Sanctuary in the Cove Coopers Beach

... not much to see here! Returned to camp site and went fishing on beach with hand line, needles to say good job we bought some fish in the supermarket this morning!! Weird colour rock formations make up the headland and once you get close to examine the rocks; they actually crumble to dust in your hands – Bizarre! Distance traveled around 150 Km.

... hill that has a beautiful view on all of Auckland. I jogged up there one time and walked it another with my rollerblades in hand for the ride down. Which was fun, but not relaly practicle since I don't have brakes and the road wasn't really wide enough to turn back and forth like I would have wanted. During the week we stayed with some friends of Mikes, I was lucky enough to stay in the backyard in a seperate studio, so its hard to complain. It ...

... fun school trip away for a couple of days. The one saving grace of the place was that our cabin was on the side of the hill overlooking the bay and we had a table and chairs outside so we could sit out there most of the time. Oh and the main-block of toilets and showers was terrible as well. We'd have been better off having a shower by throwing mugs of water at each other than using the dribble-machine they claimed was an acutal shower! We did get ...

In the morning we do last minute Christmas shopping in Kerikeri. On the way in, we drive behind a campervan with a for sale sign in the back that looks as if it would suit the girls. I tailgate it to try to see a phone number, probably terrifying the driver, but without success. In Kerikeri we dodge each other in shops as we buy presents. There is a card ...

... all knocked down, probably by a tsunami, long before man arrived. The dunes blew over them and they have been preserved in marshes since. Early settlers harvested the resin (gum) from the trees for use in the varnish and linoleum industries. At first they could just pick up lumps that were lying in the ground but when that ran out they would dig down up to 18ft looking for it. Now the trees are ...

We drive back down the road to Kerikeri, visit the supermarket and browse the Sunday Market for locally grown fruit and vegetables. Back at the house, we brave the sea for a swim have a barbecue on the deck in the evening. I am now a convert to gas barbecues. The evening's entertainment is a jigsaw. The girls started one and soon we are all drawn in round the table.

... with Israeli guy about to begin degree. * Watched the All blacks beat Australia but not all that convincingly, I was also trying to explain the rules to the Israeli guy which always makes it seem dull. * Rain and wind arrived in night. Some Better Advice/Not wanting to be a cow: I took advice from the hostel owner on where to go for a walk, with a slight sense of deja vu, he did say there would be some fences to hop over but assured me there would be styles ...

... while farm valleys spread out around us. We reached the small town a kerikeri and decided to go see the stone store. I thought it would be a store that sold stones, stone carvings or stone spoons or something of the like. Instead I learned that it's an old stone house that was one of the first to be built in the town in New Zealand, a house the early settlers used as a store on the bottom level and a house up top. There was also another house next to the stone store that ...

After a cold night, a sunny morning with the sea like a mill pond. Leaving Paihia we reached Hwy 10 and turned north, through the town of 'Kerikeri' before turning off towards the coast and 'Matauri Bay'. This was where we had set off for the 'Cavalli Islands' and the dive site on the ...

On our way to Coopers Beach we stoppedd in some nice place. We stopped in a nice bay with a good view on a huge rock that just like pop from the top of the montin. We checked the famemost fish n cheaps in Mangonui and go to the lookout above Coopers Beach. We spend the night at Ian's place in Coopers Beach. לישרא 00;ים - אני ממ ...