Whangarei (pronounced fang-ar-ray by the locals, it appears wh is like an f??)

Well we mangaed to land on our feet yet again, got dropped at the info centre havin not booked a hostel and havin no idea where we were, but low and behold there was a hostel 800m up the road. We just about managed to stumble the 800m, our bags appear to be getting heavier and expanding, mind u packing in the dark doesn't help matters (tried not to disturb people as sleeping in dorms).The hostel was Bunkdown Lodge, a large pretty family like home, a little out of town. It was very homely and relaxing with a gorgeous big Labrador called Sage and an aviary in the back garden.

We just chilled the first evening and had a relaxing bath, the first one we'd seen in two weeks!! We tucked in to a delicious but less nutritional meal of nachos with chilli n cheese. The next day after a bit of a lie in we ventured down to the Town Basin; the Quay side with lots of foreign sailing boats in. There's also many arty crafty shops and continental style cafes. The city is very green and Lush with lots of big hills surrounding it, though u could pretty much say that of everywhere here(and i thought Cornwall was hilly).

We did a shop in a different supermarket than we'd seen so far called Pac n save, was like a huge warehouse. I mention this shop as there was a large display stand of Cadbury's Chocolate bars, there must have been at least fifty different bars. They have all the flavours under the sun over here; Black Forest Gateux, Lemon Cheesecake, Cashew Nut etc etc ... We sadly tried to take a photo but i chickened out as was a little embarrased. We also managed to stop the temptation of buying some, though we were a little naughty and bought a cakey substance called Gooey Caramel Slice. It could only be described as a Heart Attack waiting to happen. I hasten to add that 90% of the time we have been eating really healthily, lots of fruit and veg.

When we returned to the hostel, many more people had arrived, we met two Irish girls that were travelling together, they were very friendly and bubbly, and liked their food as much as we did. Tea was to be a Sheperd's Pie; Sam n Em styly of course. It had absolutely no sheperd, didn't really look like Sheperd's Pie or taste like it yet it was scrummy and pretty healthy. Anything n everything was thrown in the pan until it appeared edible!!!

Next day; we packed up yet again; it is becoming a little traumatising now nothing ever seems to fit right and although we have bougtht a few things our bags just seem to be overflowing! It is also a nightmare when it comes to finding what u actually want.

Noel the owner of the hostel drove us to a local birds recovery centre, it was only a $5 donation fee, and this was so we could actually touch a Kiwi. Robert who is the main man at the centre known to be a bird person and not a people person didn't turn up. Though all was not lost as one of the nice volunteers showed us around. There was a couple of pigeons Native to New Zealand; they are massive and a play an important role in disperising seeds in the forests. We also seen a Talking Tui called Woofy, they're about the size of a blackbird with pretty markings and are great mimic's. Woofy can string whole sentences together and also whistles 'pop goes the weasel'. Though Kiwi's are nocturnal; the volunteer brought 'Sparky' out, a male Brown Kiwi. He was a little grumpy, though soon settled. He was a little smaller than a chicken but the females are apparently bigger. His feathers were like a bristly brush; but very soft underneath. Sparky had been caught in a gin trap and lost one of his feet and so can never be realised back to the wild. It was a great experience to see one that close, but we are hoping to see one in the wild to, fingers crossed.

Noel had said that hopefully Robert would be able to give us a lift back but as he hadn't turned up this was impossible, and so not really knowing where we were or which direction to walk we just started walking. We think the hostel was about 4 km away and we had just over an hour to get back so we didn't miss our bus, it was so hot and sweaty with hardly any shade. Luckily we were heading in the right direction and we made it in bout an hour!!!   

Back on the bus agian with good old Collin the hyperactive bus driver, heading back to Orewa to catch up with the Batchelors at Pillows....