After a great sleep on a very comfortable bed we woke up to a beautiful day on 'the farm'. Mike had already fed the chooks and was up to his elbows sorting out a mis-behaving septic tank. Luckily he was able to use his great skill and ingenuity to fix it or we dread to think what the result might have been!!

After breakfast we all set off out, including Wendy the dog, for a bit of an outing. First stop was the Matua winery where we tasted a couple of very good wines and then it was on to Muriwai Beach on the west coast.

We grabbed a bite to eat, sitting outside at a small cafe, before going down to the beach itself. The wind was blowing really hard. It is a great surf beach and the huge waves were rolling in. We hear that the beach and rocks are quite dangerous and we can well believe it!

We climbed the wooden stairway up the cliff to see the the gannet colony. The walkway was very close to the birds and we had an excellent view of them coming in to land and hovering in the very strong gusts of wind. These were so powerful at times that I thought we might get blown away ourselves! Afterwards, back at the cafe, we all enjoyed an ice-cream and even Wendy had a taste. That's two days running for ice-cream, summer must be nearly here!

Back in Coatesville and Simon and Amanda had a quick turn around time in which to smarten up and get ready for the taxi to take us into Auckland to the harbour area. We had been lucky enough to receive an invitation to a cocktail function to be hosted by NZ prime minister, John Key, and the, ex All Black, RWC ambassadors. The event was being held in the 2011 business lounge in 'The Cloud' on the waterfront at Queen's Wharf. On arrival the guard on the gate asked if we were VIP's and our taxi driver said yes! He drove us right up the jetty to the entrance where we were met by a very polite young man and shown in. We were very surprised by the lack of security but we guess that it isn't necessary over here. Somewhat sadly a high level of security has become a way of life in our part of the world and we have just had to learn to live with it.

We had a wonderful evening! It wasn't the vast event we had imagined, probably only a couple of hundred people there so very pleasant. The wine flowed freely and the canapes kept coming. John Key couldn't make it after all, but another minister stood in and all the RWC ambassadors had a turn to speak. It was good to see Jonah Lomu there as we know he has been ill. We remember seeing him many years ago at the Hong Kong Sevens when he was first playing international rugby and after the speeches we went and had a chat with him. He is so polite and gently spoken, and he shook hands with us both before being whisked away. It wasn't until the next day that we read how very seriously ill he still is, and we think it is wonderful that he turned up at all and even more so that he bothered to talk to us.

The evening continued with much eating, drinking and lively conversation. We noticed a few familiar faces amongst the guests, Sir Ric************ was one. All good things come to an end and it was soon time for our taxi to collect us and drive us back to Coatesville. Simon was very jolly on our return and, according to Mike, insisted on kissing Wendy the dog goodnight!!