Our last day and awoke to beautiful sunshine over Orewa beach. Really pleasant beach side walk into town and brekkie in a cafe. Strolled back before the big pack up and departure preparation. A young Aussie couple next to us were just embarking on a 12 month NZ adventure and were cleaning out the van they had purchased in preparation. They were extremely grateful to receive our bits and pieces that would otherwise have been thrown away. Our original plan to driv...

We heard some light showers through the night but woke to brilliant sunshine. Alas.... It was short lived, and became indicative of the day - heavy showers of rain followed by sunshine - each coming and going as quickly as the other. Quite bizarre. Packed up and drove out the 4 kms to Haruru Falls - horseshoe shaped waterfall that only required a short stroll to reach. Was worth the drive, especially with the tame chooks in the carpark and the signs warning of a...

Some light predicted showers overnight and still overcast and showery when we woke up. Hence decided not to do the morning boat trip - especially as day was unfortunately not meant to improve. After brekkie and some washing we made the short drive to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. It had been promoted to us as a worthwhile visit and certainly didn't disappoint. The Maori cultural performance in the carved Meeting House was entertaining but the the hour long guided ...

Although not heavy, rain was pattering down on our van virtually all night...so no surprise to wake up to quite gloomy skies. Decided to get going straight after brekkie as we hoped to get down the western side of the peninsula, around past Auckland and up towards the Bay of Islands. Had to forego the local little train trip due time restraints and weather... Not sure how far we would get especially as our GPS was warning us of significant rock slides and delays...

We were up and off fairly early this morning (for us!) from Tairua as we had a big day planned. First we drove about half an hour north to the little settlement of Hahei......straight to the beach to check out details for our 11am departure of the Hahei Explorer Cathedral Cove boat tour. As we were so early and the previous departure had cancellations we joined the 10am tour with an English couple and their grandson. Our hour long ride on an inflatable motor ding...