baby giraffe at auckland zoo 
our finished nz house 
dried rushes in algae
With 4 days to spare, we recovered from our month away, had a garage sale to sell all our household contentswith believe it or not at a profit!! Cleaning, packing an emptying our pretty and comfy homeall too soon Russell and Rhonda were outside the doorand it was just us and no worries for 3 weeks. We had booked flights to the UK for 24th Oct, (via Los Angeles with as much as 100kgs of luggage) giving us time to go up to the far north, the only area of nz we hadnt visited. Waving goodbye to friends, we left 3 huge suitcases of luggage at Vickys and headed up to the Maori dominated north, homeless again. Much of the far north is sparsely populated there are pockets of wealth, but more often than not we came across evidence of a decline in rural living- mostly maoris who live hand to mouth in decaying wooden houses. Of course there are plenty of white nz too who choose to live that way- eking out a living by selling home made crafts. We saw so many house we would like to buy and do up.
As always, the scenery was staggering, even in the rain. Howling winds accompanied the wet where the Tasman and pacific seas met, right up at the top of the country. Fun was had finding where to pitch for the night;( forests, lakes, sea shores, in car parks, by river beds); digging for cockles in the mudflats and pipis in the sand at low tide; trying to dry clothes in the van; watching baby birds emerge from nests, lambs, foals and calves frolic in the spring grass; watching a seal play with its catch in the bay; swiping sand flies and mozzies; spending quiet evenings reading, doing sudoku or watching DVDs. With a time change we were pleased to find ourselves with daylight until after 8pm.
One great adventure was driving back from the top, 106 kms down the beach. Of course, this should only be undertaken by 4wd vehicles- but you know us? We set off down a river bed, following the tracks of a bus and another fool hardy guy. Huge sand dunes surrounded us as we slipped and slithered along the beach- water was everywhere- in the sky, sliding off the dunes and up out of the sand. A really rough grey sea pounded on the other side of us. Still, with rog at the helm, no worries automatic gearbox coped welland my body kind of got used to the hour of adrenaline rush!
The bay of islands was another treat-off shore islands popped up everywhere. We tried to keep to rural roads until the weekend of the rugby world cup semi finals. Keri-Keri kept us busy for the weekend- farmers market, library, Auckland youth symphony orchestra concertand both semi finals in a pub at 8am! The outcome- a final between rsa and England-wonderful.
One afternoon we were blessed with glorious sunshine- how nice it would be to sit out reading in deckchairs. Hmm- we get stuck in very wet grass- up to our axles at the back. Rog spent 4 hrs trying to jack no worries up- finally succumbing to the dark. Easy- we just cooked and curled up in bed just where we were. Fortunately a very kind man came to our aid the following morning and towed us away from danger. At least it hadnt happened on our beach drive where no worries would have left to the returning tide!
This trip we had the added task of trying to sell no worries before we left for the UK. Using the same internet site as we did for our house, we received phone calls galore- from nz, Fiji, UK and oz, as well as emailsnecessitating many trips to internet sites. The final buyer Todd and his father Andrew had us entertained so much. In our last few days we visited them on their organic farm- even stayed the night in their barn. Trade-me has offered us so much friendship, let alone enabled us to sell everything at a good price. Spending our last couple of days with Vicky and Andrew, then the boys budgie and mat; we even fitted in a lunch 150 kms away with our South African friends pat and peter Lewis who had just flown in again. All very sadwill it be goodbye or see you in the future? Immigration offered us the chance to return---so watch this space! Thank you New Zealand for giving us such a good year and allowing us to be part of your beautiful country.
New Zealand National Anthem
God of nations at thy feet
In the bounds of love we meet
Hear our voices, we entreat
God defend our free land
Guard Pacifics triple star
From the shafts of strife and war
Make her praises heard afar
God defend New Zealand
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