Ruakaka - the last morning

 The Island View Lodge has this wonderful indoor heated swimming pool where we had a great chance to unwind last night - the view was better this morning.

 Then Tom was up at 6:00 AM looking to get the perfect shot of the sun coming up over the Pacific ocean.  Usually our sunrise pictures are over the Atlantic!

In the lavender pre-dawn, you could see the Hen and Chicken islands just off the coast.  

Then the fiery red ball of a sun rose, it was farther south. 

We had a two hour drive winding through small coastal towns back to the airport, mostly over two lane roads.  But when you reach Auckland, there is an 8 lane bridge over the bay to enter the city of Auckland with its 1.4 million people and its Space Needle tower.  With the tower, it resembles Seattle!...  A beautiful city over the bay. 

We were happy to find this Carl's Jr (a Hardee's with its bright yellow star) near the airport where we stopped to grab lunch (drinks with ice!) and head home.