Day 8 - Fri 19 Oct

Started the day with a call to American Airlines who had been able to clear an extra seat, so we are now flying back from Wellington. Since we were driving right through Auckland anyway, we took the opportunity to stop in and swap the tickets rather than having to mail them (and return mail to the post office in Wellington or something).

We had lunch in Auckland then since we happened to park next door, I (shame, Cameron, shame) ducked into the office to check my email. Then since Em was sick of a recurring headache, we found a doctor and waited for an appointment. By the time we finished with that, we were just in time to join not only peak-hour, but long-weekend peak-hour traffic as everyone from Auckland headed off towards the Coromandel Peninsula for the weekend. Still, it wasn't too bad ... probably an extra hour or so onto the trip.

Miranda, our stop for the night, is on the pancake-flat Hauraki Plains, adjoining the Firth of Thames. It's a haven for bird-watchers, and also has more hot springs. It's also just a short drive from what's claimed to be the best "fush und chups" in New Zealand. So we had to test the claim for dinner, and they were very good. Still Emma felt guilty about having F&C two nights in a row.

Back to the holiday park, and the joys of their own hot spring, which was much more classy than Waiwera. Spent a nice relaxing hour before retiring to the van. Speaking of relaxing, there's a group of Maoris staying in the park .. perhaps a large extended family. As I type, they're sitting around the BBQ area playing a guitar and softly singing Maori songs .. just lovely.