Mangawhai

These two photos were taken in the wonderful new Managawhai Museum which we visited with the Historical Society we belong to. This was our first bus trip for a year or two and we received a warm welcome from the others.  

First stop was the Honey Centre near Warkworth for morning tea - delicious blueberry and apple muffins warm  from the oven and strong hot coffee. There was honey for sale but somehow left it a bit late to buy any. 

The museum was next on the agenda with plenty of time to look at the exhibits, the natural history of the area, early Maori and Pakeha  settlement over the decades with lots of artefacts and family treasures.  There was an old tram converted  into a bach with forties and fifties furnishings and utensils which brought back a few memories of similar things.

After lunch at  the Deli , one of several cafes in the village,  a delicious Turkish bread roll with chicken, bacon and onion jam and good  hot coffee we drove out to the Mangawhai Heads with a spectacular surf beach and lush green scenery some of which I tried to capture through the bus window.

 

The highlight of the afternoon was the visit to Bennett's Chocolate Factory where we watched a video of how the delectable chocolates are made and were treated to a tasting of two different chocolates, a dark chocolate one with a smooth flowing salty caramel filling  ( they use local seawater for the salty taste!) and another,  a tangy lemon cream in a milk chocolate cup.  They also make fluffy fruit-flavoured marshmallow and we tasted a delicately -flavoured fluffy passionfruit one.  

They make tempting feijoa chocolates , the green ones in this mouthwatering display, and cakes of feijoa chocolate one of which Dieter bought for me.  Yum!  

Easter goodies.

A drive around the back roads to the main road and afternoon tea at the Dome Valley cafe completed the day trip and we were back in Orewa in time for a quick walk along the beach before rain set in for the evening.

The following  day the sun was shining again and friend, Frances offered to drive us on another outing to Snell's Beach where she has kith and kin living.  After visiting and meeting several generations of them at her sisters place, 9 people altogether, we went to the lovely Mahurangi East Library for a browse, on to a cafe for a blt bagel,and a nice hot coffee in a salmon pink cup. 

A walk in the sun along Snell's Beach walkway parallel to the beach completed the day trip in a most agreeable way.  Back  to Orewa via the short stretch of scenic motorway and out in the early evening to collect takeaway roast lamb dinners made for  another full day.

Made the most of Sunday too, going to the Orewa Farmer's Market for vegetables and free-range eggs before Mass, picking up ciabatta walnut rolls  and salad ingredients from the supermarket for our lunch on the way home. 

 Tidied up and cleaned the bach in the afternoon as it is being let to someone who needs a place for a few weeks.  It looked lovely and I am already looking forward to going up again ourselves in a couple of months. We just might go up by bus once or twice  for a few hours during the day while the tenant is at work as  that is the arrangement and would give us the chance to do a bit in the garden.  

The oak tree has shed its leaves profusely, the hydrangeas in their red and green autumn shades need cutting back and the hedge will need trimming.  But that is now a job for a gardener with the right kind of electric hedgeclippers, thank goodness, not us!

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