Day 6
Today was overcast and raining heavily at times. The special markets were on at Paihia, as the Queen Victoria and Azamora cruise ships were anchored in the bay. Passengers were being ferried to shore to have a look around town and luckily there were periods of clear sky. We drove out to find the Puketi Forest walk and had sun for the entire time.

Lots of huge Kauri trees, ferns and forest to walk through. There were lots of traps along the tracks, designed to catch rats, weasels and stoats, which decimate the natural wildlife.

In all, it was an interesting few hours walk. Back to the unit to read books all round and relax.

Day 7
It rained heavily overnight and the news reported that there was flooding and landslides on the Coromandel, so it was fortunate that we had already left, as the roads were cut.

The day cleared somewhat, so off we headed to have a look at some waterfalls. First stop was the Harura Falls, just out of KeriKeri. They were flowing quite well and the resident families of chickens and roosters were still there, same as three years ago.

From there, we drove to the Stone Store carpark and walked through rainforest, to the Wharepuke falls.

The river was flowing strongly and the falls were tumbling off the edge. Very humid and steamy.

Naturally it was now time for lunch, so off to the Pear Tree Restaurant, next to the Stone Store. They grow their own produce so everything was fresh. I have a burger, Wendy had Mussells, Beryl for Sate chicken and Mark had a brie and apricot toasted sandwich. Didn’t live up to expectations though, as Beryl’s chicken wasn’t cooked.

We had to be back at 3.30pm, to sit through the compulsory time share talk for this particular stay, as we had ‘won’ this holiday – with conditions attached. All went fine though and we didn’t sign up.

Day 8
There was heavy rain for most of the day, but around 1pm we drove north to Whangaroa and decided on a late lunch at the Sport Fishing Club. Great location and would be fun on a fine day. As it happened, we were the only ones in there, but the burgers were the best we had tried in NZ and the hot chips were really good as well.

The rain just bucketed down and the roads were flooding. We drove back to Paihia via the Matauri Bay loop road. Nice scenery. We were due to leave for the drive down to Lake Taupo the following morning, so packed for an early – 8.30am is apparently early – start.