Our next stop for the holiday was the Coromandel and the east coast township of Onemana. Again we booked a house, this time with Alistair and Darryl coming to join us. The view from the deck was pretty spectacular.
We had some lovely sunrises, this one I saw as Royston and Alistair were up early to go fishing.
For Christmas we rented a small cottage amongst the vines about 10km outside of Napier.
Another day, another visit from Flynn. Charlie showing him who's boss...
After almost a year, we finally made it back down to visit Anna and Tim to see their latest additions to the household. Jodie is now 18 months old and already hand on with the animals, feeding the pigs...
...and the cow.
Tim's new venture is a flat bed truck with haib crane, plus a water tank for delivering water to homes and businesses.
They have also done a lot of work on their garden since we last visited.
Royston and Tim headed off up the road to collect a totara log to take into Taupo to be carved into a totem pole. It wasn't small...this is 7 metres and had to be chainsawed down to fit on the truck.
Tim then let Royston have a play with the haib crane, lifting an old lorry chassis onto the back of the truck.
Today we headed over to Waiheke Island with Darryl and Alistair to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary. The ferry journey gave us great views of the city.
As we took the car we decided to take the route less travelled and explored the eastern and less populated side of the island. Most of the roads this side are unsealed and vey quiet. The road sides littered with vines.
First stop of the day was a walk to Stony Batter,a defence area built during WWII with tunnels to explore and the old gun emplacements still visible.
We then reached our first winery of the day - Man O War, a small tasting room well off the beaten track so nice and quiet and with stunning wines, so a couple of bottles came home with us.
The winery overlooks Man O War Bay - stunning location and one we will revisit next time we are on the island.
The drive around the east coast gave nice views down to the isolated bays.
Next stop another winery, this time Passage Rock, where we sat next to the vines for lunch.
And then our final stop at Saratoga winery for wine and beer tasting in a Californian/Mexican style building and interior decor. A great day out exploring some new places.
Charlie has a new ginger friend...a kitten called Flynn. He turned up for the first time on Tuesday and has been round most days to chase and play fight with Charlie.
He is very playful much to Charlie's annoyance...and he often stops for a little rest until Flynn pounces on his tail again.
Our annual trip with Darryl & Alistair to Taste of Auckland held at Victoria Park. Fortunately the rain held off for us today after the rain that greeted the crowds yesterday.
As always there were lots of fantastic dishes to sample - firstly razor back pig belly with apple, celery and toasted farro from Clooney restaurant.
Our favourite dish of the day was duck leg, penang custard, coconut, micro herbs, peanut and lychee from a new restaurant The Commons based in Takapuna - a must visit now.
Another interesting and tasty dish was wild deer, earth baked kowiniwini, fern curd, blackberry and malt soil from Kermadec Fine, normally famed for their fish dishes they can also do meat just as well. 
There were some kiwi celebrity chefs around, including Josh Emett, a Masterchef New Zealand judge and Gordon Ramsey protege, who was doing a cooking presentation.
Alistair participated in a cocktail making masterclass, learning how to make mojitos, so we will be getting him to put his learnings into practice when we are away at New Year.
There were also several craft beer stalls there as this market grows ever bigger, Royston had to sample some to make sure they were up to scratch.
My company Christmas do was a little early this year...in November, but they picked a great location - the roof top terrace at Rydges hotel in the city with views out over the harbour.
The room was nicely decorated and the perfect size for the company. We had a buffet dinner of ham, roast chicken, salads and veges washed down with plenty of Pinot Gris.
The view was just as spectacular at night with all the city lights and across to the North Shore.
This afternoon we had a good walk around the estate to see more of the new houses and roads that are being constructed.
Some houses have a great view over the estuary and out to Orewa beach.
We have now started to make progress with the side and back garden. Half the grass/weeds are now in dying mode ready for us to mulch over for our native planting. The painting of the fence has also begun...
The back has been split between lawn and preparation for the mulching. The wine barrels will be our small vege garden.
Our accommodation for the weekend was a smal cabin called the Love Shack, situated at Okere Falls on the shore of Lake Rotoiti, about 20kms east of Rotorua.
The view from the cabin was rather nice, and we could have used the rowing boat or kayaks if we had felt energetic...
The view across the lake. A lovely spot for a relaxing weekend of doing not a lot.