A Variable Oyster Catcher in the sand dunes amongst flowers. They're different from ours without the full white breasts, more like the Black Oyster Catches in South Africa. They were breeding amongst the dunes, together with New Zealand Dotterels, on the east coast of North Land.

We're now in Whanganui city till Tuesday and still hope to do some canoeing on the river for a few days. At the momet they're busy with school trips so we're keeping clear! I'll put some pics of the Tongariro alpine crossing later; it was great weather for it.

Stanley I presume? the explorer along the banks of the mighty Waikato river during our short "Tramp" from the Falls to get a view downstream. Our first Warbler sang for us near here and lots of "Pheasant Berry" growing wild. Helen made our first rope out of the NZ Flax that is everywhere, a trick we learned at the cultural centre. A little easier than nettle string but still hard work!! Anyway, the weather is changing to summer so we'll spend a few days here at L. Taupo.

Then back through Auckland to Cambridge, and further to Rotorua and the hot springs where we spent 3 days of good weather amongst the smelly steam and mud! The photo is the largest Geyser (30 foot) Pohutu that seems to erupt often. Also went to a Maori cultural event and wood carving and weaving schools. The park near the campsite and lake shore had areas steaming and mud bubbling, the whole area seemed alive. Lots of new birds on the Lake and our first large supermarkets to stock up. Really enjoying the relaxed driving (no cameras!!) and warm welcome at all the campsites. The sites are well equipped with kitchens and dining areas set aside for campers. So far they have not been very busy even though the weather is improving. The hot tubs have been nice in the evening as it doesn't get dark until about 8.30 -9.00 pm. On Sunday we did a great walk along the side of one of the volcanic lakes (Okareka, just S of Rotorua) in sunshine and each day we come across laid out walks somewhere; today it was the Waikato river near the Huka Falls.

Hello, this is the end of our journey to the north at Cape Reinga, the tip of Northland. You can just see the Puhutukawa tree where the Maori spirits leave to return home. From here we travelled down the west side of Northland to Ahipara and onto the Gannet colony at Muriwai beach first camping in the Waipoua forest amongst the giant Kaori trees. The walkway takes you right above the Gannet colony so we got great photos of the nesting birds including Terns. Our camper wasn't allowed to go down 90 mile beach!! but the scenery and waves reminded us of the Skelton coast of Namibia.

Helen relaxing and our hire camper at Pakiri Beach.

At the arch, the turning point on the Mangawhai walk.

10 th November: now at Mangawhai Heads in Northland on the east coast, north of Auckland. We've had good flights and time in Singapore. Did the usual bus tours, visited the Botanical Gardens to see their collection of Orchids, really amazing. The rest of the time we visited Changi PoW museum and the beaches nearby,
The camper is great, an older shorter version of the one we have (Fiat Ducata) so feels like home!! We've been stopping at campsites on beaches, Pakiri and Mangawhai Head and guess what, we've got a bird ID book already and the number of "new" on the list is increasing each day!! Almost spotted the really rare Fairy Tern! but have seen lots of others (won't bore you with details). Next it will be a tree book as the plants are so different from home but have seen lots of the Pohutukawa tree that will have red flowers at Christmas time and that seems to grow near the coast, even near sand dunes.
Today we did a walk along the Mangawhai Cliffs north with great views of the nearshore islands. We were supposed to return along the beach but even though it was 3 hours from high tide, the water level was up to our chests, so we decided against it.
The weather is mixed with some light showers and then sunshine, but it does change very quickly. It gets cool at night, down to 10 C and daytime up to 19 C. It should get warmer as we go north over the next week or so. Will try and post a picture of us at Mangawhai.