The day started cloudy, but warm. We decided to throw the plan out of the window and not head North, but head South and down the East coast. This put our plan two days in advance, leaving us more time to luxuriate in our surroundings.

We set off heading to Matauri Bay, the site of the scuppered Rainbow Warrior after the French sunk the boat in Auckland. On the beautiful coast road, we stopped at Te Ngaere reserve and walked along the beach. I photographed some black headed gulls  and the charming New Zealand Dotteril.

Matauri Bay was a disappointment, you cannot see the wreck as it was scuppered out beyond the islands in the bay.

We headed on to Kerikeri where we could see the Rainbow Falls. This were lovely falls, with viewing from several places. Into the town of Kerikeri where there was a Vodaphone shop. I wanted to find out why the hired wifi was not working. Turned out the card had no credit on it. Go the Vodaphone guy to print out the status of the account, and then to top it back up.

Quick supermarket shop for some more food and wine. This place was a lot more civilised than the Pick n’ Pack supermarket. Even had people to pack your bags.

We now had a 90-minute drive to Puriri Bay, the DOC campsite we were aiming for. I did not realise that NZ had so many dirt roads. There was a 30km drive on a twisty winding up and down dirt road to get there. Probably caused by us not wanting to pay for the ferry. It was an enjoyable drive.

We arrived at the site and were delighted by a photo of the NZ Dotterel on the wall.  It apparently used to be an endangered species.  We chose a lovely quiet plot overlooking the sea about 10 feet away. Several female mallards immediately came to scrounge. There was one Oyster Catcher and lots of shags (the birds, I mean, the birds).