Our first day in New Zealand was Sunday November 9th, 2025. As mentioned yesterday, we arrived at Auckland International Airport very early, were greeted by my brother Gavin, plus my brother Neville and his wife Karan, then went back to N & K’s place to take a nap, where we would also stay for the next two nights.

A couple of hours later, we were feeling a bit more human, so N & K took us up to Mangawhai, about an hour north of their place. They have a cozy cabin in a holiday park (aka campground) there. They took us to a favorite chocolatier called Bennetts for a second breakfast:

Jenn, Neville, Karan, David:

We enjoyed toasted sandwiches and coffee; our first of many flat whites, favorite coffee of Kiwis:

Afterwards, we sampled some chocolate shots in Bennetts’ shop:

And bought several things in their shop:

Then we headed to the Mangawhai Heads:

Neville, Karan, David, Jenn:

We were greeted by a dolphin (actually about three of them):

On the way back south, we stopped in Warkworth for lunch, where we had some Kiwi foods I’d been missing: a meat pie, a sausage roll, and a caramel slice — the first of many:

And more flat white coffees:

That evening, Gavin joined us for a BBQ dinner:

That’s it for our first day. Stay tuned for more.