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The two of them got on extremely well and had a great time . ) , emerges onto a vertiginous ledge and continues along a narrow path etched into the cliff face , climbs over a lip of rock with a breathtaking view from the top of a most spectacular waterfall that tumbles thousands of feet below , and continues into another world , a rock-enclosed cirque with a gorgeous little Alpine lake flanked by occasional snowslides that even calve icebergs . We paraded in our duds with all the other revellers , watched the ancient car parade , gasped at the vintage aerobatics display , cheered on the soapbox derby , danced in the streets to live jazz , drank martinis ( and smoked the last of the Havanas ) , took the Art Deco tour , watched a classic 1930s movie . Recently , our duck Gladys gave birth in the woodshed to fifteen ever-so-cute ducklings . They stayed in a self-catering hostel on the seafront close to downtown and all the action , and had a wonderful time immersed in plays , movies , and panel discussions with authors such as Keri Hulme ( The Bone People ) , Carol Shields and E Annie Proulx . The Northern Lights are different every time , in this case taking the form of vast rippling , shimmering curtains that occupy half the night sky . The lodge staff having been tipped off in advance , we celebrated the birthday with gorgeous gooey chocolate cake and champagne , and ended the day sitting round the campfire singing Everly Brothers songs in the gloaming , surrounded by pine trees . Whereupon we immediately headed for said bach and beach , which is at beautiful Oakura bay , north of Whangarei and just south of the Bay of Islands . Except that one of his hosts in the International Development Center he was visiting at Tulane University , an expert on disaster cleanup and management , was spirited away to the Nevada desert by the US Army for secret meetings for most of the duration of Ian 's visit . Her big trip was going to be a long weekend in Opotoki ( and you ca n't get less exotic than that ) with a friend in September , but this got cancelled because of widespread flooding and road closures .