Visit to Parakai (cont)

After settling into our motel and our first soak in the pool next stop was lunch at this cafe, very cosy with lots of arty stuff for sale.

After lunch we started to drive out to the South Head of the Kaipara Harbour but were waylaid by the Macadamia Farm. We stopped to buy some macadamia nuts and found a beautiful farm to wander around. First we bought bags of nuts and a macadamia nut cracker (ever tried to crack one of those beauties?).

Then we had a macadamia coffee with a lovely nutty flavour, sitting in the sun enjoying the view and the sparrows.

It's the wrong time of the year to see the nuts on the trees but I did manage to find a few flowers to show you the life cycle of the macadamia nut. First the flowers.

Then the nuts start forming.

I found these on the ground, green nuts, one that had split open to show the nut inside and finally the nut a little shrivelled and a few broken shells.

More later.....