Venimus, Bibimus. Dormimus...We Came, We Drank, We Slept

Bowentown and Bonny Doone

For those that haven’t heard about Bonny Doone…it is the holiday house for the family in the movie “The Castle” read about the film here.
One of the funniest Aussie films ever.
But I digress
It is also the holiday home for George and Marianne.

So after our farewells to Val and Tony we headed off to Bowentown on Pio Shores

This little eclectic holiday village is on the other end of Waihi Beach. About 8 kms along.
Big beach houses right next to sections with caravan’s and cute little Wendy Houses to hold all the power, showers, toilets etc.
Something for everyone

Unlike Waihi…in Bowentown no-one has beachfront properties the council has declared a 300 metre building line. This enables everyone to have access to any part of the beach

You can see the sand dune line in this shot

Bonny Doone is a substantial holiday home...room for all the family.
Nice garage for the runabout…they are mad fisherpeople
Of course after a catch up we had a walk to the beach, lunch, some wine and a rest.

George is a bit of a dab hand at the Barbie

And the meat was cooked perfectly
Marianne about to serve

Lamb, Salad, Potatoes and some asparagus tucked under there
Excellent

Sunday dawned on this our last day on holiday.

We took a large walk along the beach and over the top of the sand dunes to view the
lovely harbour and you can gaze at lovely Matakana Island. Divine white sand beaches.
Just gorgeous.

Marianne booked us into Ohinemuri Winery for lunch.

We agree the food and the wine were excellent.

Great courtyard…don’t you love the wine barrel chairs.

It’s a lovely area nestled in the beautiful Karangahake Gorge

There is accommodation available, Stunning grounds.

My dessert.

Back to Bonny Doone a quiet night of course we watched “The Castle”

To bed and in the morning

Time for thank yous

We have been handing out to our hosts a lovely bottle of award winning Cuvee No 8
An excellent Methode Champagnoise from the wonderful No 1 Family Estate
Owned and operated by the Le Brun Family. We bought18 bottles to take with us.

But George and Marianne had to receive an extra present
For those who have seen “The Castle” you will understand this must go straight to the Pool Room

So it was farewell Marianne and George we had a great time

I would award this establishment
♥♥♥♥♥
Wonderful Beach, good bed, excellent lamb dinner, good wine,
Best version of the Castle, we were those people!!!

So home but first we stopped to buy fresh produce

All those avocados and citrus for just $40.

Got a final good coffee and an acceptable date scone from the Copper Kettle in Ngatea.
Dale enjoyed his boysenberry and cream cheese muffin

So 26 days, 4651 kilometres, 16 beds, 2 bottles of No 8 left

Only 1 argument!!! (Navigation guess who was wrong!!! Moi of course)
Don’t want to know how much wine we drank but it’s up there.
A big thank you to the trusty Subaru

Venimus, Bibimus. Dormimus
We Came, We Drank, We Slept

DALE AND GILLI’S FABULOUS ADVENTURE

Cheers
A Big Thank You from the Intrepid Travelers
To all our Wonderful Friends for putting us up
And putting up with us

November – December 2007