This morning we got away by 9am expecting to be in Hamilton by 2pm. The road works along  Highway 1 were continuous and it took quite a bit longer than expected and we arrived close to 4pm. We had not planned to do anything today so we were happy to take our time and arrive at our leisure. The scenery today was quite spectacular, the fields are lush and green dotted with cows or sheep. We also saw a lot of bamboo, there are farms growing fruit trees in the Bay of Islands mainly lemons, limes and oranges. one of the other stunning features of the landscape are the rippling hill sides (see photos). There are Toitoi bushes everywhere, these are bushes with large flowers that look like feather dusters. We stop at a town famous for its Museum the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Walrau. No time to visit, but the pictures from the outside are enough to deter us from a visit.

We see forests of pine trees to support the logging that is prominent in the North Island. The highway from the Bay of Islands to just north of Auckland is a one lane winding highway which is in desperate need of an upgrade. There are roadworks signs everywhere but not many road workers, so I expect the upgrade will take many many years. Next time we should fly into the Bay of Islands airport from Auckland!!

We arrived to find our Quest Hotel which has limited car parking, has a lift stacking system which proves to be more of an inconvenience. We will find out over the next few days how good it is or if we are constantly shuffling our car in and out.

We take a quick drive to the lake here in Hamilton and go for a walk just before sunset. There are lots of others out walking, jogging and taking their dogs out on the track that leads around the lake. It is very pretty and we get about 1/3 the way around before we backtrack to the car and go to the supermarket. We must have hit peak hour in Hamilton as the roads seemed to be blocked with cars, however after 15 mins in the shops the roads are clear and we arrive home in no time.

Dinner tonight is at an Italian Restaurant, it's very cool and we walk about 10mins to the restaurant. The food is tasty and we enjoy the evening. Dad has a great room on the corner of the building with large windows and lots of natural light. Our room is not as well positioned but comfortable.