Day 7 - Thu 18 Oct

Beach fishing

Chucked a couple of laps around Whangerai township before continuing South. Stopped for a stroll on an almost deserted Ruakaka Beach, a seaside resort on Bream Bay. A real beach with wide, gently sloping white sand but no surf at all. Continued on to Waipu. Compared to a subtle German influence we've been observing in our travels (not to mention a high proportion of Germans amongst our fellow tourists), this area has a Scottish cast, with names like McGregor Rock and Braigh. In fact, the largest event in the Waipu calendar is a Highland Games. What a pity it's in January. :-) We stopped for some very nice pizzas in the very cool Pizza Barn and Bar.

From Waipu we again chose the scenic backroads route, though it was at least sealed this time (well, most of the way). Passed through some lovely seaside resorts like Lang's Beach, also through "Magical Mangawhai" and Te Arai. Then on the way into Warkworth, we saw it. Sheepworld.

Kiwi brothel? Sheepworld
How kitch, how touristy, but how much more NZ could you get? We had to visit. It actually turned out to be somewhat of an anticlimax ... a petting / feeding zoo, a "Live Sheep Show" which we missed, and of course a shop and cafe.
Happy as a pig ...
We fed the lambs, baby goats, and the ugliest pigs you've ever seen, and went on our way. It seems they also have a pretty complete backpackers and camping setup, but we didn't check these out.

Passed by the satellite tracking station, New Zealand's answer to "The Dish", then in to Waiwera, our destination for the night. Checked in to the Caravan Park. Average facilities, and the showers are coin operated (20c for 5 mins or so) but the powered bays do back directly on to the beach .. so you're sleeping just about in Whangaparaoa Bay (or is it Hauraki Gulf .. not sure).

Room with a view

The reason for stopping at Waiwera was the thermal pools (Waiwera literally means Hot Waters). This turned out to be basically a water fun park complete with slides and all, but with hot pools instead of cold, and a distinct eau-de-sulphur. Apart from the Spa area (in the Health Spa sense of the word, not just a pool with bubbles) there are about 10 pools, all with varying shapes and temperatures. One of them even has a large screen TV at the end where they show movies. Not quite the organic, natural experience we were expecting, but it was still nice sitting around in a hot pool ... nice enough that we went to the pub across the road for dinner, then came back for a second opinion. The next day we heard a radio ad for the Waiwera Thermal Resort (as it's officially known). Their tagline is "So hot, it's cool!" Blech. I think that says it all.....

Today we also took our ever-evolving journey to the next revision, making the call to AA to see if we could fly out of Wellington instead of Auckland. Don't know why I didn't think of that the first time. I have to call tomorrow to find out the results (they only had one seat immediately available).