We had an amazing week in this lovely house just outside the town of Paihia. The welcoming bottle of wine was enjoyed by the adults, and the cookies by everyone! Thank you Carol and Roger! The house had everything we wanted with a lot of the kitchen equipment seemingly new. The washing machine worked wonders for us, with an 18 month old in tow, and frequent trips to the nearby beaches. The deck gave us amazing views over the sea towards Whaitangi and we were enchanted by huge cruise ships which seemed completely out of context, anchoring in the sounds. We all enjoyed watching the tenders ferrying passengers to the shore, and experienced a small part of the Waka tour undertaken by some passengers, right under our noses! The sounds of the chanting as they rowed rose up to us on the deck. This in itself is worth a mention, it was a huge deck with plenty of room for eating and playing. All in all, it was a very pleasant stay and our grateful thanks go to Carol who forwarded recipe books we'd accidentally left behind. The only slight downside was that although we had the washing machine, there was nowhere to hang clothes to dry, but we overcame this by getting our son-in-law to bring one from home when he came up on Saturday. We'd certainly consider renting this property on another occasion.