Well, the rain finally arrived...

It was only overcast and windy this morning so we headed out for a bit of cultural history, walking to the Waitangi National Reserve. It's the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by the British and the Maoris, officially making New Zealand a colony of Britain. We had a look around the Visitor Centre, watching the film about the history of the treaty, complete with excellently naff synthesiser soundtrack and am-dram reconstructions of the key events.

After that we wandered around Treaty House and then had a look at Te Whare Runaga, the meeting house. The latter was much better - filled with maori carvings. There was also a big Maori canoe we looked at before heading off on a walk to Haruru Falls. It was 10km in total and the blurb stated that it should take approximately an hour and a half each way - Jim took this as a personal challenge. He powerwalked the whole way, with me struggling to keep up, meaning we did it in an hour and five minutes on the way there and 55 minutes on the way back. I had a sweat on! The falls were pretty underwhelming but the route was cool - through forests and across swampland on wooden walkways.

On the return journey the forecast rain started, slowly at first. By the time we were walking along the sea front it was p*ssing it down diagonally and we couldn't have been more exposed. Absolutely soaked through (we're talking Radiohead Oxford '01 territory), we dived into a supermarket for shelter and then stood under the canopy, building up the mental strength to head back out in the rain for another 15 minutes.

It was at that point that an angel appeared, taking the form of a mother doing her weekly shop with her baby. She gave us a lift back to the hostel and I've never been more grateful to anyone in my life! I seriously think that if she hadn't have come along we'd still have been stood looking miserable outside Woolworths now!

Anyway, as the rest of the day has been a washout that's all I have to report. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it dries off tomorrow!

Miss you all loads x x x