Whakatane, New Zealand -

Before I write a novel about my day I thought I would let you know some things about New Zealand - coz I wanna remember later.

First off: The rusty nail does not exist.... nor does the Lucky Dollar. There is a Pak'n Save - finally an Outrageous Fortune reference we can visit! We pulled into the one at Hamilton on the way to Waitomo as it was the first one we had seen. Since then it has been our supplies getting place of choice!
Also: Shopping in New Zealand is wierd and backwards. Hardly any coles and woolworths, NO MYER! or priceline but the Warehouse - you know - "The Warehouse, the warehouse, where everyone gets a bargain" is amazing - its like huge and has everything and is much like our K Mart... (which they have here but only sells clothes and toys! No suitable road trip CD's as we discovered today!)
Third: The food here is amazing!

OK so today was our driving day - headed to Auckland via Whakatahe and Te Puke. Got to Auckland and again a beautiful rainbow  - it was massive. And I am such a child, still believing that rainbows are magic and a sign that something amazing is ahead. The logic which worked for the Rotorua rainbow!

Anways headed out of Rotorua this morning - still going to miss everyone and everyone was so nice saying they would miss our smiling faces....awwww... but after some email and facebook exchanges we headed off towards Whakatane, New Zealand. Today was my turn at driving.

I guess Whakatane is a place you need to stay in for a while, there wasn't much to really see and do that wouldn't take up most of the day, so we went and had a look at this sweet little waterfall that had a lot of cultural significance (according to the sign) and headed east along the coast to Te Puke. That coastal drive was stunning - we came through some mountains before Whakatane and then from thee on we had a really lovely view of the Pacific Ocean, which kept being broken by hills and paddocks and fields. Anyways we got to Kiwi360, just outside Te Puke, and after some photos at the giant Kiwi Fruit, had a tour through the Kiwi fruit plantations (that place grows like 80% of NZs kiwi fruit or something), which was super education and kinda fun and random. The tour guide was really nice as well, and we tasted some kiwi fruit and then back on the road!

On the road disaster struck, well a minor speed bump I guess, coz a wierd light came on in the car so we stopped through at Tauranga, which was kinda a strange little town.... but we swapped or broken car for a cute grey mazda 3 (which is so much smoother to drive and fits both our suitcases in the boot) and had some fish and chips. I think it's a real fishing town coz there was plenty of ugly boats docked in, but the plus side of that is that the fish tasted amazing. After that car situation, I needed the Starbucks that followed, so coffee and then back on the road!

So it was a fair drive from there on but we stopped off at KatiKati (which is almost KatieKatie!!!!). Turned out to be the cutest little town, had a big rugby ball to commemorate 100 years of rugby in KatiKati and it turns out KatiKati is New Zealands mural town, so there was so many beautiful paintings everywhere. We only stopped in for a quick photo and headed through to Paeroa - the home of L & P. This place was so cute. Some photos of the giant L & P bottle, and a bottle of L & P later, we left. That place has flutering L & P flags everywhere so we definetely craved it.... no more stops til Auckland.

But we arrived in a place to stay with its own kitchen, huge bathroom, balcony, huge beds. Doesn't ahve the character of Cactus Jacks but think we need a night with lots of space and creature comforts.

Had a nice dinner by the harbour (risotto - yum yum) and are heading for a quiet one back here. Also called home, which was lovely to hear that friendly voice.

Time is out on the net so ciao!