January 15th, 2011 (Day 1)

Day One: Saturday, January 15th, 2011
Getting through customs was a breeze. I was a bit sweaty after carrying my bags, but I was excited to see Dave and change into a dress to cool me down. He was waiting right by the gate, I walked over, parked my bags and gave him a big hug and kiss. It was surreal seeing him after so long. We hugged for a bit and he told me to wheel my bags around the gate. We kept laughing and smiling, hugging and kissing. It was sweet. We exchanged the money I had in my wallet, wheeled my bags out to the van and I changed into a nice summer dress. It was an incredibly beautiful day. There was a wonderful breeze, blue skies with a few puffy white clouds dotting the sky and green everywhere on the ground. The landscaping was beautiful, not with many native plants, but I didn’t care much about that at that point. There was bouganvilla, plumbago, tibouchina, palms, and many other trees that I am not familiar with, but they were all extremely beautiful. I loved watching the scenery as we drove through Auckland.
We stopped off in Auckland looking for an Indian restaurant Dave had been to before, with no luck. So we just walked around for a bit and headed back to the car. Dave remembered a place to stop for fish and chips between Auckland and Whangerai. We found the little hole in the wall place that was absolutely delicious! The fish was fresh caught the day before, and we had 3 different TYPES types fried up along with a side of regular fries and some kumara fries. Kumara is similar to a sweet potato, but more juicy and delicious when fried. The fish was so delicious!!! Fresh, sweet and juicy- Yum! After we snacked, we walked over to the grocery store and picked up some veggies for dinner, trial mix, crackers, plums a couple free apple cucumbers.
The drive through Whangerai was absolutely gorgeous. Tropical hills/ mini-mountains. I was in utter awe very happy to be with Dave again.
Stop at a beautiful camp spot called:______________________
After we were settled, we walked down to the beach. Dave played his guitar and a particular song he wrote for me. It was sweet and I loved it. After soaking in the scenery for a while, we walked back to the campground, showered, and made dinner. Dave cooked stir-fry while I made salad. Very simple with apple cucumber, tomato and onion with balsamic vinegar and touch of oil for a dressing. Dave made stir fry with onions, broccoli and zucchini. Yum! And of course, some beers to go along with it.
We settled in and went to bed nice and early, around 10pm.