Tonight went a long to Dyer Street in the hope of finding the local band room. What a surprise it was practice night for the ladies group. Wangarei Harmony Chorus. A barbershop choir who will compete in a contest in may, in Queenstown. Very competitive, no music , no piano, I had the privilege to join them for the last four pieces. Very nice group of ladies who made us both very welcome. 7 pm to 10 pm no sitting to sing.

On the way north visited the Marsden Point Oil refinery which supplies most of the fuel in NZ, a huge place. pipeline runs directly to Auckland.

Left Coromandel Peninsula, which is very like Cornwall and headed towards Auckland. Three lane motorway in both directions, out of city shopping malls as we approached . We have not seen this in New Zealand before. With both of us holding our breath within fifteen minutes Dave had negotiated through to the other side of this big city.

Found site at Orewa Beach. As the name suggests, parked next to the beach. Long with white sand. Storm seemed to be brewing up. All the locals were out wind surfing up and down the coast, quite something. We decided to eat in tonight, so stocked up at the supermarket. Wise move as it started to rain heavy and the wind was howling . Very noisy evening.... PlayIng cards .....looking for bands on the Internet ... Z z z z z

This morning also sat on the waters edge and watched a pair of oyster catchers looking for food, on the way back saw this group of bee hives. Bee hives are everywhere , mostly in out of the way sites. In fact there are almost 400,000 on the two islands.