After a slow and tedious drive along the coast from Coromandel we finally got to State Highway 1 and we were quickly driving through the south western suburbs towards the Waitakere Ranges and our campsite for the evening. The Waitakere Ranges are an area of hills and forest just 20kms from central Auckland. We bought our permit from the visitor centre which was adorned with prodigiously endowed male Maori carvings.

We drove to the coast and a place called Piha. Wow, it was stunning! The previous night's storm had left a legacy of huge waves and white foam which were crashing into the volcanic cliffs creating huge sprays onto a black sand beach. Rain kept blowing through creating beautiful changes in the light and reflections off the sea. We were on our own at the campsite and it was very dark but the stars were beautiful, helped by the new moon.

The following day we took the short drive to Auckland Zoo. Primarily we wanted to see native Kiwi animals, including Kiwis. Unfortunately we hadn't actually seen much while we were driving around because there isn't much of it to see, introduced pests are very good at eating and out-competing them. We weren't disappointed as the native displays were really well done. There were seals and penguins in a coastal section. There were whio ducks that only life in fast flowing mountain streams and flightless teal ducks who only just survived extinction. There were more fabulous, characterful keas and an aviary with tuis, like a black bird with a curly white beard, and kakas, a woodland parrot similar to the keas. Another building housed a tuatara, a very primitive reptile with no ears and 2 1/2 eyes. There was a nocturnal house with moreporks, a type of raptor owl bird, and a kiwi. It was amazingly hard to see despite its large size and we would have never seen one in the wild. We checked out the other animals and especially enjoyed the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure and Anna liked the kunekune pigs.

We returned to the hills to camp at the visitor centre where we had fabulous views across the western Auckland harbour and towards the city centre and its pointy sky tower as the sunset and the following morning at sunrise.

We dropped our bags at the hostel and the van off near the airport and got a taxi to the city centre where we found curry for lunch. We walked back to the hostel, getting very wet in the process, and both fell asleep for an hour or so. Feeling a bit refreshed we went for a look at the shops on Ponsonby Road. We had fish fingers for tea and then went for a beer with 2 friendly people from our dorm.

The next day we walked into the city centre. We looked around the shops which were pretty uninspiring as they have been in most of NZ, and walked down to the harbour front. There were some beautiful yachts and an interesting and smelly fish market. We had lunch at a sushi bar in a food hall that had an amazing selection of filings and rolls. In the afternoon we looked around the warm and dry art gallery. I liked the portraits of the tattooed Moari but Anna found them a bit sinister. After a reviving cup of tea we walked back up the hill to the hostel where we spent the evening on a sofa watching TV, it's quite an enjoyable novelty after not doing it for so long.

On our final full day in NZ we took the bus to Auckland Museum. It had some interesting displays but wasn't as good as Te Papa in Wellington. In the afternoon we sorted our bags and did some washing before a very tasty pint of cider and bed.