Heading north

Trip Start Jan 19, 2006
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Trip End Jan 19, 2007


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Friday, June 2, 2006

Drove into Auckland to pick up fixed ipod and back out the other side to head northwards towards Bay of Islands. This weekend is a bank holiday for kiwis as its Queens Birthday on Monday (feels very odd that they have a holiday for that esp as we don't!). Got out of Auckland reasonably quickly to get ahead of traffic and is a lovely day again.

Up highway 1 (can't believe its still mainly single carriageway!) and stopped at Puhia to see the cheese factory shop and stock up with some and some lovely yogurt. Then further east to the coast and Goat Island. On the way stopped for lunch overlooking more fantastic scenery and were sorely tempted to stay here all the time!

Goat Island is a marine reserve and great for diving and boat trips etc as so many fish and dolphins 1- Its a Hard life!
1- Its a Hard life!
 . Were going to do a boat trip but are out of season so just went for a wander down the beach which was lovely and deserted as it has been elsewhere. Then drove further north again to Pahia beach which was a massive deserted white sand beach very windswept and atmospheric and nearly stayed there to but decided to get further north to avoid potential bank holiday traffic.

Eventually got to Whangerei - the main town on north east coast and found a campsite that also had a spa which was great to sit in with a beer before dinner! Are now back in our 3 Spanish lessons a day routine and might actually be able to get beyond our initial 'Can you speak English?' or 'I don't understand Spanish'.

A load of people turn up at about 10.30 - think its the end of a big rugby match locally who seem to stay up all night. Decide that free camping is better than camp sites!
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