Today started out with lovely sunshine which was a change for the better so we headed of early to Otorohanga, which is a lovely town where we visited the kiwi house a conservation project which cares for and breeds endangered indigenous animals and birds. We saw two Kiwis which were amazing, much bigger than we expected and they looked almost fluffly so cute. We followed this with a visit to the Kea's and Kaka's members of the parrot family. Luck was with us toda...

The weather has turned again and it was raining and blowing a gale again in Whitianga so we decided to spend the morning bone carving. It was going to take 3 hours and we hoped the rain would stop. Firstly you had to cut the basic shape and then round the edges using a grinder. Once the shape was formed you had to spend 20 minutes sanding it then another 20 minutes sanding with water before finally polishing up the bone. Mel made a traditional Maori fish hook a...