Hello home! There truly is no place like home.. home for us at the moment was being able to set our tent up and actually spread out for a few days. And on that note I guess I better start at the beginning.

We left Dave and Sue's place in Ruakaka Friday afternoon and headed north.We were a bit anxious, not knowing what lied ahead.. but onward we went. We traveled up the West coast stopping at those 3 lakes you mentioned Mom. They were indeed pretty.. however, the park was closed so we weren't able to travel very far into the park.We proceeded onto the Wiapou forest pronounced Why- a- po.. which Nick fondly called it the Why Poo forest. It has been great learning a new language with Nick… It's hard enough figuring out these Maori words.. but then you bring Nick into the picture and what he calls the little towns we go through is actually nothing like it sounds. Ha Ha. Take Whangerie for example. That is pronounced fan- ger eh… we had a bit of a navigation error as he had no idea what I was talking about when I said take the exit to Whangerie. It's been fun. And to poke fun at myself I have not figured out my compass here and continually seem to confuse the west coast with the east coast and also North and South… I'm really turned around! :)We ended up staying the night at Wiapou forest.. a nice place but covered in mosquitoes and very very wet. We did however see some gigantic Kauri trees.. they have full on jungles growing on them in the higher elevations. It's crazy. Being that it was super wet and cold we didn't stay longer than the night and a few hours. Then onward to Kiatita ( I think that is how it's spelled). I must say that all the small towns we went through were just that small towns, about the size of Key Center and for a great portion of our drive we were totally in the middle of now where… I mean no nowhere… the main highway was a dirt road and there were cows laying on the side of the road, just munching on some grass. We were sure we were lost.. but nope. I swear by the time we reached KariKari we had spent 4 hours driving and seen about enough sheep and cows to last a lifetime.. but I have a feeling we will be seeing many more before our trip is over. :)

So Saturday and Sunday in Kerikeri - what wonderful weather we are having. It has been super warm and sunny during the day at least in the 80s. But the nights are still frigid.. probably down in the 50s. We are staying at a really nice holiday park called Whitiwhiwhi. They have really nice grounds,a community kitchen with all the amenities and also two nice BBQ's and really nice showers and laundry facilities. Oh and it's right on the beach.We decided to stay a few days here. Oh how nice it is to actually have our tent set up and be able to stretch out. The last week we have been sleeping in the van. It's a great option to have… but it is a bit cramped. .. especially once we blow up the air mattress inside. We have about a foot of head space. So then I get claustrophobic and have to open the window, but the nights have been so damp that everything gets all wet… yes we are very happy to be in our tent. Never thought I would say that. Ha Ha

We woke up this AM and made pancakes for breakfast and then decided to try fishing… nothing like catching dinner… or so we have been told… ..

With no wind today we rented a kayak and Nick decided to snorkel around. His goal was to get bait since all the fish around here are caught by using bait opposed to a lure. He refused to actually buy bait as that was a waste of money.. surely there are fish out there he could spear with his home made spear… aka a wooden dowel with his dive knife lashed to the end. I'm so proud to have such a creative husband.So off we went.. me in the kayak for support and Nick swimming. Now granted it was 80 degrees air temp and 55 degrees water temp. Nick swam up the coast line for about a mile with me pulling him occasionally. We finally got to the spot that had the fish and still no luck with spearing one of his own… go figure seeing as the fish he saw were like strippers from Maui ,a bit on the fast side and we didn't bring fins. Wow.. just typing this makes me laugh to think we actually thought we could catch something. So now we had been out there for about 2 hours… we were at least 2 miles from where we started and tired and frustrated with the lack of fishing luck… so we decided to head home.. but now Nick was frozen and we only had a single Kayak. We tried to fit both of us on the Kayak… that didn't work out so well.. we nearly sunk the boat.. so Nick decided to walk back along the jagged slippery, rocks/cliffs covered in bird s***from the nestingloons above. I followed closely along side in the water… guiding his steps.Nick is laughing at me right now.. ok so maybe I was justwatching for moral support.Plus it was a good show… particularly when he actually passed under the nestingbirds who proceeded to" unload "for fear for their life before taking flight. About 3 hours later we made it back.. Nick all in one piece.. thank heavens. To add insult to injuryas I was paddling back into shore I passed a young boy who had been fishing with his parents just off the rock on the beach we started at. They had caught some bait fish and asked if I wanted any… I gladly accepted.. so now tomorrow we plan to go fishing again and hopefully we will have more luck. So no fish for dinner.. we just had fried rice. It was still good.

That brings everyone up to speed on the last few days.We still don't' feel very settled.. Dad I'm not sure we make very good nomads. Ha Ha But we are having fun and creating lots of memories and stories. The wind is suppose to blow tomorrow and both of us are really looking forward to kiting.

We have lots of photos to post.. but due to our limited prepay wireless we will probably have to post those once we get to a larger bandwith.. we are still in no where land. It's pretty... but it's no where... like being far out Seabeck.. but worse. Ha Ha Love everyone lots.

We love reading your messages.. we miss you!

MUAH!

Cheers