New Zealand week 1
![Image](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gm4ryPLpRFc/Ur8sCATmhaI/AAAAAAAAGD4/zgQv7hG1wuk/s400/IMAGE_178.jpg)
Actually arrived on time and then had a wonderful wheelchair guide greeting Mom as business class offload started so no waiting, and then took us to duty free, through immigration and customs - all speedy with no waiting. Wonderful kiwi lad. Hobbitton - movie set in New Zealand Picked up the rental car (actually great to have an automatic even though I only paid for a standard). Lots of mileage on it but handles well. We headed out crossing the north Auckland bridge and carried on the motorway towards Orewa, then onwards to Warkworth and finishing in Whangarei. Overnight for one night at Lodge Bordeaux. Dined at a local restaurant: with lamb (rack for Mom and liver - eg 'fry' for me- really good). Next day it was an early start for the coastal drive first out to Whangarei Head, then surfer beaches of Ocean and Sandy, and cross country over hills and cattle farms to the Bay of Islands and NZ's oldest European settlement of Russell (also NZ's first capita