Today was a very sad day as when we went on the internet after breakfast I found out that my old school friend Danielle had died after a battle with cancer. She has 2 daughters, one only a few months old. It's so sad and was on my mind all day. RIP Danielle.

We left Rotorua today and headed towards the East Cape where we would spend the next few days driving around the Cape from Opotiki to Gisborne. After stopping at a picnic spot for lunch we arrived in Opotiki and visited the I-Site to pick up the 'Pacific Coast Highway' brochure which would be our best friend on this drive, pointing out things along the way.

We decided to head to a campsite in Hawai, a little further round the coast. When we got there, there was noone around and no office, so we asked a woman on the site. She told us to park up and the owner would see us and come down. After a couple of hours sitting around we decided to try and find him in his house so we walked up the drive...only to be chased away by 2 massive dogs! Dave said 'Laura, there's a REALLY big dog!'. Needless to say, we didn't feel very comfortable there so quickly packed up and got back on the road!

We ended up at a site in Te Kaha (which also had dogs wandering around!). We cooked tea in the kitchen then read for a few hours before going to sleep after a tiring day, the sad news about Danielle still on my mind.