Piglet for Mayor!

The West coast of Northland is totally different to the East coast - less touristy, lots of trees, more rugged, more sparsely populated... 

Parking on the wild west coast!

We stayed at a fab little place called the Treehouse, where we had our own little cabin/shed.  The owners have spent 20 years restoring cleared pasture back to native bush.  They have a collection of creatures including a very famous (and enormous) pig called Piglet who is 10 years old.  Apparently most pigs don't make it past 6 months old for obvious (bacon sandwich related) reasons.  She used to live in Auckland and ran for mayor in her younger days achieving 700 votes.

We have arrived on the only day the local cafe is open in the evening so after being tipped off we head in for a quiet meal but end up meeting the locals who are very friendly and chilled out.  We head back the next day to see some old photoes at the local library.  It used to be a thriving port, exporting timber, but there was a big fire & the industry declined so it is quite small now and what was left was taken over by hippies in the late 70's giving it an alternative feel.  Doesn't seem to be many jobs either & it's quite remote, but utterly charming.

Sue meets local celeb!