We had the best ever breakfast in the hotel. There was everything, fruit, cheeses, fish, cereal and the usual cook fair. The service was fantastic. They must have asked me 6 times if I wanted a coffee top up.

We both said it was the best hotel we have ever stayed in.

We left Auckland and travelled up to Whangarei in the north.

All the way up we both kept saying, “Look at that”. The landscape was totally breath taking.

On the way up there were load of places that looked like garden centers but they were fruit and veg shops (pick your own).

We stopped off at Bream Bay. It had hardly any people on it at all. The homes were to die for, over looking the sea. The sand was clean and white with rock pools scattered around. Young children playing in the nude!  I used the toilet on the beach. My God they were cleaner than any pub loo and it had toilet paper!!!

We then went on to Whangarei and stopped off at the information center. We had drinks in the café there. The place was packed with young families

We are staying at the “Top Ten” holiday park. Our tent was easy to pitch, it is under a tree with a picnic table next to it. We have a view of the bush.

We went to Whangarei Falls and went on a walk for over an hour. The Falls were gorgeous; it was so quiet and peaceful. We watched a duck and some yellow ducklings for a while then went for our walk. It was like walking through Rain Forests then a meadow and then Canada and back to Rain Forest. We followed a stream and all you could hear (except for the water) were the birds and Crickets along with the strong smell of flowers.

It seems that New Zealand is full of Wildlife and the air smells of flowers everywhere. You can even smell the flowers when driving the car.

On our walk when we met people everyone said “hello”, even the young children.

We had an evening meal out in a local style pub “Woodzies” (campsite bloke recommended it). We got chatting to the locals who came over and introduced themselves to us!!!

They were mad, quote “get your fucking arse up here mate”. Translated into “come here and have a seat and a chat”. They wouldn’t let us leave, getting us drinks, hugging, shaking hands along with loads of laughing ect.

They really like the English. They tend to tell you where their families are from in the UK.

We had a massive meal- fish, scallops, chips and salad. It was really cheap. Scallops are nothing special or out of the ordinary, they serve them battered in every fish and chip shop.