Love It Here!

Morena!
On our way back to Whangarei to return the car we took the "tiki tour" (scenic route) as they say here, to explore the Karikari Peninsula beaches (Marc, do YOU have a Milwaukee Tool truck like this??), the Karikari Winery (the only winery in this area), and stopped for lunch at the Famous Mangonui Fish and Chips Shop. While eating our fish ‘n chips I had a deja vu moment that we had eaten at a very similar place along the water somewhere at some time in our lives. Was it along the Mississippi river? Maybe Florida? After a bit we realized, we had indeed eaten at the Famous Mangnui Fish and Chips Shop back in 2011 when we were in NZ for the International Hoof Trimming Conference and traveled 3 weeks in the North Island. Definitely a good place to stop and revisit!

Back in Whangarei, we found a hotel right across from the marina in the “Town Basin” surrounded by cafes/restaurants, shops, parks, coastal walk, museums and galleries. The highlight was the visit to the very unique Hundertwasser Art Centre. I now have a new favorite artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Born in Austria in 1928, he later lived in the Bay of Islands in NZ where he became a NZ citizen in 1986 and designed a public toilet in Kawakawa in 1998. (Unfortunately Gpa didn’t need to stop there on our way through a few days ago!) He was a painter, architect, sailor, environmentalist and “outside the box” visionary – actually, a bit of a “hippie”. He started designing the Art Centre in 1993, died in 2000 and the project wasn’t completed until 2 years ago. Besides the innovative building both inside and out, the gallery includes many of his works (he loved color and individuality; hated straight lines) plus a gallery dedicated to Maori art and a delightful restaurant (with a superb affogato!) Kudos to the community of Whangarei who helped make this happen! So glad we had extra time to see this!

Speaking of time, we also took the time to visit the history of time at the Claphams National Clock Museum. Started by Archibald Clapham’s private collection of 400 clocks and time pieces in 1962, the museum now has over 1400 unique time-keeping items. An interesting history with so many various ways of telling time, including the sun dial, water clocks, grandfather and cuckoo clocks, pocket and wrist watches. My favorites were various monkey clocks, an actual Hickory Dickory Dock the Mouse Ran Up the Clock and the large kinetic glass housed clock with 35 balls continuously rolling down the looping tracks and elevators, keeping exact time. (Dr Armon, you would like all these clocks!)

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.
XOXOXOXO
Gma & Gpa