Auckland.. again. After a very pleasent and easy flight into Auckland i can't say i wasn't sorry to be back. It was the start of our own mini adventure in New Zealand, so far we had been driven around both islands and shown all the main tourist attractions and we have had a lot of fun but i was ready to be back in control. After much deliberation and tea we finally settled on hiring a spaceship, this is strays sister company and rents orange MPV's tweeked into basic campers. We got a pretty good deal with a free day for having been on a tour recently so thankfully it didn't cost the earth. I was pretty nervous about driving in different country especially with the eye wincing excess they insist on but the nice people of NZ had the good sense to drive on the proper side of the road and make them idoit proof so all good then.

Setting off from the depo up highway 1 it took us around 2 hours to reach Waipu and our DOC site right on Ureiti beach. It was perfect, miles of beach with nobody but us on it, beautiful clear water and even the sun stuck around for our evening walk. As the evening drew in we decided to get to grips with our new home for the next 10 nights. kev got aquainted with the gas hob, they were friends from about 5 minuits before they were swearing at each other (mostly kev).

We had a couple of days stopping off along the coast. On Thursday we stopped at Whangerai Basin. It's a small and pretty harbour with cafes and touristy art shops, i decided to give the NZ favourate of pancakes, banana and bacon a go, think i will leave that one to them in future! We had another beach campsite that night at Whananki, i think eating dinner with a mug of wine on the beach is the way forward.