 has a little balcony which came in handy during the cloudburst that just happened.

Welcome back to New Zealand! Nau mai haere mai ki Aotearoa! Nice to hear you had a good flight with Hawaiian Airlines.

My husband and I have broken up our trips between Auckland and San Francisco with stops in Hawaii several times, though we've always spend a little time on one of the islands. I so much prefer this to the one long haul from Auckland to San Francisco, and I always enjoy a break in Hawaii.

By the way, you asked before about Penguin Place in Dunedin. I have a update for you. Last week our local newspaper, the Otago Daily Times, announced the govt. had approved the sale of the 215 hectares farm (that's approximately 531 acres) to "Dwight Haldan and Jerad Boyd", currently of Portland, Oregon, who intend, "to obtain New Zealand residency and reside in the country [NZ] indefinitely." LINZ (Toitu Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand) listed the asset value of Penguin Place and the surrounding sheep farm at NZ$4 million (around US$2,459,011 at today's exchange rate), but the article did not say how much the property eventually sold for. The article said the new owners will continue to operate the sheep farm and "conservation, biodiversification, and ecological development." However, the new owners could not be reached for comment. I would have provided a link to the article, but it was only available to subscribers.

You might also be interested in this other Dunedin bird news:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/s...ross-egg-theft
Who does such things?

Awful and staff must be devastated. I hope they catch the buggers

Had an excellent meal of Blue Cod tonight at Rosie's here in Auckland.

Essentials

mlgb -

I'm along for the ride - I was surprised to see this post as I was under the impression you'd given up on NZ due to cost increases, etc.

I very much look forward to reading your on the ground report.

Enjoy that wine, chocolate and ice cream!

It was a last-minute opportunity to join a group who had postponed and then had three drop out. Specialized bird thing. Exchange rate not too bad right now. I was supposed to meet with a friend who lives near the CBD yesterday. He came down with a cold so we postponed to end of trip. Who should I see in Countdown produce 6 feet away!

What a gorgeous presentation of blue cod. We'll be having blue cod tonight, as well, as I found some at a discounted price at our local Countdown this morning, Otherwise, it's been selling for NZ$56 a kilo--I've never seen prices so high for this NZ favorite. The best blue cod I've ever had was at the South Sea Hotel in Oban--super-fresh and baked in a parmesan herb crust (I mentioning this as I know you'll be headed there, I hope their SI blue cod is still as good as I remember).

Those with US dollars are getting an excellent exchange rate right now. Enjoy this!

Sadly, DOC thinks the mystery of the stolen albatross eggs might never be solved.

Muriwai gannet colony

Out first stop today

Beautiful! Muriwai's gannet colony! Thanks for sharing. This brings back good memories.

Northland, Waipu River Estuary

Just outside Kerikeri last night at a new motel, Kerikeri Park Lodge.

Terakihi fush dinner at CCs in Kerikeri.

Bream Bay from Whangerai.

Along for the ride! Always been to NZ in winter, never the summer. How is the weather?

Didn't realise it was possible to stopover in Hawaii. We met up with some people some people from Hawaii on our first trip back in 2008 we keep meaning to gtg but it has always seemed too out of the way.

A long way for birds, not so far for a decent bottle of Pinot Gris

crellston I have been before this late into the year but it isn't quite full summer yet. Rain jackets carried at all times, it's always 4 seasons in a day

We managed a full head on view of a massive female North Island brown kiwi while not far away there were record rains.

Whangerai (Wanker-aye! graffiti on the first visit) has a flash new waterside center complete with locavore restaurant "Quay". All orders topped with microgreens and a good wine list (Opawa Pinot Noir Rose Marlborough). Of course I had fish. Unfortunately service took 2 hours for dinner in a packed restaurant.

They topped most dishes with a ridiculous mass of microgreens but the fish was good.
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Continuing around Bream Bay to Waipu, Mangawhai for Fairy Tern and then to Tawharanui Regional Park for looks at forest birds and Brown Teal.
Tawharanui Regional Park

Two nights in Warkworth with another boat excursion out to the Hauraki Gulf. Hopefully seas will be less choppy tomorrow ( we had 6 foot swells 2 days ago).

Delicious dinner at Bridge House Restaurant in Warkworth (Snapper again)



And finally some interesting sorbets

Dodging rain we went to several parks north of Auckland and a stop at Waiwera Beach.

Gorgeous photo mlgb!