Ok, after doing all the touristy Rotorua things like the geysers, thermal pools and even took a gondola up to the top of a luge and rode down (fun but I was so slow little children were overtaking me) we decided we needed to go somewhere a little less touristy and less expensive- so on the suggestion of a man we met in the polynesian spa we headed to the surfing town of Raglan (which is famous for its 9 mile surf apparently). Raglan was lovely- filled with arty shops and cafe bars and we got so caught up in the surfing atmosphere that we headed for one of the beaches with the intention of having ago. The actual surfing looked about tricky so we took the kiddie option and hired body boards which are shorter and you just lie on them. We had so much fun and swallowed more salt water than is healthy and now we all want to buy bodyboards but just not sure Brenda could take anymore stuff!
The boys had been booked to play at a festival outside aukland on the saturday so we packed up and headed for that- I decided to drive thinking the roads round aukland would be nice and wide (with tarmac which is becoming something of a luxury!) but after experiencing what must be the closest thing N.Z has to the M25 I'm not sure it was the best decision I've ever made. Still we arrived in one piece and after a bit of rangling we all managed to camp at the festival for free. There was a great atmosphere and the boys played really well though they were pretty nervous as it was a larger crowd than they are used to I think... we even got invited to stay with a lady from the bay of islands who plays the guitar and wants to have a 'house concert'- free accomodation is always welcome and after two weeks of camping any home comfort would be welcome... although I'm quite used to camping now you never get as good a night's sleep as in a house because as soon as the sun is up (6.30) it is unbearable in the tent! Still we slept well after that night despite that aprty going on through the night although I think the beer and home brew that we sampled may have helped somewhat...
Having said that we are now staying at another DOC campsite on the east coast of northland and it has such an amazing location on the sanddunes of this long golden beach that I don't really want to move on- tonight we are having a beach bonfire and such essentials as marshmallows and beer have been purchased, you can probably tell I'm rather excited about it! The beach is beautiful and have already been swimming but it's more of a surf beach as the waves are huge and there is a really strong rip current- I don't mind much as it means I can sit and watch the proper surfers do there stuff! Unfortunately it is also a nudist beach in places and you can find yourself having to look tactfully away at certain points.
To escape the heat of the sun, which is very hot at the moment, we went to look at the Waipu caves. They were amazing, there is just a sign and a hole in the rock and you scramble in with a torch and explore them yourselves... no guided tours or hardhats in sight- so refreshing! Inside there were huge caverns and stalegtites which when you turned off the torches were absolutely covered in thousands of glow worms- at one point Tom, Pip and James went furhter in to explore but Clare and I sat in this cathedral like cavern with the lights out adn we could see each other by the light from the glow worms alone- stunning!
Right well, I'm not sure where we headed next except that it will be in a north direction till we can't get any further without dropping into the sea... gotta go as there is a que for the computers,
love to you all
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