Sunny weather and a roadtrip

While the morning started off cloudy, we decided it was fine enough to travel and set off for Ngatea, a small village about 100km south east of Auckland.  

First stop was The Copper Kettle for lunch.   This quaint old house is now a cafe but with no Copper Kettle in sight anywhere.   The HDHBEM had a standard New Zealand lunch.   Mince pie and a milk shake.

After that we wandered the street-  and found this shop.  

Fancy one store having exactly what both of us like most.   The HDHBEM immediately saw the wool yarn by the door and I saw the boxes of books at sale prices!!  Of course she purchased some more knitting wool -  it was a real bargain and I didn't have to twist her arm to persuade her.  

Next stop was the Ngatea Water Gardens.

We parked where directed by this sign -  of all those available this seemed the most appropriate!

And went through to the wonderful gardens. 
Five acres of beautifully laid out gardens, a huge pond/lake, lots of wildlife and a plethora of quirky signs.

The white peacock was amazingly tame

This sign made me grin a little

In a corner of these gardens was a Canuseum - the owner' father-in-law had been an assiduous collector of aluminum cans and they had purpose built a shed to contain them all.   There seemed to be many thousand of them.  

I searched high and low among the America/Canada beer cans for what Amy had called Root Beer-  only to find it hidden among the soft drink cans.   So I am still none the wiser what Root Beer is.

In the small shop at the exit I came across some books -  but these too displayed evidence of the owners sense of humour.

I especially liked the volume entitled "Nothing in Particular by Y Reed"!!

No stitching progress to report - perhaps tomorrow.   Meanwhile, have a good night everyone.