Gen: a bit late but here we go-

So, we are about to leave the wonderful, amazing country that is NZ and corr are we sad to go! We've had a brilliant time here, the weeks have flown by, but looking back we've done alot!
Since the last entry, we spent a excellent day at hot water beach, then nursed our pink sunburnt selves with a bottle of wine and a take away. We drove around the rest of the coromandel peninsula and headed for northland in search of some warmer weather and deserted beaches. The weather was a tad temperamental but the beaches were certainly beautiful.
We stayed at a few DOC campsites, with low expectations of stinky long-drops and no running water based on previous experience, but were pleasantly surprised. The DOC sites in northland are huge (they get pretty busy in the height of summer), well equipped and perfectly positioned. We camped just behind the sand dunes of uretiti beach, sunbathed and frisbeed the afternoons away at maitai beach and at tapatupotu beach (which is right at the tip of the country). And all this with running water and (cold) showers! The camping stove got a good airing, although one night Ror did have to cook dinner with the umbrella up as the heavens opened!
We followed the crowds to cape reinga lighthouse (almost the most northern point of NZ). It was really interesting to learn about the spiritual significance of the place in the Maori culture- it's said to be the point where spirits pass out of NZ when someone dies- and to see the pacific ocean and Tasman sea meet in white crested waves was pretty mesmerising. We ventured onto ninety mile beach but the weather wasn't on our side and although you can drive along the length of it on the sand, our rental car insurance didn't cover it, so we went by foot instead.
Ror: As we made our way back down from the top of new Zealand to Auckland we made a few stops to marvel at the magnificent kauri forests. One tree in particular called Tane Mahuta, the oldest kauri in the country (over 2000!), towered over us as we walked through the forest. Unfortunately, there are not many of the really old ones left and only relatively recently have they become protected by law. Now, even if one falls over, it must be left to decompose at it's own rate rather than being taken away and made into furniture. We stayed a night in a DOC campsite in trounsen forest which boasted a kitchen and hot showers. Unfortunately when we got there it had no water! But we made do as we were booked to go on a night guided tour through the forest with the prospect of perhaps seeing a kiwi. The thing about kiwis is they frighten very easily at loud noises and white light, so on these types of tours you shouldn't wear your waterproofs, your torch should have a red filter on it and you definitely shouldn't take any flash photography. Unfortunately for us, the other 8 people on the tour (all of them considerably older than us) chose to ignore this and I lay the entire blame for our lack of sightings at their feet. We did here the eery screech of the kiwi and we also heard it's clumsy feet rustling around quite close to us on a number of occasions, but we could never catch sight of them. We did see a massive kauri snail, some huge wetas and a possum, and we also learnt a great deal about the forest and the conservation effort going into it. The tour was very enjoyable, tinged only slightly with the dissappointment of not seeing a kiwi. Afterwards, Gen and I went back out on our own to see if we could see one but, again, to no avail. Thanks to possums, there are very few places in new Zealand where you are able to see a kiwi in the wild and this was our last shot. To rub in our disappointment, the weather over the next few days was rubbish; rainy and windy, just like being at home. This forced us to take up our wet weather program of snowboarding, so it's not all bad! There is an indoor snow park in Auckland that we spent the day at to take our minds off the weather outside. We had an hours lesson in the morning (neither of us having boarded before) and were then left to our own devices for the rest of the day. Soon after the lesson, Gen had a massive stack, landing heavily on her tail bone followed by her head! It was at this point that Gen decided that the bar with its roaring fire overlooking the slope was a better place to spend the rest of the day. Especially as she got to see me do my best at staying upright for as short a time as possible! By the end of the day I was thoroughly battered and bruised but reasonably happy with my progress. For the next few days we were walking round like OAPs and wincing everytime we sat down!
Our journey ended where it began, in Takapuna beach holiday park. Enjoying a few beers one evening with Steve followed by a coffee the next morning with gens friend talitha. It was great to go back to the park where we spent our first few rainy, cold days in new zealand, except this time it wasn't so cold. Packing up the van was a bit of a mission! Trying to get everything back in our rucksacks at points seemed impossible, but we managed to squeeze it all in and handed back our spaceship SETI. After 9 weeks and 7,371km travelled, she has served us well and will be truly missed. Our transport for the next adventure in Australia will be the greyhound buses, giving us less flexibility on where we can go than we had with SETI but I'm sure we'll manage as I'm hoping we'll have the sun on our side!
We are both gutted to be leaving such an amazing country but are looking forward to what Australia has to offer.

The quins will do the treble this year. Good times.