It rained last night and was wet, rainy, and blustery in the morning. We emptied our tanks and left the campground around 10. We are feeling sad because we are returning the van today. On our drive back to Auckland we backtracked on many of the roads we had driven on when we traveled from Ohope to Hehai and back. We made one quick stop at Karangahake falls. There had been a gold mining town nearby, but we saw no evidence of it. We thought about taking a short walk but the weather was threatening. Here are a couple of pictures.
The van rental office is at the airport. We filled up with fuel and returned the van. Rick took care of the van paperwork while I retrieved our suitcases and packed us up. Then we ubered to our Airbnb in Auckland center. We have a very nice but small apartment right in the center of town. In the kitchen there are straps on the kitchen drawers and the refrigerator. We assume they are for earthquakes. Yikes!
That evening we walked around Auckland.
Someone along the way told us about a New York style deli, named Federal St Deli, which was near our apartment. That’s where we went for dinner. There were no tables available so we sat at the counter right in front of head of kitchen’s station. It was his job to tell the short order cooks what to make and make sure the order came out correctly. It was fun to watch and we commented that everyone working in the kitchen must be exhausted by the end of the night. They were working hard and fast. In addition to enjoying watching the operation, the food was good too!
