As we came back with George and Beb on Tuesday, he pointed out this wonderful limestone outcrop, and as its close to Whangarei, we popped up for a closer look. It turns out to be a spiritual site, so no eating or walking over the rocks. Nevertheless, worth a look, I always like a bit of Karst! Then we called in at the museum - closed, but the lady in the library rang the lady with the key, and we had a private tour. It showed the history of the town, through quarrying, mining, timber and the creamery, and also showed a great collection of family archives - lots of photos all over the wall. Lots of personal touches, including the ventilation holes!!! ... read more

well, he used to live here in Kawakawa, which is just north of Whangarei, and was asked to build the public toilets! The town also has a railway line running down the middle if the street, quite a place!... read more

Next we set off east along Doubtless bay (named by Captain Cook - "doubtless a bay") to a little fishing village called Mangonui. There we found a lovely coffee shop which sold brownies to rival even those of Hilary - sorry to say it Hodge, but they were delicious! Another beautiful spot, used to be a whaling town, and in those days, you could walk across the bay on the boats. Last week it took about 20 minutes to drive round, there are lots of little inlets to the harbour. We found a small privately owned and very interesting whaling museum, lots of things to see, including a very old black and white film of the Nantucket whalers, who presumably ended up here too.... read more

This was one of the main timber felling and exporting areas 170 years ago, but now its a spectacular harbour, with not too many people about. There is lots of evidence of its history, and it was fun looking round, and imagining how it used to be. I loved it here, every twist in the harbour gives yet another spectacular view, and the hostels were brilliant. In the 1950's, a wild dolphin became very friendly, and the "town"of Opononi (about as big as Llangyniew) became famous as people flocked to play sea football with him. He was called Opo and we saw a video made then, of him and the kids, and crowds of visitors. ... read more

Well, we're back, and we really enjoyed our week away. the weather wasn't too good, but when you live in Wales, you get used to that. And it didn't detract from the beauty of the place. So, here we go. First we drove west to Dargaville (all got the maps out?), then turned north up the coast. The whole coastline is sand dunes, but they're so enormous you just think its hills or cliffs. There is a group of lakes hidden behind the sand dunes, blue as can be, with silver sand. The only source of water for them is rain, no streams run into them at all. An absolute playground in summer, but no-one there when we were there, and a chilly wind. We tried to walk around one lake, but the path petered out, ... read more