Bad weather was setting in, so rather than linger in the north we headed once again for the internet haven of Takapuna Beach, in the Auckland suburbs. We also needed to find a decent electronics shop because the diminutive 40Gb hard drive on our laptop was almost full - thanks mainly to the 1,200 photos Katy has taken so far.

After a bit of research, we identified the make/model of external hard drive we wanted and were gratified to find a cheap shop only a couple of miles away. An hour or so later, Katy was sat in Blanche happily backing up all the photos on our new 320Gb drive - a pose she remained in for about eight hours.

Takapuna is quite a lively little area and we went to see Slumdog Millionaire at the local cinema. The film proved to be as good as all the critics and award organisations judged it to be. So were the drinks in the Belgian beer bar to which we went once again afterwards.

The weather might have turned bad for us general tourists/travellers, but it was good news for the windsurfers and kitesurfers. Both at Takapuna and Orewa (our next destination), we saw many of them fairly belting past, hanging onto their equipment - steady now - like grim death. One of the kite guys almost took off for a few seconds, reaching as high as a house, before landing safely in the Orewa surf.

We returned to Orewa because it was nearly time for Pete and Jan to leave NZ at the end of their honeymoon, so they were staying there with Jan's son, Stef and his wife Gemma. We camped back at the Top 10 camp we stayed in before, but this time we discovered that it had a table tennis table. The last time we had played was in Dunedin, when we were more than slightly the worse for wear, but now we were sober and had plenty of time on our hands.

The result was a marathon day of ping-pong. Back and forth we went, mixing games in with sessions where we tried to improve our very rudimentary skills. While I won most of the games over that day and the next, I have to confess that Katy had more than caught up with me by the end. Indeed, on the second morning she gave me a bit of a 5-2 thrashing after learning how to make her backhand flick over the net with topspin rather than sit up nicely for me to belt back past her. The final judgement on who is the superior will have to wait for the next round, I feel.

More immediately, how many of you imagine that table tennis is a physically demanding sport? No one? Well you're wrong. The day after playing for about five hours, we woke up with aching muscles in our back, legs and even our glutei maximi. We could barely walk to the shower block!

The highlight of this part of our trip, however, was a day out with Pete and Jan. They drove us out first to Warkworth, a pleasant little town to the north, then we went in search of a beach they had visited on their last visit to NZ, a couple of years ago. The only problems were a) they didn't know exactly where it was, b) they didn't know what it was called, and c) they didn't have a map!
After driving fruitlessly around various gravel roads, Jan solved problem b) by texting Stef, who identified the location as Tawharanui. Problems a) and c) were fixed when Pete spotted a parked school bus and went over to ask the driver for directions. Who needs a proper plan?

The beach itself was part of a small national park, entry to which was through sliding gates to keep out the wrong type of animal. There was no camping allowed, but the location was gorgeous. In the middle of the long beach was Takatu Point - at high tide, this cut the sand in two meaning a walk over the headland; as the water receded, you could walk around the rocks. That's what we did, while Pete and Jan went for a brief swim - then spent the next hour drying off before getting back in the car.

Tawharanui is an unspoiled location with few tourists cluttering it up - we saw maybe half a dozen people there at any one time. It's the sort of place that's perfect for a day out and a picnic - there are even toilets back off the beach.

Thursday night was Pete and Jan's last* in the country, so the six of us went for a meal in Orewa at the Ship And Anchor. Four steaks, one chicken and a veggie special later, we all went our separate ways. That was at about 9.30pm and the restaurant had started turning people away about half an hour before. No, it wasn't busy, but once again the New Zealand catering industry's love of an early night came to the fore. It will be interesting to see if restaurateurs here change their habits next year when the recession really bites.

Richard

PS Their Friday flight back to London, via Malaysia, was cancelled due to insufficient bums on seats, so they actually left on the Saturday after a free hotel and dinner in Auckland courtesy of the airline.