After a lazy and relaxed couple of days in National park, mainly due to bad weather we were on the move again. Kerrys bus was coming back through National Park and heading to Auckland so we jumped on to head north. Bus journey wasn't too bad and was long enough for us to catch a movie along the way, movie about Johnny Cash - not too bad. Got into Auckland about 16:30 and checked into the YHA ahead of an exciting day tomorrow. We're off to get a camper van and head off into the "winterless North" on our own!

An early start and I was off to Jucy (car and van rental place) to get our transport/home for the next couple of days. Not a good start. Despite booking a sat nav the a*******s had already given them all out so I guess we were going to have to do it the old fashioned way. - get lost and ask people for directions! After a confusing 45 minutes trying to get out of Auckland we were on our way. The drive up to Paihai was so beautiful and took us around 3 hours. When we arrived it seemed like a sleepy little beachside town - a bit like Byron Bay in Australia. We decided to check straight into the camp site and then go for a drive and explore the town a little bit which included a paddle in the sea (in the middle of winter)! I (Craig) had to end up going barefoot after getting a little too close to the water in my shoes with them ending up a little wet to Laura's amusement. We had a long day of driving ahead of us tomorrow so we decided to go back to the camp site, cook dinner and get an early night. First time either of us had slept in a van…..but hey, it was much better than a tent!

Following morning we were up early and off toward Cape Reinga, the most northerly point of NZ (almost). The drive up there was really scenic but felt like it took about 10 hours but once we arrived it was worth it. We walked out to the lighthouse and looked north to the point where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet/collide. It really did seem like they just smash into each other as the waves looked pretty rough out at sea - was strange as I always thought one just merged into the other. We spent a bit of time here and got some photos and read the signs explaining some of the Maori legends including Te Reinga. This was a rocky point jutting into the sea which has an ancient kahika tree clinging to the side of it. It is believed that the spirits descended into the water on steps formed by the tree roots before continuing on to their spiritual home. There is a photo in the album of this which shows it really well. After about an hour or so we decided to start making our way back stopping off at the Te Paki giant sand dunes. We went for a walk through the dunes and climbed up through them with Laura doing a bit of "sand surfing". Also took a walk along the Te Paki stream which at certain times of the year depending on the water level doubles as a road - as a bit strange paddling in a stream and reading signs warning to beware of oncoming traffic!

After drying off and grabbing a snack we started the long drive back toward Paihai where we had decided to ditch the campsite for tonight and check into a comfy guesthouse - flashpacking continues! The place we picked, the Peppertree Lodge, was actually so quiet that we got a free upgrade to an ensuite room which was great. It was so comfy and after a long day we had no problem getting off to sleep! Night Night.

11th August and we're back off toward Auckland to drop the van back and get the ferry out to Howick to meet friends of Tory and David's called Andrew and Betka who had very kindly offered to put us up for our last couple of nights in NZ before we get back to the sun :-) We got the ferry across to Howick and Andrew picked us up and took us back to their lovely apartment. We had a nice evening chatting with them both and eating Pizza before turning in ahead of our last full day in NZ which would be spent washing clothes, packing and getting ready for our next stop……Fiji Baby!! We are excited!