January – April, 2013
During this first season in New Zealand we would end up making the round-trip drive between Opua and Auckland three times. It’s a long drive, about 4 hours, but there’s some interesting stuff on the way. Unfortunately we didn’t get to do everything, but there is one stop we never failed to make: Kaiwaka.
Kaiwaka is a tiny town on the main highway about 1 ½ hours north of Auckland and a great place to stop for lunch. There’s a wonderful little place called La Nonna Italian Bakery that makes good sandwiches, cinnamon-sugar raised donuts and other bakery goodies. (Be warned it’s closed Mondays.)
There’s another little place called Eutopia Cafe. Even if you don’t eat there, it’s fun to go see. It defies description; so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. (We didn’t eat there so I can’t comment on the food.)
Finally there’s the Kaiwaka Cheese Shop, the kind of place where you can sample cheeses at the counter and peruse lots of gourmet foods on the shelves. It was always fun to return to Legacy and load up the fridge with our bag of goodies from this place.
These places are easy to find, right on the main road and within a block of each other. –Cyndi
