Today we went up North on Highway 1 to Paihia, Russell and Waitangi.

We went upto the Treaty house and around the gardens. To be honest it didnt really do anything for us. Its a 160 year old wooden house where some English blokes stitched up the Maoris who thought they were getting one over on the English. The Maoris lost. The gardens were nice though.

We then went across on a small car ferry to Russell which took about 5 minutes. The weather has turned very dull, well the sky is grey, not its usual bright blue, but it is still warm. We have been told that there is a severe weather warning in place as there is a tropical low. Great.

For lunch we had fish and chips in Russell. They cooked them to order. They were really hot and crispy. Tasted good too. We ate them on a picnic bench down by the harbour/beach front.

There were lots of little shops and a couple of eating places that looked nice.

We went into a small shop in Russell and as soon as we walked in the shopkeeper asked "What is Auckland like?". He can spot an Aucklander off a mile away   The whole shop ended up chatting to us.

On the way back we watched some kids in the sea when it was raining.

We took the coast road back from Russell, this took twice as long as the highway, but it was worth it as the veiws were great. We pulled off the road into some layby's and took some photo's.

About half way back again we pulled off the road and met a couple from Canada. They had also pulled off the road to do a spot of fishing.

We met up with Darren and Rachel again in the evening at the Dickins pub. But before they arrived I got chatting to a girl who worked in the bar. She turned out to be 16 years old, but she was so mature. She told me that sometimes it gets busy in the bar and they need to find you a seat (they dont stand at the bar???). She also told me that they are not allowed to serve anyone that is or appears to be drunk. If they do the person doing the serving gets a $2000 fine and the pub owners a $10,000 fine. For that reason they never see drunks (they have now ).

She also mentioned how great her school is.

A lot of people drink coffee in the bars and all seem to serve food. All the pubs/bars are also smoke free. Also there isnt a closing time they just shut up when it gets quiet.

We went to a Thai restaurant with Darren and Rachel. There was a few kids in there with there families which was nice. It was very busy and the food was great. It cost $20 per main course. We left at 1030 and were the last to leave!

During the night the storm hit. This just turned out to be very heavy rain, it was still warm though. We got a good nights sleep in our little tent.